Brenton Phillips frustrated with SANFL draft result
SANFL talent boss Brenton Phillips has described Friday night’s national draft as disappointing but says the highly-rated Croweaters who were overlooked can hold hope of being picked up in the rookie draft on Monday.
SANFL talent boss Brenton Phillips has described Friday night’s national draft as disappointing but says the highly-rated Croweaters who were overlooked can hold hope of being picked up in the rookie draft on Monday.
Phillips said he was disappointed for the shunned individuals rather than SA as a collective which had its lowest number of national draftees (six) since 2007 when there were four.
In the last six years the SANFL has had 12, 10, 13, 15, 13 and 13 players taken in the national draft but despite finishing runner-up at this year’s national championships and five players being named All-Australian it didn’t translate to another bumper draft.
Phillips on Saturday said he was thrilled for the six players who had their name called — Will Hayward, Brandan Parfitt, Brennan Cox, Jack Graham, Willie Rioli and Lewis Young — and he hopes many more will join them on an AFL list tomorrow.
“I’m hopeful ... I can say I’m confident but I don’t actually pick them,” Phillips said.
“We are relying on 18 clubs taking them and having a view on their talent.
“So fingers crossed we get a lot taken in that (rookie) draft.
“Then you’re there, you're ready to go and you give yourself an opportunity.
“I think it’s (national draft) a disappointing result and more so from the players’ perspective than the SANFL’s perspective.
“They’ve done a lot of hard work during the year and albeit for probably 90 seconds of football should have been national champions and for some reason they’ve been overlooked.
“But that’s the way footy goes and the SANFL provides a very good career pathway for the blokes who miss out on the draft, they can go back to their clubs and immerse themselves in their football there.”
Among the biggest surprises for SA on Friday night were All-Australian Glenelg pair Jonty Scharenberg and Sam Walker being overlooked.
They are likely to find a new home in the rookie draft as will North Adelaide’s Ben Jarman — who the Crows have committed to taking if he’s still available — and possibly North’s Kym Lebois and Glenelg’s Liam Mackie.
“I always said this year’s draft pool was really even, once you get past the top 15 or 20 you could throw a blanket over the rest of the field,” Phillips said.
“You could pick the next 60 players in any order.”
Phillips described North’s Jack Graham, who won the Larke Medal as the best player in the national championships, sliding all the way to Richmond at pick No. 53 as “astounding”.
“That a Larke Medallist could get that far out in the draft ... but that’s what I was saying pick 20 to 76 you could throw a blanket over them and another 25 around the country you thought were really stiff not to get on a list,” he said.
Phillips is confident the next two years will see SA return to its usual quota of national draftees based on representation in the talent academies.
“We have very good representation in the national academies so that’s always a strong indicator that your talent pool coming through has some quality and that’s a real credit to our clubs and the work they do,” he said.
reece.homfray@news.com.au
