Sam Walsh is shaping up as the best-prepared AFL draftee in the past two decades
Sam Walsh may be the best prepared teenager to enter the AFL ranks ever. JON ANDERSON looks at the rise of the kid from Geelong who has just about never played a bad game.
Carlton
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If there was a knock on Sam Walsh prior to last year’s national draft, and we are speaking of someone who is largely “unknockable”, it was on his ability to break away from the contest.
That Chris Judd or Patrick Dangerfield explosion that leaves opponents eating dust.
Guess what, Walsh has now added that string to his bow, as seen in Carlton’s two pre-season hit-outs.
It’s typical of a young man who might be entering the AFL as the best-prepared AFL draftee in the past two decades.
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Walsh is also tough — a point proven by his desire to remain on the ground after corking his thigh early in Carlton’s first JLT Cup game against Essendon when he played as if he was in his 10th AFL season.
In his role as talent manager of the Geelong Falcons, Michael Turner, 64, has seen some the game’s finest young talent come through the system, including Gary Ablett jnr, Jimmy Bartel, Jonathan Brown, Luke Hodge, Jordan Lewis and Matthew Scarlett.
None of them get near Walsh in terms on being ready to play at AFL level in their first season, according to Turner.
“He’s the most prepared I have seen in my time with the Falcons,” he said.
“Luke Hodge was the most talented but for different reasons he took a while, whereas Walsh is so ready.
“Having said that, James Worpel from the year before was extremely well prepared.
“What you will find is some players at Carlton will be looking at Walsh thinking, ‘hang on, I’m going to have to lift my game’ given the way this kid goes about it.
“Not Patrick Cripps or Kade Simpson or Ed Curnow, but some of the others will be looking at the standards he’s setting and realise they will have to lift their own levels.
“I have seen some players over-prepare which can be destructive, but this kid is nothing like that.
“I think Sam Walsh going to Carlton is great for that club in more ways than just his obvious ability. Importantly he is also a very grounded young man.
“He’ll walk into the club very relaxed and happily talk to the timekeeper, the head trainer, the coach, his mates, just from one to another. Just a good kid.”
Draft history over the past 20 years shows very few players have come straight into the system and influenced games as Walsh did against Essendon.
Greg “Diesel” Williams did it with Geelong way back in 1984, but he was a country-hardened 20-year-old after twice being rejected by Carlton.
“I’m just like everyone else, just rapt to see a number one pick play like that. The way he played is exactly like you hope a first pick will play. He’s a serious player,” said Williams, who played a combined total of 250 games with Geelong, Sydney and Carlton.
“I couldn’t believe how fresh he was and fast. He must have a very good tank that kid.
“When he ran (Adam) Saad down, I just thought, ‘he’s quick enough, don’t worry about that’. Because that Saad is really quick.
“Everyone has talked him up. I heard (Patrick) Dangerfield say something. There is pressure but that’s the world they live in today.
“Blokes coming straight in, not too many play like that, ‘Juddy’ (Chris Judd) was like that but he played in the WAFL in Round 1 before they realise he was a bit good for that comp.
“Geez, he would have been shitty he didn’t play in Round 1.”
The difference with Walsh and some other precocious talents is the teenager from Geelong has some obvious development to go in his physique.
He is not Sam Powell-Pepper or Ollie “Quadzilla” Wines, a pair of Port Adelaide muscle men who were comfortable in the coalface from day one.
Walsh’s 78kg frame will see him used more on the outside this season, more of a wingman than an in-and-under midfielder.
In time he will add the latter which is a frightening thought for opposition midfielders.
The other string to his bow is extraordinary consistency, to the point where Michael Turner says he can’t remember seeing Walsh play a bad game for Geelong Falcons or Victoria Country.
“There might have been one, but if there was I didn’t see it,” laughs Turner.
The family football line doesn’t end with Sam Walsh as his younger brother Henry will play for the Falcons this year.
But at 204cm he’s 20cm taller than his older brother. Naturally enough he’s a ruckman, and a promising one according to Turner.
PLAYERS WHO WERE READY TO ROLL
Paul Hasleby (Fremantle, 2000): BOG on debut, prolific all year
Chris Judd (West Coast, 2002): Third in the Eagles b&f
Joel Selwood (Geelong, 2007): Rising Star and Premier medal
Toby Greene (GWS, 2013): Eighth in the AFL for possessions, 2nd in b&f
J aeger O’Meara (Gold Coast, 2013): Played every game and finished third in the b&f.
Ollie Wines (Port Adelaide, 2013): Played every game, average 22 possessions
Jacob Weitering (Carlton, 2016): Slotted into key defence with aplomb
Sam Powell-Pepper (Port Adelaide, 2017): Nineteen possies and two goals on debut
Originally published as Sam Walsh is shaping up as the best-prepared AFL draftee in the past two decades
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