Wow, intriguing to go back to 2014. With pick # 15 the Spelunkers select Marcus Bontempelli #30 Patrick Cripps, Mid, Carlton by grav #36, Blake Acres, Mid, St. Kilda by chris and with my final pick in the draft, (#47 or #48 I think) Charlie's Opening select Zac Merrett, Fwd, Essendon And the moral of the story is - we seriously don't know what we are doing. Proof, if needed, the (in retrospect) patronising: pick 53: George Burbury, F, Cats. He was my option if I didn't get Merrett Chels... I think you have a good one there
that psd was meant to be my big chance to set up my rebuild, with picks 9 12 14 31, but i stuffed them up big time, except for Matty Crouch. I still have Harry Cunningham too, but not for long. I think that draft was the last time we held the PSD prior to the AFL preseason comp.
@anthak , tomorrow night I will send a PM to the coaches that haven't submitted their votes for the 2016 ORFFA Rising Star Award, another two coaches have voted so now 14 of the 18 coaches have submitted their votes.
Just providing an update on the 2016 ORFFA Rising Star award, 16 of the 18 coaches have submitted their votes and I have just sent final reminders to the remaining two coaches. Thanks everyone for your patience with the Les W Medal and Rising Star articles. I will be doing some work on the Rising Star article next weekend but am not sure if I will be able to finalise it then. I have got several articles in progress at the moment including a Sean Dempster retirement article which will be published on Milestones and misses and an Erin Phillips article comprehensively covering her 2017 AFL W season and summarising her basketball career. I would like to publish the Phillips article on Milestones and misses, but don't have photos of her to accompany the article so am looking at getting photos from someone else to accompany the article and am also exploring other options.
They're not great quality, but i took some photos of Erin Phillips at the Collingwood v Adelaide game. I can send them to you
Thanks for the response Anthony. I purchased my current camera a couple of days before the Australian Boomers game that I met you at in July last year. The Dangerfield photos are from the Geelong vs Sydney preliminary final last year, that was the only night game at the MCG that I took photos at. Footy photos that I took at Etihad Stadium day or night (not that it really makes a difference at that stadium) and MCG during the day turned out significantly better than the MCG night game. As I knew that Dangerfield had won the Les W Medal I thought I might as well have a go at preparing a 2016 Brownlow Medal winner article on him as well which led to more detail being provided in the Les W Medal article about his career history before 2016. So far I have only published two AFL articles on non-St Kilda players – Dangerfield and Goodes, on Milestones and misses. I plan to publish more in 2017. @anthak Thanks for the offer, I’ll send you a PM in relation to the Erin Phillips photos.
Caleb Daniel wins the 2016 ORFFA Rising Star Award – Part 1 Marble Bar Misfits small forward Caleb Daniel has won the 2016 ORFFA Rising Star Award comprehensively, polling 61 of a possible 75 votes to finish 19 votes ahead of runner-up - Gundagai Grasshoppers midfielder Callum Mills. There was a sizable gap between the vote tallies of the top five and the rest of the 2016 ORFFA Rising Star class with Mount Beauty forward/midfielder Christian Petracca finishing in third place with 37 votes followed by Lovely Banks midfielder Darcy Parish in fourth place on 32 votes and Grasshoppers defender Jacob Weitering in fifth position on 26 votes. From the 16 coaches that submitted their 5,4,3,2,1 votes in the ORFFA Rising Star award Daniel received the five votes from nine of a possible 15 coaches – ORFFA coaches were not permitted to vote for players from their own club. Of the coaches that were eligible to vote for Daniel 12 of the 15 coaches gave him at least four votes, a convincing margin over the second ranked player – Mills who was voted in the top two ORFFA Rising Stars by seven coaches comprised of three 5’s and four 4’s. Daniel