Wisbey rates him 
here is wisbey's profile of Jacko
Daniel Jackson (Oakleigh Chargers)
186/88 bottom-age right foot (has left if necessary) versatile midfielder / utility.
Not a basketballer, not a soccer player but ... a rower. A bloody rower! A rower though who took his oars out of the water for a while, stepped onto a TAC footy field and created his own waves almost immediately.
Will go later than I rank him, but perhaps still as early as round 2 though.
My unheralded hit pick of the future. The order of my rankings does essentially reflect the extent to which I fancy the players but I have made various concessions in the order to partly accommodate marketability and factors like gut feel speculation versus proven track record. You won't need to use pick 11 to get Jackson and he is basically unproven so conventional wisdom dictates he is not worth anything like pick 11. However, if I was at the draft table, the first pick I had after about pick 8 I would use on Jackson and not risk missing out on him later. A big call, especially for a rower newbie who averaged only 12 disposals in his 8 TAC games, but that's how confident I am that he has very serious AFL potential despite bugger-all footy background. Certainly ready by year 2, despite giving a head start to his peers and still being on the early part of the learning curve. Again despite those factors, it would not even surprise me if he played some games in year 1.
There was talk he may not nominate this year but I hope he does. He is very bottom-age and, as a footy newbie, a full year of TAC in '04 would help him learn the game at a very comfortable level. However, indications are that he would thrive in the environment of an AFL club and I think his learning would be better fast-tracked there.
*STYLE LIKE: Voss
*TRADEMARK:
- Run straight into oncoming traffic, clean hands gather on the move inside the traffic, show great balance and poise, spot quickly then long accurate, powerful feed out the other side of the traffic.
*SUMMARY ASSESSMENT, RECOMMENDATION:
I shudder to think how good this kid would have been by now had he always been a footballer. He strikes me as a natural.
He is one of those kids who could probably turn his hand to just about any sport and make a fist of it. As it happens he is also a high jump champ.
Athletically, physically and mentally, he brings to footy the following:-
- Great leap. In terms of DC tests, I focus on a kid's best running jump on his preferred take-off leg. Jackson beat 73% of the 168 DC/SS players tested.
- Genuine pace in a power, balanced-in-the-run, glide over the turf style. Beat 93% of DC/SS kids in the 5m test and 79% in the 20m.
- Willingness to push himself. Beat 79% in the Beep test.
- Body shape. Has a very good build and size already. Powerful (as you would expect from a strong rower). 186cm and 88kg, And even his first AFL pre-season will improve it further. His skin-fold reading only beat 24% of the DC/SS participants
A bit more background.
Had an ankle injury pre-season. Played 4 games early season, under-prepared, and so struggled a bit with touch and match fitness yet still kicked 4-2 in his 2nd game, taking 5 marks.
Is a Carey Grammar kid who didn't play TAC again until July, playing one game then and a further 3 in August. Played mainly midfield and gathered 20 or 21 touches in each of his first 3 of the 4 games after coming back., averaging 3 marks and 4 tackles in those games. Morrish Medal votes in the first 2 of those. I didn't see the first of those but I saw his last 3 and it was mainly his game against the almost invincible Calder Cannons that convinced me (although no votes).
Averaged just 7D in his first 4 games of the season (playing mainly deep forward, with stints elsewhere including deep defence) but 17D in his subsequent 4 games.
I saw him every game bar one. In his first game he wasn't worth a pinch and I noted his form as "underwhelming". Played FB on Kane (Eastern) and, for example, badly misjudged an overhead mark. At the same time, I badly misjudged Jackson.
Revisiting his physical / athletic attributes, his DC/SS skin-fold result indicates significant scope for improvement. This is not to be interpreted as a nice way of saying he is currently a pudding. far from it. He has a build which will finish up perfect for AFL. And it probably will only take one pre-season to be almost there. He already has a really good core physique but it just needs to be conditioned into a bit better definition.
His DC/SS agility result was only about average.
