2025 Academy Games.

[Nico]

After watching our game against Collingwood I think we need to draft strong bodied players. Long was outstanding for them. A strong bull in the midfield. They were so much bigger than our players all over the field.

[dejavoodoo44]

Thanks so much for these valuable updates Deja. Appreciate being informed what we have in the pipeline, to then able to begin calculate what it may take to draft them if they're considered worthy.

Ta, although with the new points system, if King gets taken high, what we can get after that, is approximately...(taps away at the calculator)...@@@@ all.

Assuming that we haven't traded away Chad for some high picks.

[Dow]

I did answer much the same question on page one of this thread, so I might just paste it and add a few things at the end.

"King probably has the most upside and could be taken very high. He has plenty of pace, a high leap and is elusive in traffic. He's also a pretty good kick and appears to see the field well. However, his high draft position probably depends on a couple of things. Firstly, staying injury free, especially avoiding another concussion. Secondly, spending an increased time in midfield, which might cause draft experts to muse on whether he's the next Bontempelli.

Then it's probably Chamberlain. The club obviously has a good opinion of him, as they gave him a couple of U18 games, when he was still eligible for U16s. How high he goes, probably depends on how much time he spends playing as a genuine KPF. If he starts regularly clunking marks in the goal square and manhandling defenders, then he could get the recruiters excited. But at the moment, they might be looking at him more as a Jack Gunston type forward, or a physically imposing winger?

Carmichael is not far off, but he's more an efficient accumulator, who usually runs around the half back line. He can play midfield well, though, so if he spends more time in there, his draft stocks might rise?

I also think that McNamara isn't far behind that trio. He's a classy ball user coming out of defence. It might also be handy for his prospects, if he spends more time around the ball. The small amount of time that I've seen him in there has impressed me, as he seems to have composure in traffic and tends to choose good options."

So, to add to that. King has remained injury free and his six goal performance in one of the games, has probably done enough to ensure that he gets taken high. Even if he hasn't spent that much time around the ball. How high he goes probably depends on how he goes in the Allies games.

Chamberlain doesn't look like he's transforming into a KPF, so it's possible he slips a bit? So far, he's still kicking around a goal a game as a half forward and getting some handy possessions on the wing. He's doing well, but generally I think that key forwards get taken higher than third talls.

Carmichael is possibly going past him? Even though he hasn't spent much time in the middle, his work off half back has been impressive. He seems to see options very well, and as a consequence, he probably has a high disposal efficiency percentage. He can also defend well against medium and small forwards.

And I might as well add to what I said about McNamara. He's possibly increased his chances of being drafted, by spending more time as a bigger bodied inside mid. He wins a fair bit of ball, lays plenty of tackles and takes contested marks against opposition mids. Although, his disposal in traffic can be a bit hit and miss.

And I will add a rider that it's still a long way out from draft night and a lot can change. We haven't played any Talent League games yet, and they possibly count more than early season form. And I've heard Kinnear say a couple of times, that he counts form in the national championships, a lot more than he counts form in the Talent League. So, if someone stars for the Allies against Vic Metro or WA, then that could really boost their draft position. Though of course, you need to play well enough in the earlier games, to be selected for the Allies.

Thanks for the update and yes of course you had posted earlier I should of remembered lol but the update was interesting (maybe you could do it again after the U18 Championships)

[dejavoodoo44]

The team is out for our first talent league match against Tasmania, which is at Blacktown at 1.20 pm. The female academy side is also playing, as well as the U16s.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DI0wC50P7HL/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=063c937e-b163-4c26-ab9d-c9fbc351bd27&ig_mid=F56B1A6C-4D2D-426D-9F3B-30000D7334CA&img_index=3

Mason McGroder is a handy inclusion. He hasn't played this season, because he's been concentrating on athletics. He's mainly a long jumper, and he just came third in the National championships as a 16 year old.

And it looks like Carmichael and Chamberlain are playing for the AFL Academy on Sunday. Also, overage players Harrison and Ryan aren't there, so perhaps they're playing VFL?

[dejavoodoo44]

The U16 game is on YouTube via Sportscast Australia. While the other two games are on the Coates Talent League app.

Going through the age breakdown for the U18 male team, it seems that it's predominantly underagers. Which might make getting a win more of a challenge, but there's still plenty of talent there.

Underage.
Luke, G Jenkin, W Jenkin, Blackwell-Smith, Titmuss, Price, Chambers, Cooke, McGroder, Norris, Coughlin, Race, McCartney.

Draft.
O'Loughlin, McNamara, Kyle, Meyrick, Morahan, Clifton, King.

Overage.
Andreacchio, Cameron, Lenarduzzi.

[KSAS]

Thanks for the breakdown Deja and look forward to your game analysis.

