Hayden McLean, Sam Wicks, Aliir Aliir, Tom Papley, Jake Lloyd - a handful of players off the top of my head who weren't ready to be drafted until their U19 year. And not forgetting Dane Rampe or Brett Kirk, who took longer still.Originally Posted by dejavoodoo44
I think you also have to factor in how much disruption these young players have experienced over the past two seasons.
Sure, I'm not writing anyone off and yes, because of covid drastically cutting the amount of games, management are probably more likely to seriously consider drafting an u19 or two. But still, I'd be more excited by Robin, Edwards, Endemann, etc, if they hadn't already been through their draft year.
On the ones that are in their draft year, this Rookie Me article from last year, has a brief write up of the players that they considered to be our better prospects.
Ones to Watch: 2022 Northern Academy prospects - Aussie Rules Rookie Me Central
And dont forget , in addition to all those 19s above you also have Angus Andersen who I assume must have played VFL on the weekend .
Three academy games on the weekend versus the Giants.
https://www.facebook.com/22464139423...21881/?app=fbl
Seems like they're all going to be streamed and the club is even promising to supply team lists.
This article includes the links to watch today's academy games.
QBE Swans Academy: Northern Academy Series begins
To access the team lists, you have to click on where it says "here" and download the lists.
Just to confuse things, in the u19 side, some of the players are playing in the same numbers as last week, while some are playing in different numbers. Angus Anderson is listed as coming into the side.
We're ahead 14-7 at quarter time in the U16 game. It's been quite a strong effort so far from our youngsters. Plenty of strong tackling, hard running into space, chase downs and smothers. Our defenders have taken some strong contested marks, but I haven't been able to spot the numbers of those doing that.
Our first goal was by number 5 Archer Dunstan, who followed up a scrambled clearance and kicked truly from around 45 out. He looked good early: winning contested ball, covering distance, but unfortunately he limped off about 10 minutes in. The other goal was a strong effort from 6 Oscar Irwin, who started a movement from half back and then worked hard enough to get a free in the forward half.
Continued the strong work to be 39-16 up at half time. The defensive pressure on the Giants has been good. In that quarter, their forwards kicked 1 goal, 3 behinds and probably 5 or 6 out of bounds. Up the other end, I missed who kicked our first goal, but the second was kicked by 22, Cameron Este, after he took a strong contested mark about 30 metres out. The next goal was by 23, Mitchell Woods, who caught a ball that was deflected from a GWS marking attempt and snapped from close range. He may have also got the next goal, which was a nice bit of roving and a snap from a tight angle in the pocket.
Hard to say who our best players are, because it's been hard to pick up the numbers of the defenders. But from the midfielders, possibly our best so far, has been Oscar Irwin. He's covered plenty of ground, won a number of contests and has used it pretty well. Number 9, Jack Jarvis, has also won some tough contested ball. While 17, Zachary Nandlal, has had some classy touches; sometimes as a small forward, but more often as a mid. But all up, I'm sure the coaches would be pleased by the across the board effort.
GWS had the better of it that quarter and got it back to 40-32. They were able to take a few contested marks in the forward fifty, while we were generally kicking it to the advantage of their defenders. Doesn't seem that much wind, but maybe we're kicking to the scoring end in the last?
GWS ended up winning that by 64 to 54. Or was it 68-58? Anyway, the major difference seemed to be that they had a few more developed key position types and they were able to kick it more often to the advantage of their large forwards in the second half. Their 24 looks a genuine KPF prospect.
Of our players, I thought that Woods, Nandlal and Irwin were probably our best. Woods was our major goal kicker and also spent a bit of time in midfield and had some classy touches. Both Nandlal and Irwin covered plenty of ground, got plenty of the ball and generally used it well.
I didn't see much of the first quarter of the U17 game, but the Giants are up 28-4 at the break. Urgghh!
Made a bit of a comeback in that quarter and briefly hit the front. However, GWS kicked a couple late, including one after the siren, to go in leading 40-32. Two of our goals were kicked by number 4, Benjamin Cheshire, who seems a lively and skillful small forward, who also had some classy possessions when put into the middle. Number 11, Cooper McClennan also did some nice things in the forward half. Down back, 39 Koby Hedges, caught my eye. A big blond KPD, who attacked the ball strongly and was willing to take a chance counterattacking: although the counterattack could probably have a little bit more polish.
GWS extended their margin to 66-46 in that quarter. Hopefully they were going to the scoring end.
It's quite an odd game really, in that, if you scan from match up to match up, the GWS players almost always seem to be that little bit bigger and stronger. Don't know why that is, but it means that if they break tackles and get a bit of space, they are likely to make us pay. Conversely, our players need to constantly harass them and force them into mistakes, then hopefully score through the turnovers.
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