With all this, we have to take onto account that he is a TAC newbie who played only 8 games and, importantly was unable through injury to do a proper pre-season. Furthermore, while rowing works a helluva lot of muscles throughout the body, it is not the ideal preparation for the movement / agility required for footy. In fact, rowing could be argued to be detrimental, in some aspects, to footy preparation.
Summary so far:
A natural athlete who is genuinely very quick (refer 5m, 20m times) but strong. A kid who is strongly built (88k) but has a big leap (8th of 36 in the 184-187cm DC/SS group) and is prepared to push himself (refer Beep result). A kid, though, coming from a strength but sedentary sport in rowing so not surprisingly needs to improve his agility a bit, body definition a fair bit (refer skin-fold result), and maybe endurance(?). I query endurance only because I don't have a 3Km time for the Screening Sessions attendees and because rowing, while great for aerobic fitness, is otherwise not conducive to running fitness. I have no reason to doubt his endurance.
Most importantly, he can really play. And, although he naturally still has a fair bit to learn about the finer points of footy (eg centre-bounce strategies), he is already very clever. And I mean footy-smart clever. And not "for a rower" but genuinely , regardless of (despite) his lack of experience. (He is also very intelligent off-field, incidentally).
DC/SS results for any player are only a guide or opportunity to cross-check what you had observed in games or were not sure about. In mentioning much of the above stuff about Jackson's athleticism, I referred to DC/SS result purely by way of statistical evidence to support what I had already concluded, without exception, from observing him in games.
When it comes to the age-old argument of footballer versus athlete, my philosophy has never wavered - Give me footballer over athlete. Within reason, I strongly believe there is significantly more chance of improving the pace / athleticism of a player who is clean and has footy smarts than there is of giving an athlete clean hands and smarts. I grow even stronger in that conviction during this era of "scrumby".
There is clearly a place for outside runners. However, with packs regularly numbering 16-22 around the ball in a floating scrum all over the ground, I believe the emphasis these days needs to be more on players who routinely
1. have an acceptable combination of poise, strength and intensity inside traffic
2. read the ball well at / inside traffic
3. under pressure, keep their feet, are not easily stripped, and keep their arms free
4. have good traffic management (including, ideally, ability to create space)
5. can get the hard ball cleanly inside traffic, know what to do with it, and being able to think and act quickly,
and less on athleticism per se.
I'm not advocating slugs but I am advocating genuine footballers. I still have outside runners in my list, including a couple early (Walker and Ray, and not that they lack smarts or don't attack the ball). However, my rankings and recommendations have a strong leaning to inside players over outside ones and to footballers over athletes.
I mention all this because, despite Jackson being a footy newbie and highly athletic, I certainly don't class him as an athlete project in the usual sense and he is very much inside and intrinsically footy smart. His appeal to me is first and foremost as a natural footballer, albeit one who happens to have great athletic attributes "as well". With Jackson, you can tick off all of 1-5 above ... PLUS what you would hope for athletically.
And you can add:-
- strong overhead
- good disposal depth
- not only creative but inventive
- routinely looks for options
- team player
- excellent work ethic
- physicality
- courage
- quick recovery
- quick hands
- highly coachable and intelligent
- versatility
- good character
And just a reminder - he is very bottom age.
Jackson is a very intelligent kid who is laid back (not in the slack sense but in the sense of not being a "footy-is-everything ", single focus type. It is expected that he will absolutely thrive on AFL and in an AFL environment and, although still just learning the game, has already demonstrated that he is learning at a very fast rate.
As you can gather, I believe he can be seriously good AFL, perhaps even a gun. That's the best-case scenario. Worst case, 10-15 on an AFL list. There are some players who you suspect have high upside but who are so lacking in current demonstration of their perceived potential that they must be rated a greater than normal risk of failing to deliver. Brent Hall is one. Jackson is not. Subject to injury, I see Jackson, despite being somewhat of a "no name", as "no risk", a "no-brainer" draft selection. (Note the "er").
