Plenty to like about AFL discardsRohan Connolly
November 5, 2011THIS time a year ago, Ben Nason was basking in the glow of an AFL debut season that had exceeded most expectations.
The pocket-sized man had been a low draft selection by Richmond, plucked from the relative obscurity of SANFL club Central Districts's reserves, but had an immediate impact, playing 19 games, finishing third in the Tigers's goalkicking and equal 12th in the best and fairest.
Now it's all over. After playing 19 games in his first taste of AFL, Nason (pictured) could manage just four this year, the last of them back in round eight. He was delisted last month. And the other day, when I dared suggest to a couple of footy types that he could prove a handy pick-up for another club, I was greeted with howls of derisive laughter.
You can see the mindset. Something like: "This guy's a bit left-field, got under a few guards then got found out, must be a one-trick pony. Dismiss."
It's cool in the football world to make summary scathing judgments on such players. In Nason's case it's mainly "too small" and "too outside". But why is there never in those swift executions even the consideration that the same player could get stronger or develop his inside game?
Richmond decided pretty early in the piece this year that it had more than enough lightly framed runners who got knocked off the ball too easily. Nason was the most expendable. But why should that preclude him from someone else's plans?
Nason's 22, not 32. It's not like his football characteristics are cast in stone. And has the game really changed that much in 12 months that the assets which a year ago were good enough to earn him substantial returns and kudos are no longer enough to get him a game anywhere?
Hard to believe.
The Tigers might well have made the right call. But few disputed their decision to cut another little man in David Rodan at the end of 2006 after he'd struggled to rebound from his first knee reconstruction.
That, clearly, has been Port Adelaide's gain.
Of course, Nason's just one of a dozen or so delisted AFL players currently wrestling with inevitable self-doubt, and desperately hoping not just for another chance come draft time but that his cards haven't been irretrievably marked.
Likewise John McCarthy, good enough to be an emergency in Collingwood's 2010 grand final replay line-up but incapable of earning more than 18 games over four years more through the glut of talent at the Westpac Centre as any of his own shortcomings.
Ditto Gavin Urquhart, who at least has some surety that North Melbourne will redraft him as a rookie if he isn't picked up by a rival. Urquhart hasn't been the same since injuring a knee early in 2010, but prior to that had impressed plenty of judges with his run and clean disposal off half-back.
All three are young, have shown at least some signs at senior level, and having already been through the system, know what is required. Would they be any more a gamble for a club than a lower-round national draft pick out of the under 18s who may or may not be capable of translating junior success into something more substantial in the adult football world?
Other delistees are more problematic, be they queries over age, injury or character. It was the former as much as anything that cost Setanta O'hAilpin his spot on the Carlton list, the Irishman turning 29 next March.
Yes, he's erratic and unpredictable. But the latter quality in a more robotic football age has proved an asset more than once for the Blues.
He's also big, strong and passionate - three qualities in which Melbourne has fallen short too frequently in recent times. While they've already got Mitch Clark, surely the Demons could do worse than make a few inquiries about O'hAilpin.
Age and character are the barriers to two far bigger names in Brendan Fevola and Daniel Motlop, presenting a sort of catch-22. Only a successful outfit with strong leaders could afford to take gambles of that scale. But they're not the sorts of clubs that need either.
Brad Dick is a particularly interesting case. Two shoulder reconstructions and one for the knee have taken their toll. It's tempting to write him off as cursed. But Dick is only 23, and has shown several times in his fleeting senior appearances for Collingwood that he cuts the mustard at AFL level.
Would a new suitor be gambling on anything more sinister than just a change of luck?
There are "ifs" and "buts" about every AFL player regardless of whether they're coming all slick and new straight off the TAC under 18 production line, or from the used car yard.
But with the new clubs having all but locked away the cream of the crop of kids, there might be a fair bit of bargain-hunting going on these next few weeks. And, as far as I can see, plenty of value buys to be had. All Nason, McCarthy, Urquhart and co. need is for potential suitors to consider what they can do rather than focus exclusively on what they can't.
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