Former Crows recruiting boss James Fantasia says taking Laurence Angwin over Kane Cornes led to Adelaide’s board giving less draft power to coaches

The former Crows official responsible for selecting Laurence Angwin with the club’s highest ever pick says the “spectacular failure” led Adelaide’s board to give its recruiting team “a far greater say” in future draft decisions.

The former Crows official responsible for selecting Laurence Angwin with the club’s highest ever pick says the “spectacular failure” led Adelaide’s board to give its recruiting team “a far greater say” in future draft decisions.

James Fantasia was Adelaide’s recruiting boss from 1995-2007 and in charge at the 2000 national draft when the club used its first ever top-10 call to take Angwin.

The Crows mutually agreed to part ways with the 200cm ruckman just 13 months later, without him playing a game for the club, after a string of off-field issues.

As Adelaide prepares to make its equal second-highest selection ever at Thursday’s national draft, Fantasia has told The Advertiser his recruiting team wanted to take Kane Cornes with the seventh pick in 2000, only to be overruled by Adelaide coach Gary Ayres and assistant Peter Curran.

Fantasia believed Angwin, who kicked six goals and grabbed 11 marks in a TAC Cup game that year and had been compared to Jeff White, was more talented and had greater potential than midfielder Cornes, and was an ideal long-term replacement for departing ruckman Shaun Rehn.

Laurence Angwin injured in the stands at Football Park while on the Crows’ list in 2001.

But he said he considered Angwin a much riskier selection at the time due to concerns about his work ethic.

Fantasia said he told the Crows’ board his selection preference when it asked for his insight before the 2000 draft.

And Fantasia recalled bringing up that discussion to the board three years later when it reviewed why the club took Angwin over Cornes, who became a four-time best and fairest winner, dual All-Australian and premiership player at Port Adelaide.

“(Drafting Angwin) was a spectacular failure, it wasn’t just that it didn’t work,” Fantasia, now Norwood’s chief executive, told The Advertiser.

“He was immature and he would’ve grown up but at the time it was a big thing — it was our first ever top-10 pick and we got it wrong.

“From my end there was a bit of a concern with the risk — not that I thought Laurence was a bad kid or anything like that, he just didn’t fit the bill as someone who’s doing the extras, someone who’s completely committed to the cause — but he had enormous ability.

James Fantasia wanted to select Kane Cornes, who went on to play 300 games for Port Adelaide, at the 2000 national draft but was overruled by Crows coach Gary Ayres. Picture: Sam Wundke

“I wanted it noted (at board level) that as the recruiting manager, whilst we think Laurence will be a very good selection, if it was just the recruiting department’s decision, we’d be making the call on Kane Cornes.

“They (Ayres and Curran) won that decision and that’s the way it went.

“It was a game-changer because (three years later) the board felt quite embarrassed by it all and thought ‘something needs to change here and we’ve got to let the recruiting manager and recruiting team have a far greater say (in drafting)’.”

Fantasia said the club interviewed Angwin formally three times and informally on another six occasions in the lead-up to the 2000 draft.

James Fantasia, pictured in 2005 during his time as Adelaide Crows’ recruiting manager.

Crows officials knew there were some question marks over Angwin’s off-field commitment but they were not enough to sway the club from selecting him.

“We were fairly desperate for that key forward/ruck, Rehnny was about to leave and (Angwin) was easily the best kid for his size who could play both those roles,” Fantasia said.

“Laurence far exceeded Kane Cornes with his natural talent and potential … but there was no doubt he had a high risk, whereas Kane had little risk at all in our view.”

Fantasia said he took “full responsibility” for drafting Angwin “because at the end of the day, that was my role and if I was strong enough, I would have got what I wanted done”.

He said he still received stick for not taking Cornes or evergreen Hawk Shaun Burgoyne but was very satisfied with his overall draft record, which included taking Richard Douglas (pick 15 in 2005) and Graham Johncock (pick 67 in 2000).

“In my 12 years, we played in eight finals series, five prelims and two grand finals with two premierships,” he said.

“People want to isolate when you get it wrong but I don’t think too many people would argue with those results.

“Every recruiting bloke has a skeleton in their closet.

“Hindsight’s a beautiful thing.”

Ayres confirmed the Victorian’s physical attributes, the club’s ruck needs, its deep midfield stocks and the character of Angwin’s grandfather — 1940 Hawthorn best and fairest turned highly-regarded property steward Andy Angwin — influenced his opinion.

Ayres, who coached Adelaide from 2000-04, said there were “certainly some weaknesses” in Angwin’s personality but the club had faith in its culture, professionalism and environment to get the best out of him.

Gary Ayres, pictured with Scott Welsh (left) in 2002, was a key factor behind the Crows’ decision to draft Laurence Angwin in 2000.

“Andy Angwin was an absolute terrific person and I obviously had a fair bit of connection with his days at the Hawthorn Football Club, where he was influential,” Ayres, now coaching VFL team Port Melbourne, told The Advertiser.

“We’d been tracking Laurence for a while and there was obviously going to be the possibility of how it would end up turning out.

“At 200cm and with the athleticism that Laurence had, and obviously with the pluses of being able to play tall, ruck and forward, you think it should be a good selection.

“You look at it as an overall investment and think it could be a 10-year player.

“But it was something that certainly did not work … and Kane went on to have a wonderful career.”

Ayres said the club did its due diligence on Angwin but simply made the wrong call.

“It happens,” he said.

Adelaide Crows football operations manager John Reid in 2001, the season Laurence Angwin was at the club.

“If you go through the history books, Richmond would probably be kicking themselves for not taking Buddy Franklin all those years ago (in 2004).

“It’s a decision that’s made at that time and for all the right intentions and it’s not something you just do and throw magnets up in the air and see where they land.

“It’s a very thorough process and it should be because you know it’s a big investment.”

Former Crows football operations manager John Reid said picking Angwin over Cornes reinforced his view that recruiting teams, rather than coaches, should have the final say on draft calls.

“The bottom line is we got it wrong,” Reid told The Advertiser last week.

Reid was unsure what would have happened if Cornes, who went on to play 300 AFL games for Port, had been drafted in Angwin’s place.

“Kane would’ve been very good for us but you never know what that might’ve resulted in, it’s hard to say,” he said.

TOMORROW: THE CROWS’ 2001 INNER SANCTUM ON ANGWIN

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