*DISPOSAL, DECISION-MAKING, SMARTS:
(see above)
- Currently not much idea at ball-ups, especially centre bounce. Seems to be unsure where to position and when / how /where to make a move so tends to spectate a bit in that situation.
- Other than that situation, reads both play and ball very well and displays excellent traffic management. Seems to be wherever the ball is and seems to do the right thing on most occasions.
- Is a thumping kick. Somewhat unusual, but effective, kicking style - sometimes holds the ball very much out in front of himself as if his arms don't bend. (Usually OK off the boot but kick occasionally goes left). Kicking for goal is a mixed bag, more mix than bag. Overall though, I would describe him as "generally accurate".
- Good mix of disposals, hand or foot, shortish or long (although preference for longish, whether by hand or by foot). Plenty of power, hand or foot, but also weights well.
- Very good poise, generally looks around for options even under great pressure, and keeps arms free. (At this stage he occasionally doesn't quite "look up" when charging out of traffic with an opponent on his jack and hurries a quick kick "somewhere" downfield. However, if in that scenario an opportunity to feed by hand presents itself, he does routinely spot and deliver.)
- Quick brain, will be a reliable decision-maker.
*HANDS:
- Extremely clean and sure, all levels.
*OVERHEAD MARKING:
- Also very clean, sure. Good pack mark for size and crashes the pack. Can take a very big grab, any angle, but especially from behind. If he gets his hands to it he usually takes it.
*ATHLETICISM, INTENSITY, ETHIC, CONSISTENCY:
(see above)
- Works hard. Routinely runs to block, runs on to present an option, etc.
- Intelligent and listens attentively to coaches.
- Generally very good intensity. Stats tell only part of the story with Jackson as he is so competitive and works very hard whether he has it, his team mates have, the opposition has it, or the ball is in dispute. Is very physical, purposeful. Attacks man and ball and closes quickly and aggressively .When he tackles or bumps, he means it. Hits hard.
- Good balance, strong over the ball, keeps his feet.
- Courageous and mentally tough. Stands his ground under great pressure. Works hard even when injured.
- Very good evasion - side step, 360, sell the dummy, etc. And sudden, not telegraphed.
*BY WAY OF EXAMPLE....:
- I can understand how much of this assessment of a relative no-name may sound like over-the-top bullsh* so in this section I want to get into specifics. Oakleigh were not a strong side in '03. On the one hand that means it is easier to stand out. On the other hand you have to do more of the work yourself and playing in a strong team (eg Calder) engenders the confidence to do things in the knowledge that you are surrounded by plenty of talent to support you. A good test for a player in a low team is how well you perform against a top team. In that context, it was fortunate for me that Jackson played twice against the virtually invincible Calder Cannons. Let me re-visit my notes from those two games as they demonstrate the range of Jackson's capabilities, versatility and where he is currently at. This is warts and all, but excluding all positive summary conclusions and including the single negative summary conclusion.:-
- 3/5/03 (his 2nd game): "Tagged" McLean from mid Q2. McLean still did many nice things and, in fairness, it was McLean's 1st TAC game for the year. At the end of the day, Jackson 8 disposals, Mclean 19 (quite a few before Jackson was on him) but I was impressed by Jackson's application and general manner. McLean is very young but Jackson even a bit younger. Despite only 8D, Jackson still managed
1. two vice grab oh marks at half forward.
2. a hard ball get under great pressure mid traffic and in which he kept his feet while tackled and spotted and fed, showing poise and class.
3. a good punchaway.
4. a pick-up and feed in same motion.
5. an unselfish block then 2e, running after the ball then a diving strong tackle (moved well).
For the record, his biggest crime in that game that I noticed was choosing to kick across ground once to a one-on-one.
- 16/08/03:
Pros:
1. Broke tackle then non-pref left hand feed HBF, showing poise under pressure, spotting, balance, clean hands.
2. Charged into heavy traffic in BP, clean hands gather, sidestep, sidestep, sidestep then feed, showing excellent traffic management, very sharp evasion, balance, poise under great pressure.
