Why this year's AFL draft looks the most even in years Emma Quayle
The Age
April 18, 2014 This time last year Tom Boyd was the No. 1 draft pick in waiting. Lachie Whitfield was annointed 18 months out, Jon Patton was leading the way two or three weeks into his draft season and David Swallow spent 12 months on the Gold Coast before the Suns called his name.
It's not uncommon for the best player in the draft to have introduced himself by this early stage of the season. In fact it happens more often than not. The last time it probably didn't was 2008, when Jack Watts' national carnival pushed him up alongside Daniel Rich, Nic Naitanui and even Michael Hurley.
That's what we have again this year, though. A very even group, an open No. 1 slot, and a situation where which players go where would well be determined by which clubs finish where.
The good news for Melbourne, Brisbane and Carlton, should they not revive themselves, is that clubs looking for a (top quality) tall will get one, even if they finish in the bottom five, six or seven.
They won't have to do any crazy trading to make it happen, either, and it's easy to see that neither the Blues nor the Demons would feel too wrought if Bryce Gibbs and James Frawley happened to deliver first round free agency picks, considering where those clubs sit on the contention scale.
Peter Wright will appeal to almost everyone. He is enormous, the most imposing player in this year's group and quick, if not necessarily in a nimble way. He could play as a forward, or in the ruck. He'll end up doing both, meaning he has to be picked high. Not many others can, this year.
Sam Durdin is one, and every chance to whoosh right up the perceived order once he's back from a broken thumb in the next week or two. The South Australian could spend time in defence, too.
But there are others, and plenty of football to still be played.
Paddy McCartin broke a finger training with the AIS-AFL Academy before the squad flew to London two weeks ago, and hasn't been able to do much on its two-week training camp. He's big, strong and able to clunk a mark. He spent only a couple of minutes on the MCG against the Collingwood VFL side because of his injury, but showed off all those things in the first 30 seconds, marking cleanly and playing on to kick a goal.
Hugh Goddard can play forward or back too, from quarter to quarter if required, and wants to do both things as often as possible this year. He takes things seriously, and can see an opportunity to provide recruiters with a point of difference, when they're sifting through all the talls.
Darcy Moore should go to Collingwood as the club's first pick, under the father-son rule, and needs to be considered in this group too, given he'll push other players down the list depending where that first pick lands. Moore travelled at the end of last year, giving up his spot in the Academy, but would have been here otherwise and has started the year in perhaps the best, most athletic and most versatile form of everyone.
Tom Lamb is a tallish forward, who can also play on a wing and make some of the most imaginative things happen, when he decides to. There's nobody like him in this group and he looks a top-10 pick,
as does
Jake Lever. Lever, who captained Vic Metro as a bottom-ager in 2013, ruptured his ACL at the end of last year and won't be running around the backline again anytime soon. But recruiters on the Europe trip haven't missed the way he has involved himself in whatever has been going on. Plus, he can really play.
There's seven, and that without slotting a midfielder or two in. That group's even too, and not particularly deep at this stage, which means there are opportunities awaiting any kids who want to push their way up. The recruiters are looking for them.
Angus Brayshaw is one who will be drafted high, and play a lot of games. He's a bull, and he knows what it's all about.
Lachie Weller has class and
Clem Smith is a wrecking ball, who will be drafted high but could be drafted really high if he turns from small defender into midfielder.
Isaac Heeney will take up another first round spot, but end up in Sydney; unless something dramatic happens. it's likely clubs will force the Swans to use their first pick on the midfielder, a Swans Academy player. Heeney has found ways to dominate even training sessions on the AIS-AFL Academy camp, the last one of its kind, with the program to be renamed the AFL National Academy next year given the Australian Insitute of Sport's decision to no longer attach its name.
The team is likely to travel early next year rather than in the middle of the school year, meaning its part-time coaches won't be drawn away to their other, better-paying jobs, as Brad Johnson was during this trip. Other changes - maybe a larger group - are possible too, with the league at the moment reviewing all aspects of the talent pathway.
Recruiters are filled with ideas - from the AFL taking charge of kids' development at a much younger age than present, before bad technical habits are cemented, to how much TAC Cup coaches are paid - and so any other changes will be interesting.
The number of boxes draftees need to tick keeps growing; while we've just seen Josh Kelly, Luke Dunstan, James Aish and others leap straight into senior footy, the gap for most is getting bigger.
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