Rookie draft brings more Tiwi and Kiwi heritage to the AFL

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Rookie draft brings more Tiwi and Kiwi heritage to the AFL

Authored by: Michael Christiansen
on Wednesday, December 12 2007 @ 04:11 pm ACDT

Recently on SEN (24hr sports radio in Melbourne), recruiters etc have mentioned that real quality can be gained via the Rookie draft - as players know that they may have just the 1 season to 'make it'. It can display worthy traits about players, even if they don't have the opportunity to actually play a game that season.
A recent list of Rookie graduates includes:
(1999) - Dean Cox, Dean Brogan, Stephen Milne, T.Kennelly, Shane Tuck, M.Doughty.
(2000) - D.Peverill, D.Jolly, M.Rooke, R.Copeland
(2001) - B.Thornton, Q.Lynch, M.Boyd, B.Rutten, A.Sandilands, M.Mattner
(2002) - B.Sewell, M.Firrito, N.Maxwell, M.Osbourne (re-rookied), J.Roe
(2003) - A.Carrazzo (Geel 2001 - unsuccessful), A.Davey, N.Foley, D.Pratt (again!), N.Lovett-Murray (Coll 2000), A.Lovett, S.O'hAilpin
(2004) - Dale Morris, Harry O'Brien, R.Crowley, J.Gibson, J.Drummond (big year just gone).
(2005) - J.Roe (again), S.Armstrong (after being at Melb), M.Priddis, S.Gilham, C.Stiller
(2006) - Jake King, Matt Campbell, Marty Clarke & Jayden Attard.

These are the stand-outs for each year, there are plenty more that got a go.
Basically, there's about 130 rookied players over this time that are still on team lists - and rookied players have managed around 6000 games over that time.
It certainly shows that the Rookie draft is a potential pot of gold - and that players getting this opportunity DO certainly have an opportunity. It also shows that a single un-fulfilled rookie year need not be the end of the line.
All that said - there'd be a few players crossing fingers for a 17th license, and an 18th even.

Rookie draft brings more Tiwi and Kiwi heritage to the AFL

Authored by: Brett Northey
on Wednesday, December 12 2007 @ 10:03 pm ACDT

Totally agree. Adelaide have been one of the more successful sides over the past 3 seasons, yet the statistics of a relatively poor performance in the draft are often cited. So a key has been the talent they've secured through the rookie system - players like Ben Rutten, who became an All-Australian full-back.

---
Brett Northey - Co-founder and Chief Editor of WFN

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