3. Very high overhead mark on a strong lead at CHF.
4. Immediately ran hard, after feeding, to present an option.
5. Hardball get mid-traffic under great pressure then jumped very high straight up in the air from a standing start to feed while high in air & riding a bump. The feed went over the top of traffic 15m to a team mate in the clear. Magnificent athleticism, leap, poise under great pressure, balance, smarts. Excellent spotting and long feed. Also great courage as the ball he got was high in the air & he had to run with the flight into heavy traffic to take it as a hospital air gather. Brilliant.
6. And then he did a similar thing later but a difficult gather off the ground & in only light traffic midfield.
7. Excellent reflex smother then quick recovery to take the same spill under great pressure, barging into traffic. Kept he feet while being tackled, then fed off. Showed willingness to attack both man and ball, balance, very clean hands, quick reaction and thinking, poise and decision-making under pressure.
8. Ran hard 10m to smother. Desperate. Excellent closing speed.
9. High one-grab overhead mark from behind one-on-one (albeit against the 177cm Hartigan).
10. Rode shotgun to protect a team mate who was carrying the ball on the run.
11. 360 degree turn out of trouble the feed while tackled..
Cons:
1. A not very committed attempted tackle. Easily pushed off marking contest by rover Ezard.
2. (General note) Seems unsure of how / where to position himself and when / how to move at ball-ups. Needs coaching in this aspect.
- One other important example was round 18, played in a continuous heavy downpour. It was significant to me because it showed that Jackson was mentally tough and prepared to push himself (as attested to by his DC/SS Beep result). He injured his leg (corkie? quad?) mid Q1 and was clearly genuinely inconvenienced after that, often grimacing. I mean "genuinely" because there are players who cop something minor and feel a need to exaggerate throughout the game, as if observers will marvel at their melodramatic heroics, their pretend pain threshold. These are guys who actually worry me. In Jackson's case, the inconvenience was indisputable and his discomfort in certain actions was genuine automatic reaction. Despite that, he still continually pushed himself to chase, tackle, throw himself into packs etc with exactly the same intensity as he would uninjured. I think the coach kept him off from ½ time until late game but when he came back on he continued to throw himself at everything, even contesting some ruck contests, and stiil at times clearly inconvenienced. Still picked up 11 possessions plus heaps of non-stats stuff. AFL players have to learn to push themselves through pain barriers as they are often 'carrying" some sort of niggle into a game. Jackson proved in that game that he has that mental toughness.
- Note the routine ability to do things well under great pressure. Note also that I haven't even mentioned either of the 2 games in which het got Morrish Medal votes (and 20+ possessions).
*SCI (SCOPE FOR CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT):
- Great scope for continuous improvement. (see above). I rate he and Hall as arguably the players with the most scope in this year's draft. Will improve in leaps and bounds as he continues learning the finer points about strategies, positioning etc.
*AFL VERSATILITY:
- Should be very versatile. Stints at U18 level in most roles, both ends and midfield, including FF and CHB, despite being only 186cm. Not that he would be KPP at AFL of course but it does show that he plays fairly tall.
- I think he is ideally suited to running HBF, where he could be outstanding at AFL level. However, is also a natural wingman. Has the potential in time to be excellent as a run-with and might develop into a "ruckrover-type" onballer in his own right, once he learns what stop play strategy is all about. At the very least he is capable of playing anywhere down the flanks. As a forward, he is not the world's best shot for goal but gets the pill and also works very hard to keep the ball in the forward line and to clear a path for team mates.
*QUERY:
- Nothing of note.
*SOME STATS:
- TAC: Averaged 12 disposals in 8 TAC games (split into a pair of 4 games at a time). 2.3 marks, 2.9 tackles, total 6 goals-9. 50% of disposals are kicks. 19% of his possessions are marks. At least 20 disposals in 3 games.
- Mid-way trend .. % change in disposals was 143%. % change in marks was 56%. % change in tackles was 52%.
http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=93802&highlight=Jackson
