The eye-catching run of Dylan Stephens is his No. 1 asset, but it’s Josh Kelly’s all-round game that he wants to emulate
Dylan Stephens’ running ability is in the Andrew Gaff mould. But his ability to win the ball on the inside and forward of centre is like that of Josh Kelly - the player he models his game on.
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There’s been plenty of comparison made between the game style of West Coast ball-magnet Andrew Gaff and South Australia’s top draft prospect Dylan Stephens.
Rightly so, too, given the Norwood midfielder’s elite running ability and neat-kicking left-foot.
With a time of 6.01min, Stephens broke the 2km time trial record at October’s national combine, before his time was beaten in the next – and final – group. His score of 21.2 saw him rank in the top 10 for the yo-yo endurance test.
But it’s smooth-moving GWS gun Josh Kelly who Stephens wants to emulate.
“They are the two players I model my game on, but Josh Kelly is someone, since I’ve moved to Adelaide in the last four or five years, who I’ve watched very closely,” Stephens told The Lowdown AFL Draft Podcast.
“The way he goes about it, the classiness around goal. He’s silky with a great left-foot.
“His ability to play inside and outside as well, he’s someone I’ve really modelled my game on in the past couple of years.”
And it shows, with Stephens’ attributes lining up more closely with the Giants star.
The 18-year-old’s run-and-carry on the outside is still his eye-catching asset, but he also possesses a terrific ability, developed at a young age, to win the ball on the inside.
At the under-18 national championships, the 184cm, 74kg midfielder - who averaged 23 disposals per game at the carnival - won 33 per cent of his possession in a contest. It was a similar story against the bigger bodies at senior level in the SANFL, with Stephens recording a contested possession rate of 32 per cent.
And an elite 58 per cent of his possessions were contested in his two dominant SANFL reserves performances this year.
Across his six-year career, Kelly’s contested-possession rate is 35 per cent, while Gaff’s is 26.
“A lot of my junior career, I played predominantly inside,” Stephens said.
“Then coming over to Adelaide and playing at the higher level is where you get pushed to an outside role.
“In a few years, when my body develops a bit more, I want to be predominantly an inside mid that spreads on the outside and can still use my running ability.”
Like Kelly, Stephens’ left-foot is, arguably, more damaging - and penetrating - than Gaff’s, especially around goal.
Playing for the Redlegs in the SANFL, Stephens, who tallied 20 disposals or more in five of the final nine games, booted eight goals in 13 appearances.
A number of them were on the back of an exhilarating turn of foot, which was highlighted further with a 2.972sec 20-metre sprint at the combine, eclipsing the mark set by Kelly (3.02) and Gaff (3.07) in their draft years.
And his strengths don’t end on the field.
“As a person, (I want to be) someone who’s willing to work hard and work their butt off to earn the respect of the people around them,” Stephens said when asked what type of person an AFL club will get if they draft him.
SANFL State Talent Manager Brenton Phillips echoes the character assessment, stating “any club which picks up Dylan Stephens is going to get a quality person, a quality individual who could perhaps go on to one day captain the club”.
“It’s something I’d love to do, it’s something I aspire to do,” Stephens said.