also receive one 3, one 1, and failed to poll from just one coach. Whilst the top five vote-getters in the 2016 ORFFA Rising Star award all polled at least 25 votes the remaining 11 vote-getters all received less than eight votes each. The total of 16 players receiving votes set a new record, surpassing the 12 players that received votes in 2014. The Gundagai Grasshoppers were the only club to have two players finish in the top five being Mills in second and Weitering in fifth, which followed on from having two players finish in the top four in 2015 with Cripps being joined by fellow midfielder Angus Brayshaw in fourth place. Two clubs had three players poll votes in the 2016 ORFFA Rising Star – Marble Bar Misfits and Waikikamoocow Incorrigibles. Astute selections by the Misfits and Cows recruiting departments are paying dividends as all four 2016 Rising Star vote recipients recruited outside the top 25 at a pre-season draft were recruited by one of the two clubs being Misfits Daniel (pick 29) and Fantasia (50) along with Cows McLean (34) and Dunkley (39). Misfit Daniel was joined by Orazio Fantasia and Lachlan Weller who polled eight votes and three votes respectively. Fantasia finished in equal sixth position with Wagga Wagga Wombats midfielder Clayton Oliver, whilst Birdsville Battlers midfielder Conner Blakely finished in eighth position with six votes. The remaining eight vote recipients polled between one and four votes each. The Cows three players that received votes were – Toby McLean (4) along with Josh Dunkley and Daniel Howe with two each. Lachlan Weller was the only Rising Star eligible player to play in all 17 games, ahead of Mills with 16 games, with Daniel and Weitering ranked equal third on 15 games and Parish and Fantasia ranked equal fifth with 14 games. Whilst six Rising Star eligible players played at least 14 games only a total of 10 players played more than nine games. Four of the top five vote-getters played at least 14 games in 2016. Four players averaged more than 75.0 points per game however only one of these players played more than three games, Mount Beauty’s Christian Petracca who played 11 games and averaged an equal league best 78 points per game to be the only player to play less than 14 games and finish in the top five. Votes Player ORFFA Club Position Draft 61 Caleb Daniel Marble Bar Misfits F 2015 PSD-29 42 Callum Mills Gundagai Grasshoppers D 2016 PSD-2 37 Christian Petracca Mount Beauty Uglies F/M 2015 PSD-9 32 Darcy Parish Lovely Bank Lilacs M 2016 PSD-3 26 Jacob Weitering Gundagai Grasshoppers D 2016 PSD-1 8 Orazio Fantasia Marble Bar Misfits D 2016 PSD-50 8 Clayton Oliver Wagga Wagga Wombats M 2016 PSD-5 6 Connor Blakely Birdsville Battlers M 2015 PSD-9 4 Toby McLean Waikikamoocow Incorrigibles F 2015 PSD-34 3 Lachlan Weller Marble Bar Misfits M 2015 PSD-20 3 Peter Wright Lovely Bank Lilacs F 2015 PSD-17 3 Brayden Maynard Mount Beauty Uglies D 2015 PSD-23 2 Jack Steele Cradle Mountain Devils F/M 2015 PSD-13 2 Josh Dunkley Waikikamoocow Incorrigibles M 2016 PSD-39 2 Daniel Howe Waikikamoocow Incorrigibles D 2016 PSD-6 1 Jacob Hopper Cradle Mountain Devils M 2016 PSD-8 The Marble Bar Misfits selected Daniel with pick 29 at the 2015 pre-season draft. Of the players that nominated for this draft Daniel was amongst the most difficult to predict when he would be selected due to a reason beyond his control – his height, or more to the point lack thereof. Marble Bar Misfits head coach @Len commented on the club’s decision to recruit Daniel "The Misfits were locked on drafting him months before the 2015 PSD, had he been 6 inches taller he would have been the number one draft pick." Caleb had an outstanding junior career, excelling at each level as he moved up the ranks. Daniel is just 168 centimetres tall, making him the shortest player in the ORFFA. Soon after Daniel started playing football as a junior he started wearing a helmet due to the concerns his mum head about his safety, Caleb comments “she was pretty nervous about my lack of height and the fact that opponents’ elbows kept hitting me in the head’’.1 Daniel has continued to wear a helmet