Micro Noises 149: Daft draft edition
A team of last letters at last!
The day for which we have waited more than four years could finally arrive at some stage next year. Way back in September 2012, we put together the "Z" squad, a team of past and present AFL players who all had a surname beginning with the letter Z. At that stage, though, only 21 players with such a surname had played football at AFL level, so we were forced to draft Footscray's Zeno Tzatzaris as our honorary 22nd team member.
Four years down the track, that remains the case but with North Melbourne taking Cameron Zurhaar in this week's rookie draft, Tzatzaris's time could soon be up. As much as we've loved having Zeno in the team, having two 'z's in your surname is not quite as having a surname starting with Z - even if his first name does!
One of kind draftees
We had a go at putting together another team in March last year, one which contained players who had both a first name and a surname that was unique to the V/AFL. While Zeno Tzatzaris is a fully fledged member of that side, being the only Zeno and only Tzatzaris to grace the field at the top level, another player in the team will now have to be dropped.
St Kilda's Ahmed Saad was the only Ahmed and only Saad in V/AFL history until the beginning of the 2015 season but the debut of Gold Coast Sun Adam Saad in round one last year has robbed him of his 'one of a kind' qualification. The time has come, then, to scan this year's draftee list to see who might measure up as a possible replacement.
We found six potential candidates across the national and rookie drafts, with Geelong being greedy and taking two of them, Brandan Parfitt with pick 26 and Esava Ratugalea with pick 43, in the national draft. Fremantle and Adelaide joined in the fun in the national draft, the Dockers selecting Griffin Logue with pick 6 and the Crows Myles Poholke with pick 44.
The Bombers and Demons were also active in the 'one of a kind' department in the rookie draft, Essendon taking Yestin Eades with pick 36 and Melbourne choosing Declan Keilty with pick 41. Kielty is not the first Declan to make it to an AFL list but he might be the first to play a senior game, with Western Bulldog Declan Hamilton yet to make it into the team after two years on the list. If Keilty does play before Hamilton and make the 'one of a kind' team, he might not be there for long, with Hamilton having had his contract extended recently and tipped to make his senior debut in 2017.
Mutch ado about Collingwood
Kobe Mutch, taken by Essendon with pick 42, will not qualify for the one of a kind team, despite potentially being the first Kobe to take the field, because three other players with a surname of Mutch have played V/AFL footy. He will be breaking the mould, though, because all the other Mutches - Alec, Charlie and Fred - began their careers at Collingwood.
Further draft observations
- Two players with a surname of Cox were taken in the national draft and, though they are probably totally unaware of it, they have a tenuous link to each other. Cedric Cox, taken by the Lions with pick 24, will become only the second Cedric to play V/AFL football, and Brennan Cox, taken by the Dockers with pick 41, will become just the second Brennan to do the same. The first of the Cedrics was Richmond's Cedric MacLeod, who played two games for the Tigers in 1923, while the only first-named Brennan to play the game so far is Brennan Stack, who appeared in 21 matches for the Bulldogs between 2009 and 2011.
- Meanwhile Harrison Macreadie, if and when he makes his debut for Carlton after was selected with pick 47 by the Blues, will become the third player with a first name of Harrison after Sydney's Marsh and GWS's Himmelburg became the first two only just last year.
- We at Micro Noises would never profess to be experts when it comes to selecting the best available talent but we did think twice about the Giants' choice of player with pick 5 in the draft. But that might simply be because every time we say his name out loud, we can't help thinking that Will Setterfield would perhaps be better suited to being a captain on a cricket ground.
A host of daft draft anagrams
And finally, some anagrammatic observations about this year's draft...
We were a little disappointed that BEN AINSWORTH was taken by the Gold Coast Suns with pick 4 in the draft. We had hoped he would go to Sydney so we could talk about him being an anagram of SWAN IN BOTHER when he gets into trouble at some future stage.
Carlton's first round draft pick SAM PETREVSKI-SETON might be the sort of player who could take the Blues back to the glory days of the '70s and '80s, a time when they would win premierships and everyone would watch them on a teak television set. He's an anagram of IMPRESSES ON TEAK TV.
Another GWS selection - ISAAC CUMMING - would have been taken with a Giants premiership in mind but he actually might be better on stage before a Grand Final rather than on the field during one. He's an anagram of A (sic) MCG MUSICIAN.
JOSH BATTLE, taken by the Saints with pick 39, could be the sort of player who might sneak up on you. He's an anagram of STEALTH JOB.
Draft night was definitely a SMILE NIGHT for TIM ENGLISH, taken by the reigning premiers the Bulldogs with pick 18.
Some pundits thought that SHAI BOLTON might end up at Brisbane but we knew there was no chance of that once we realised he was an anagram of TO LIONS? BAH!
Our final thought relates to ELLIOTT HIMMELBERG, taken by Adelaide with selection 51. Despite being taken well down the order, we think he could be the sort of player who might like to steal the limelight, given he's an anagram of LET ME ROB LIMELIGHT.
Micro Noises is Andrew Gigacz's regular, quirky look at all things footy. The name Micro Noises is an anagram of Enrico Misso, who played one game for St Kilda in 1985. He remains the only Enrico and the only Misso to have played footy at the highest level.
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