Essendon list-guru Adrian Dodoro has spoken about the decision making process that led to the Bombers selecting Scott Gumbleton ahead of Joel Selwood in 2006 and David Myers over Cyril Rioli in 2007.
Essendon had finished second-last in 2006, and were beginning to rebuild their list after their successful period in the early 2000's.
The Bombers picked-up Gumbleton with pick two in the 2006 national draft, while Joel Selwood slipped through to pick 7.
Gumbleton managed only 45 games in his career, spanning over seven seasons. Selwood has won three premierships and claimed six All-Australian jumpers.
Dodoro said Essendon had planned to take Selwood if they were awarded a second priority pick from the AFL. They were not awarded such concessions and Selwood made his way to Geelong.
Speaking on Dodcast, Dodoro revealed the thinking behind the Bombers decision making, saying that it was a "dagger in the heart" when thinking back on the 2007 draft.
"You've got to look at it like this: He's 200cm, he does a 16 beep (test) which is absolutely freakish, he marked the ball at its highest point, he went back with the flight of the ball with courage," he told Dodcast.
"He was the prototype key-position forward. He had everything that Nick Riewoldt had at the same age, let's not make any mistake about that."
"That's why he went Pick 2 and that's why he probably broke a lot of our hearts.
"He did his medical screening and he passed it with flying colours. But early on in the piece, he had chronic hamstring problems when he ripped his hamstring really badly.
:From there, he developed some pretty severe back problems, which required two operations – and that was basically the end of his career.
"No one has crystal balls in these situations. You pick them on their merits. He was Pick 2 every day of the week.
"That's how the cookie crumbles. It's one you go to bed every night thinking 'what could have been' with him because he should have been an absolute star the competition.
"The rules changed around the compensation picks and if we would have ended up with 2 and 4, I can assure you that – and 'Sheeds' (Kevin Sheedy) will back this up – we would've taken Joel Selwood as well."
The next year, the Bombers again disappointed and ended up with pick 6 in the draft. This time they selected David Myers, with Hawthorn great Rioli stands as the one that got away.
Dodoro said that Rioli had been "considered extremely seriously" but due to the recruitment of Leroy Jetta and Alwyn Davey it gave the Bombers belief they had the small forward position covered.
"David Myers, at that time, was one of the (most) highly-credentialed players in that draft. He was playing senior football for Perth Football Club, so here's a bloke 17 years of age playing senior football in the WAFL," he said.
"What happened with Cyril was in his top-age year he was injured and he played one very good game at Victoria Park – I think he kicked seven or eight goals for NT when he was playing on one leg when he was isolated. Other than that, a fairly quiet year due to injury," he said.
"He actually did his AIS training with us. 'Hirdy' ran through him, broke his collarbone, he was obviously living with Dean Rioli at the time, so we certainly knew him.
"We actually thought he was going to get through to our second pick, if truth be known – and congratulations to Hawthorn, they picked him.
"But the other reason why we never select him was because it was absolutely crucial to bolster our midfield with a big-bodied mid and we had just brought into the club Leroy Jetta and Alwyn Davey, who were two indigenous small forwards as well. We thought that we had that end of the ground covered.
"Cyril went on to be an absolute superstar of the competition and a premiership player. He's one of the all-time greats of the comp. But at the time that's what we decided."