throughout his career which coupled with his short stature makes him one of the easiest players to identify on the field. In his final year at junior level Daniel excelled on the biggest stage of all despite being one of the smallest players. Daniel played three games for South Australia at the Under-18 National Championships, averaging 10.3 kicks, 9.7 handballs, 3.7 marks, 2.0 goals, 5.0 tackles, 4.0 inside 50’s and had a phenomenal disposal efficiency of 90.3%. Daniel was rewarded for his incredible carnival at the National Championships with selection in the under 18 All-Australian team as a forward. His profile in the ORFFA* Prospectus 2015 said “Daniel was the No. 1 ranked player at the 2014 NAB AFL Under-18 National Championships, averaging 172 Champion Data ranking points per match. Playing predominantly as a high half-forward, he averaged an elite 20 disposals per game – ranked second of any forward. His kicking was also elite, recording a kick rating of +20%, - ranked No. 1 of any forward to average at least 10 disposals. Daniel’s ability to find a target inside 50 by foot was a highlight. Daniel kicked two goals per game on average and ranked third for his position type in score assists and second in score involvements.”2
Caleb Daniel wins the 2016 ORFFA Rising Star Award – Part 2 In Round 12 2015 Daniel made his ORFFA debut against the Foul Bay Chickens weeks before his 19th birthday and played a total of four games in the ORFFA during 2015, averaging 62 points per game – ranked in the top 20 of the Rising Star eligible players. After getting a taste of ORFFA football in 2015 Daniel cemented his position in the Marble Bar Misfits line-up during 2016 by playing 15 of a possible 17 games – missing round 5 and 6 with a calf injury. In the three main statistical categories 20 year-old Daniel ranked in the top five of ORFFA Rising Stars, ranking first for total points scored with 1,124, 20 points ahead of Mills and 89 points ahead of Parish, he also ranked fifth for points per game and equal third for games played. In 13 of his 15 games Daniel scored more than 60 points including his final eight games of the season, with a season best of 107 points in the Round 3 loss to the Foul Bay Chickens. Against the Chickens Daniel had 15 kicks, 14 handballs, eight marks, six tackles, 10 contested possessions, four clearances, four inside 50’s and kicked a goal. Daniel’s second highest scoring game of the season was in Round 17, with 94 points against the Gariwerd Cockatoos, ranked third for the Misfits just behind Rory Laird and Lachie Whitfield with 96 and 95 points respectively. Daniel had nine kicks, eight handballs, four tackles, six inside 50’s, eight contested possessions, three bounces and kicked a goal. Although some experts expressed doubts about Daniel’s ability to make it in the ORFFA due to his small size Daniel supporters acknowledged that whilst his height would make it more difficult his exceptional skills, decision making and endurance would enable him to have a long and successful career in the ORFFA. Daniel’s profile in ORFFA* Record Season Guide 2017 said “He may be the competition’s smallest player at 168cm, but the third year South Australian is quickly becoming one of the AFL’S most exciting playmakers. The forward# rarely fumbles, excels in heavy traffic and has elite decision-making and endurance.”3 Daniel becomes the second player from the Marble Bar Misfits to win the ORFFA Rising Star Award following midfielder Luke Dunstan who won the inaugural ORFFA RS award in 2014, the only other player to win the award is Gundagai Grasshoppers midfielder Patrick Cripps in 2015. Daniel became the first player that isn’t a midfielder to win the award, Dunstan and Cripps play in a similar style to each other as big bodied inside midfielders who excel at winning clearances and contested possessions. Daniel plays in a very different style to his predecessors as ORFFA Rising Star Award winners as his strengths are winning uncontested possessions and his precise kicking skills. From 2014 to 2016 the Marble Bar Misfits have won three of the six individual awards in the ORFFA with