It wasn’t until July this year when Brenton Phillips was convinced on the competitiveness of talented intercept defender Karl Finlay
After an outstanding season for PAC and South Australia, Karl Finlay looms as one of the best intercept-defenders in the draft pool. But Brenton Phillips wasn’t always convinced on one key trait.
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Karl Finlay ticks a lot of boxes – as a player and as a person.
The 18-year-old is a prefect at Prince Alfred College and captain of its football side which reclaimed the title as state school champion in 2019, highlighting his outstanding leadership qualities.
And, after another standout individual season for PAC and the state under-18 team, the 192cm defender looms as one of the best interceptors in the draft pool.
Finlay’s ability to read the play, leave his man and thwart opposition attacks is matched by his body work, which makes him a very difficult one-on-one proposition.
And when he’s got the ball, Finlay, who made his SANFL league debut in July, is creative – and composed – on the rebound.
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He impressed at the national draft combine, too, recording a promising score in the yoyo endurance test (20.7) for a tall.
But, while his talent and ability was never questioned, it wasn’t until South Australia’s first match of the 2019 national under-18 carnival, that SANFL talent manager Brenton Phillips was convinced about the ultra-competitiveness of Finlay, a vital ingredient to success at the next level.
“It was probably one area, I wondered about. I probably didn’t see that in him quite as much when he came through the system,” Phillips told The Lowdown AFL Draft podcast.
“But he had a fantastic championships playing down back and showed some enormous competitive spirit when games were on the line.”
Late in the first quarter against Western Australia in Perth, a Will Gould kick-in spilled over the back and 191cm WA forward Ronin O’Connor chased the skidding ball past the 50-metre arc. Finlay was running at full-tilt toward O’Connor, who braced for contact, and the pair collided.
“He was cleaned up and it was a solid one too. They met head on,” Phillips explained.
“I was thinking to myself ‘who’s going to be the first one to get up here?’ because they both were rocked by it.”
Not only did Finlay get up first, he shrugged off the SA trainer and was a rock in the Croweaters’ defence for the rest of the game, playing a key part in the side’s 11-point victory.
And he went on to do the same in the following three matches
“It showed me there was a little bit of grit in him,” Phillips said.
Phillips is predicting Finlay’s rise up the draft order to be part of the South Australian contingent, which also includes Port Adelaide father-son prospect Jackson Mead, ball-magnet Harry Schoenberg, excitement machine Kysaiah Pickett and talented Norwood teenager Cam Taheny, taken in the late first to early second round of the draft.