Academy games 2024

[dejavoodoo44]

He's also has very good closing speed and consequently gets in plenty of spoils in marking contests and can apply chase down pressure.

[i'm-uninformed2]

I guess it will depend on how his body develops. If he puts on more muscle, I could see him becoming a genuine kpd. If not, I think he'd still make it as a defensive flanker, whose rebounding skills would be very handy.

In regards to his versatility, I'm not sure if I've seen him play on a small forward, but prior to this season, I've seen him play as a ruck, a big bodied midfielder and a key forward. So he is versatile.

And the fact that he seems to have only settled into defence this season, makes me a bit more bullish about his future. In that, I suspect that he's still learning the position. His rebounding has definitely improved since the start of the year, to the extent that it was very impressive in the game against WA. That performance had me thinking that in a few years time, it might be sorta awesome to have both him and Blakey coming out of defence. I suspect that now that he's settling more into the defence, he's reading the game a bit better and consequently has more confidence to take the game on.

His kicking is possibly a bit hit and miss, but that could be a result of both trying to rebound in a hurry and still learning what's an optimum target to hit and what's a bit too ambitious. But I think his kicking is pretty good, without being an obvious asset.

I haven't really seen enough of the players you mentioned, to rate him against them, but in regards to draft range, I'm not really hearing anyone talking him up as a high draft pick. So, I'm guessing that he would be most likely to go in the 25-45 range. Which I feel pretty sure we'd match.

Interesting. I didn’t appreciate he hadn’t enjoyed a long history as a defender. Some blokes improve rapidly and rise to the occasion - like Cleary last year. - so let’s hope he’s one.