18 - Blake Acres
19 - Luke Dunstan
Here at St Failda, we're excited to have grabbed the best 3 midfielders in the draft at 3, 18 and 19.
Blake shows huge potential in setting dwarves alight and Luke Dunstan is excited by the prospect of being photographed along side Nick Riewoldts sausage.
St Failda coach - Danny Frawley
sheesh if this happened in the real draft i reckon the sainters would be wetting themselves with joy.
agree. I rate them both top 10. Dunstan is very underrated in particular.
Pick #20 - Gold Coast - Eli Templeton - 182cm/75kg - Midfielder/HBF
One of my absolute favourites in this draft, Templeton is a highly skilled midfielder who can play multiple positions. Templeton seems to have dropped off the radar a bit this year and one of the major knocks on him seems to be that he's only 67kg. Funny thing is, he actually isn't. He's 75kg. No different to Aish, Kelly, Kolodjashnij, Z.Jones and many others that I can't think of off the top of my head. All the articles I've read on him say 3rd rounder and in this draft any club who gets him in the 3rd round has got themselves a bargain. I think he's one of the few players in this draft that could become an A-grader and would be happy with him at Richmond for pick 12.
Strengths: Templeton is one of the cleanest players in this draft pool. He rarely fumbles the footy, even under pressure. He has very, very high skill level by both hand and foot, which are only helped by his excellent decision making. Of all the midfielders in the draft, Templeton has one of the bigger tanks going around having run a 10:05 in the 3km time trial (7th) and reached level 15.3 on the beep test (4th.) This combination of elite endurance and a high skill level and decision making have seen him used primarily in an outside role this year. However, put a few more kgs on him so he can match it with the men and you will end up with a very talented inside/outside midfielder.
Weaknesses: IMO Templeton is a very well-rounded midfielder so there aren't a lot of weaknesses. He's skilful, he runs hard and although maybe lacking a little pace (not sure how he tested?) I don't think this is really a weakness more so that it's not a weapon he possesses. If anything his only real weakness has been his lack of size, though as I've mentioned I see it as a non-issue at a now healthy 75kg.
Why Gold Coast? Pretty much because he's best available. Whilst he's generally considered a pick 25+ I rate him 9th and would take him over Acres, Billings, KK, Kelly and Freeman. So at pick 20 I'm pretty happy with him.
