Summary
Tyrone Vickery
* We thought Ty had all the necessary skills to be a modern day AFL player for us. As you know his father works at the footy club so we've watched Ty grow up over the last few years and we've also seen him go through the trial and tribulations of overcoming a serious knee injury. So we've seen his dedication and ability to work hard in the gym. At 2 metres and impressive movement skills, we believe he can play as a modern day AFL ruckman but also as a tall forward. He has exceptional leg speed for someone his size.
* It was very difficult given his father works at the club in particular as John is a boxing coach. We had discussions during the day and a exit plan (laughs). Nah he's a terrific fellow and he was buzzing in out of my office for the last two week asking if there's been any more rumours on what others would do with picks prior to our pick. He's quite funny John. I asked Ty last night how he got to training on Monday and Ty told me he caught the train in from Brighton. John made Ty catch the train as he didn't want him to get ahead of himself. So that shows what type of personality John is. He's terrific.
* It's been amazing his rehab program and the way he has comeback from the ACL for his size. As I said his movement skills are exceptional. Players generally lose some mobility after a reco but Ty fitted straight back into the TAC Cup although he didn't spend a great deal of time in the ruck earlier in the year. He only spent more time onball as the year progressed. He's an exceptional ruckman. He had the highest hitouts to advantage in the TAC Cup with 30% this year.
* 2009 Expectations? It's certainly for ruckman to compete against the bigger bodies in the ruck. I think Ty can play as a key forward. As I said he has exceptional leg speed and he showed in the National Carnival his ability to play up forward against the best defenders. So I think we'll be seeing him in that position and obviously he needs to build his body and spend a great deal of time in the gym before he can compete with the bigger more physical bodies in the ruck.
Jayden Post
* Jayden is a 194cm KPP. He can play at both ends of the ground. He's very good in the air. He took 50 more marks than any other player in the TAC Cup this year which is a substancial amount. He reads the play exceptionally well. He took the most number of uncontested marks from the oppositon in that he reads the ball very very well. So he's predominantly played back but had an exceptional final where he took 15 marks and he played at both ends of the ground where he demonstrated an ability to kick goals as well. So I think he'll be able to play at both ends of the ground and he should come to the fore very quickly.
* Yes 194cm is a good size. He also has good endurance which is another factor which will enable him to play as a key forward as well.
Tom Hislop
* We know Tom Hislop can play. We've seen him play AFL footy. Had a terrific game in Sydney playing for the Bombers. We see him as bringing a great deal of strength and aggressive attack on the footy. We rated him highly in 2006 when he was drafted with pick 20. He's had a few issues which he has sat down and discussed with us and we think he just provides us with a different type of player. He's very versatile Tom. He has a very strong fierce attack on the footy and he's two years into his development program in his body and his attack of the footy is terrific. So we feel he'll be ready to play straight away.
* No we're confident Tom realises the importance. Not many players get a second chance. Tom I think will relish the chance and opportunity he's been given. He'll certainly make the most of it.
PSD draft
* Yes we have one pick. We passed on our last pick after Brisbane took Bart McCulloch at pick 69 which we were going to pick at pick 70. So we felt there was an uneven bunch of players left in the draft and no one stand out. So we'll actually get them into Punt Rd and we've got a number of them training for the next two weeks which will give us the opportunity to make a much more informed decision after watching the boys for two weeks. We've done that in the past few years with Will Thursfield, Matty White and Jake King. Three players that came from a similar philosophy.