[dejavoodoo44]

Pretty good first quarter in the U16s, to be ahead 10-3. Possibly should be further in front, as we had three shots touched on the line.

[dejavoodoo44]

Definitely the better side in that quarter, to increase the lead to 26-7. Although the scoreboard says 26-5.

[dejavoodoo44]

It took Tasmania until the twelfth minute of the third quarter to kick their first goal, but bizarrely, they then kicked another four, to get in front 40-39. (Although the scoreboard says we're leading 39-38). It'll be interesting to see if our lads can regain the momentum.

[dejavoodoo44]

Strange game. It looked like we were in for a comfortable win, until Tasmania woke up halfway through the third quarter and they managed to win 65-54. Probably because we weren't sticking the tackles that we were sticking in the first half, which then allowed Tasmania to hurt us on the break.

Our goal kickers were two to Lamond, and singles to Cairns, Wellington, and Milner, possibly one to Epis and one that I didn't see. The player that impressed me most was Cairns. He seems to be a larger bodied midfielder, who can win contested possessions, stick tackles, take contested marks, looks a pretty good kick and covers the ground well. Epis was also competitive around the ball.

I quite liked our ruckmen, Badger and Hardy. Badger is a big lump of a lad, with reasonable mobility and skills. While Hardy is more of a tall athlete, with skills that are more apparent. I thought Richardson looked a definite kpd prospect. Took some strong contested grabs. We also have plenty of skilful smaller players, but I'm not sure if any of them collected enough possessions to really make a mark on today's game?

So, a bit disappointing to lose a game that we appeared to have won, but there are a fair few players that I want to see again.

[KSAS]

Thanks Deja. Some names there to keep an eye out on, despite the result.

[dejavoodoo44]

Tasmania in front 13-10. We probably had more of the play, they were a bit more efficient moving forward. Our only goal was when King intercepted their attempt to rebound and put it through from around 50. The Jenkin twins have been busy.

[dejavoodoo44]

In front 35-30 after kicking the final four goals of that quarter. For the first ten minutes, we were pretty incoherent and could hardly get the ball past halfway. But then Guy Jenkin had a couple of useful wins, that sparked a couple of rebound goals. The first one, O'Loughlin got on the end of it, the second one, it was Titmuss.

Titmuss had a very good quarter for a small forward. He managed to mark and goal from a King hack kick, after King did a bit of a Leo Barry impersonation through traffic. Titmuss could have had another, after a crunching chase down tackle in the pocket, but he chose to pass it off to a player who then missed the set shot.

Our other goal was to Clifton, who found space to mark in the 50 and then put through the set shot. I've quite liked his game in the ruck. Although at 197cm, he's possibly a bit small for a ruckman, but he does get his hands to the ball often and his follow up work is good.

Plenty of other guys doing some good things, without really dominating. Hopefully our second half will be more like the second half of that quarter.

[dejavoodoo44]

Tasmania in front 51-44 at the final change. Looks like the wind has picked up, so maybe they had the advantage? Umpiring starting to annoy me. Seem to be missing some blatant infringements towards our players, but giving some mystery frees to Tasmania.

Our only goal was Chambers being rewarded for a chase down tackle near goal. Andreacchio was pretty useful in the middle. King having another almost day.

[dejavoodoo44]

Tasmania won 67-60. Our goals in that quarter were to Chambers and Guy Jenkin. The Chambers goal had a sharp bit of work from Luke, while the Jenkin goal was due to his gut running and King finding a bit of space to get it to him.

King played mainly forward and had a fair few useful touches, but I think he ended up with 1.5: with most of those behinds coming from blazing away from 40 or 50. So, you can't really say that he had a good game. But he was better than McCartney, who kicked 0.3, including one close range sitter. I think his only mark was in the last minute.

Countering that to some extent, were the efforts of small forwards, Titmuss and Chambers. Both kicked a couple of goals, both were pretty sharp with the ball and both applied some decent pressure.

It's hard to pick our best players, since many did good things, without really dominating. If I had to choose, I'd probably go for Guy Jenkin: even if he did seem to gift Tasmania their final goal, by tapping the ball from the pocket to a free Tasmanian directly in front of goal. Hopefully that was some sort of optical illusion, due to the camera being a long way away? His brother was also good, while O'Loughlin also spent a fair bit of time as an outside mid, and had a few nice touches.

I thought Clifton did well in the ruck and Andreacchio was probably the best of the on ball brigade. He supplied a fair amount of drive, moving through traffic in the middle. Meyrick, Blackwell-Smith and Norris were also useful.

McNamara played largely at half back, in the absence of Carmichael, and had a decent game. Morahan was strong in one on one contests.

A little disappointing to lose, but it probably was always going to be a hard ask, when the majority of the side was underaged.