courageous Misfits captain Callan Ward winning the league’s highest individual honour – the Les W Medal in 2014. In his 15 games for the Marble Bar Misfts in 2016 Daniel averaged 9.7 kicks, 9.1 handballs, 3.5 marks, 0.4 goals, 2.5 tackles, 2.5 inside 50s and 74.9 supercoach points per game. Daniel polled 16 votes in the Marble Bar Misfits 2017 best and fairest to finish in seventh place, with Ward winning his fourth consecutive B & F. Marble Bar finished 2016 in 17th position having recorded four wins and 13 losses, however are expected to improve significantly in 2017 given the quantity of quality young players they have on their list as well as experienced players such as Ward. The profile for Daniel in ORFFA* Prospectus 2017 highlighted the quality of his kicking, saying “He is an elite user of the ball by foot, the Misfits^ retained the ball from 58% of Daniels’s kicks into the forward 50 – the sixth-best percentage of the top 100 players for total kicks into the forward 50.”4 With his brilliant performances for the Marble Bar Misfits in 2016 Caleb Daniel proved the doubters wrong, not only demonstrating that he is well and truly worthy of a place on an ORFFA list but winning the 2016 ORFFA Rising Star award due to his exquisite foot skills, consistency, superb decision making and endurance. 1 http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport/afl/south-adelaide-pocket-rocket-caleb-daniel-is-ready-to-prove-the-doubters-wrong/news-story/d49aa4a3dab2ebf0b2d40c280845d5b9 2 Champion Data, ORFFA* Prospectus – the essential number-cruncher for season 2015, 10th Edition, page 375 3 AFL, AFL Record Season 2017, page 355 4 Champion Data, ORFFA* Prospectus – the essential number-cruncher for season 2017, 12th Edition, page 378 *AFL #midfielder ^Bulldogs
Awesome write-up Dean, superb level of detail and interesting morsels as always. It's nice to see all the study that goes into the draft for me each year start to pay off, despite having traded 2 on for list balance the Misfits draft 4 of the 16 players to attract votes with Blakely also being taken by us in the same year as Weller and Daniel. Caleb will no doubt have a long and proud career with the Misfits
Well done Lenh and Caleb! Awesome writeup DMA! Thats some awesome research and great articles. Thanks, it was a great read
Top effort Dean - very grateful for the work put into this award. Pleases me that someone else has recognised that my drafting is OK. It needed to be. To get Howe (as a FA), McLean, Burton, Dunks, Williams , Parfitt (and the yet to be seen) Allison while also securing some useful FA's is one of the enjoyable aspects of the game.
Thanks for the comments on the Caleb Daniel 2016 ORFFA Rising Star article, and for being patient whilst the I caught up with the 2016 ORFFA awards, or almost caught up. A while back @walesy emailed an extended leaderboard for the 2016 Les W Medal, I'll post that in the relevant thread on the weekend.
No, we haven't voted on the 2017 ORFFA Rising Star Award yet. Les has provided the raw Round by Round Rising Star Award data which I need to put into the usual spreadsheet and post in the forum, I aim to post this spreadsheet late this month and then request ORFFA Coaches to submit their 5,4,3,2,1 votes for the Rising Star Award. The 2017/18 WNBL season is shorter than previous seasons with the season being all over by Australia Day compared to the Grand Final being held in mid March in previous seasons. Consequently I am writing articles on the WNBL for Milestones and misses in December and January that in previous seasons I wrote in February and March. The flip side is that Feb and March this year will be quieter than previous years and I will definitely be able to catch up on writing the 2017 ORFFA Award articles during this time. Ben Simmons looks likely to make the 2018 NBA All-Star game and is ideally placed to win the NBA Rookie of the Year Award, but no Simmons isn't eligible for the votes in the 2017 ORFFA Rising Star Award. If any ORFFA coaches feel the need to vote for Ben please vote for him to make the NBA All-Star game in the next couple of days whilst voting remains open.