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.

[dejavoodoo44]

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.

I've just noticed that the first Rookie Me power rankings has been put out for the season.

AFL Draft Power Rankings: June 2024 - Aussie Rules Rookie Me Central

They don't mention him, so I assume that they rate him outside the top forty. If they're correct, I'd say that would be a definite bargain. Our current picks are 18, 19 and 56, so that would probably get rid of the need to split pick 19, if the feeling was that he might be bid on at around pick 20. That is, we could cover a pick in the forties, with pick 56 and a late future pick.

Our other players that are draft eligible this year and are playing for the Allies, Andreacchio and Harrison, aren't mentioned either, but personally I think that if either are picked up, it'd be via the rookie list, rather than the main draft.

[dejavoodoo44]

Our squad for the u16 championship has been named and can be downloaded by clicking on the link in this article from the AFL site.

U16s - AFL.com.au

There's some interesting names in there. The only overage player is James O'Loughlin, who is the son of Mickey O. He didn't play last year because of injury, so I don't know how much talent he's inherited, but here's hoping.

There's a couple of other father son prospects, but not for us. Both of whom are playing for our academy, because their fathers are coaching at GWS, but living on the north shore. There's the previously mentioned in this thread, Aidan McCartney, who's the son of Jason and who appears to be a definite key position prospect. Then there's Ethan Kingsley, the son of the Giants coach. Going by his listed size he's probably a midfielder, but I'm not sure if I've seen him play, since the couple of u16 games that I watched didn't have accompanying team sheets. But if he played in those games, he might be pretty good, as our midfield did dominate both the Lions and the Suns.

Another guy that I'm looking forward to seeing go around again is athletic ruck, Mason McGroder, who won the Australian u20 long jump title as a 15 year old.

Their first game is on Saturday in Canberra against the Giants.

[Dow]

Our squad for the u16 championship has been named and can be downloaded by clicking on the link in this article from the AFL site.

U16s - AFL.com.au

There's some interesting names in there. The only overage player is James O'Loughlin, who is the son of Mickey O. He didn't play last year because of injury, so I don't know how much talent he's inherited, but here's hoping.

There's a couple of other father son prospects, but not for us. Both of whom are playing for our academy, because their fathers are coaching at GWS, but living on the north shore. There's the previously mentioned in this thread, Aidan McCartney, who's the son of Jason and who appears to be a definite key position prospect. Then there's Ethan Kingsley, the son of the Giants coach. Going by his listed size he's probably a midfielder, but I'm not sure if I've seen him play, since the couple of u16 games that I watched didn't have accompanying team sheets. But if he played in those games, he might be pretty good, as our midfield did dominate both the Lions and the Suns.

Another guy that I'm looking forward to seeing go around again is athletic ruck, Mason McGroder, who won the Australian u20 long jump title as a 15 year old.

Their first game is on Saturday in Canberra against the Giants.

Thanks for posting all the information you do about the Academy etc. I really enjoy reading it.

[dejavoodoo44]

Thanks for posting all the information you do about the Academy etc. I really enjoy reading it.

Ta, but I'll throw in my usual disclaimer, in that I'm just an enthusiastic fan, rather than an experienced AFL person, so my observations may or may not be accurate.