Bombertalk

This is a list of the number of rising star nominees per year (2004-2007) per team and the total over the last four years. I've ordered it by the total number of nominees (in descending order).

Team --|-- 2004 --|-- 2005 --|-- 2006 --|-- 2007 --|-- Total
Brisbane Lions --|-- 1 --|-- 4 --|-- 3 --|-- 2 --|-- 10
Melbourne --|-- 3 --|-- 2 --|-- 3 --|-- 2 --|-- 10
Port Adelaide --|-- 1 --|-- 0 --|-- 4 --|-- 3 --|-- 8
WC Eagles --|-- 4 --|-- 1 --|-- 2 --|-- 1 --|-- 8
Collingwood --|-- 1 --|-- 1 --|-- 2 --|-- 3 --|-- 7
Carlton --|-- 2 --|-- 2 --|-- 1 --|-- 1 --|-- 6
Geelong --|-- 2 --|-- 2 --|-- 0 --|-- 2 --|-- 6
Richmond --|-- 2 --|-- 1 --|-- 3 --|-- 0 --|-- 6
West Bulldogs --|-- 2 --|-- 2 --|-- 0 --|-- 2 --|-- 6
Hawthorn --|-- 0 --|-- 3 --|-- 2 --|-- 0 --|-- 5
Kangaroos --|-- 1 --|-- 0 --|-- 2 --|-- 2 --|-- 5
Essendon --|-- 1 --|-- 2 --|-- 0 --|-- 1 --|-- 4
Adelaide --|-- 1 --|-- 0 --|-- 0 --|-- 0 --|-- 1
Fremantle --|-- 0 --|-- 1 --|-- 0 --|-- 0 --|-- 1
St. Kilda --|-- 0 --|-- 0 --|-- 0 --|-- 1 --|-- 1
Sydney Swans --|-- 1 --|-- 0 --|-- 0 --|-- 0 --|-- 1

Some key points:

1. Assuming that rising star nominations are a good judge of development, the best teams at developing young kids seem to be Brisbane, Melbourne, Port and West Coast.

Neale Daniher is in some good company there. But more interestingly, none of those teams have had a priority pick in the last five years.

2. Using the same logic, Adelaide, Freo, St Kilda and Sydney have been the worst at development and some (particularly Adelaide and Sydney who have aging lists) will probably face a protracted period of decline.

3. The teams that have had the earliest picks in recent drafts 02-05 (Carlton, St Kilda, Footscray, Richmond, Collingwood) haven't necessarily translated those picks into players.

Perhaps the reverend IS the right guy to develop our list?

You make a valid point.. it could also mean Melbourne have a bloke 10 times better than Dodoro at recruiting

Rising Star means jack if those players dont continue their development

You could argue that in Melbourne's case, the award means nothing

Let's not forget that they have to choose a nominee every round, and sometimes the nominee isn't necessarily the most deserving in that round... having said that, how many of those clubs have actually won the rising star award?

2003 - Sam Mitchell (Hawthorn) - Gone on to be one of their premier midfielders and ball winners

2004 - Jared Rivers (Melbourne) - Hasn't really done too much of late. Can play forward and back.

2005 - Brett Deledio (Richmond) - Can be a damagin midfielder that can go forward. In the mould of Judd but not in the same class

2006 - Danyle Pearce (Port) - Had an up and down year. More of an outside receiver who can run with the ball. Can really hurt you when he's on. When he's not... well that's a different story.

They actually seem to be pretty good judge of talent. Here's the 2004 nominees:

Round 1: Aaron Davey
Round 2: Michael Firrito
Round 3: Jared Rivers
Round 4: Paul Bevan
Round 5: Andrew Walker
Round 6: Kane Tenace
Round 7: Brent Staker
Round 8: Andrew Mackie
Round 9: Guy Richards
Round 10: Brent Moloney
Round 11: Brett Ebert
Round 12: Richard Hadley
Round 13: Karl Norman
Round 14: Jay Schulz
Round 15: Mark Seaby
Round 16: Brent Reilly
Round 17: Sam Butler
Round 18: Beau Waters
Round 19: Daniel Cross
Round 20: Brent Stanton
Round 21: Adam Cooney
Round 22: Brent Hartigan

A few of those blokes aren't going to make it but the majority will carve out good careers.

Regarding the Dodoro comment, recruitment is only one side of the picture. There's not a lot of difference in opinion in recruitment as a rule - the good phantom drafts normally work out where players are going to go +/-15 picks. Drafting is one part of the picture, but you've also got fitness and conditioning, skills development and coaching that are major influences while at the club.

2008 we will have a few nominations you would think. Mostly coming from the Super Draft - Houli, Hislop, Jetta, Reimers and Gumbleton. Even Neagle in with a chance, not sure about Dempseys age. Plus our 1st/2nd round recruits from this years draft.