Inside the new Super Draft: Why the 2018 draft class is the best since the famous 2001 crop
Bailey Smith may have slipped to number seven on draft night but did the Western Bulldogs end up with the pick of the 2018 super draft?
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Kevin Sheehan thought it could be the best draft haul in 20 years.
The AFL’s No. 1 talent aficionado was at a Darwin training camp with Luke Power ahead of the 2018 draft when he began to believe that year’s crop could rival the famous 2001 super draft.
Instead of AFL greats Luke Hodge, Luke Ball, Chris Judd and Jimmy Bartel, it was Sam Walsh, Bailey Smith, Connor Rozee and the King twins dazzling onlookers at a pre-draft training workout.
“We had watched them play at the national championships, we had seen their testing results and we had met the kids and we just thought at the time, ‘this is a very special group’,” Sheehan recalled this week.
“It was a super group.
“We were actually chuckling about it, that ‘we’ve got a super draft Mark II on our hands’.
“They were just so impressive as a group of young men as well as everything that they were doing on the field, and a lot of it is still to unfold.”
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Entering their third AFL seasons, Sheehan’s private prediction about the top crop in two decades looks like it could be spot on as Walsh, Smith, Rozee, Max and Ben King, Nick Blakey, Zak Butters and Co. stamp themselves as genuine stars of the competition.
Western Bulldogs legend and NAB AFL Academy coach Brad Johnson said we had only seen the tip of the iceberg in the King twins who he predicted would carve up the league in their prime.
“That draft group is only going to get better the more we see the King twins really start to dominate the competition,” Johnson said.
“This draft will be talked about in four years’ time for example as possibly the best-ever collectively, from the players we are talking about.
“The King boys could be kicking 160 goals between them each year, with the way the game is going.
“Their movement and agility is like no other 200cm players that I have seen. They read the ball well, they attack the contest, they don’t lose their feet.
“And when the ball hits the deck, it is like ‘wow, what is happening here’. And that is what we are seeing today. They are never out of the contest.
“That is what will set them apart as they get bigger and stronger.
“And then you have got the mids like Rozee or Butters, who could win a Brownlow. That is the type of talent there.”
And further outside of the top-10 that year, Jye Caldwell (Essendon), Isaac Quaynor (Collingwood), Jordan Clark (Geelong), Xavier Duursma (Port Adelaide) and James Rowbottom (Sydney Swans) are beginning to shine, as well as smokies Will Kelly (Collingwood), Laitham Vandermeer (Western Bulldogs) and James Jordon (Melbourne).
But it’s the talent at the top end which could separate it from the pack.
“It is rare that you get a top-eight that is that special,” one recruiter said this week.
“The King twins are freaks, then you’ve got these really highly-talented mid-forwards like (Izak) Rankine, Rozee and Blakey, who are your very modern, rangy, hybrid types.
“And then there’s Walsh and Smith who are pure jet midfielders. They have got enormous running capacity and are just super competitive.”
While Walsh has been the face of the group since he was taken at No. 1, and has not put a foot wrong since he landed at Carlton, it’s Smith, who slipped to pick seven, who could yet be the pick of the bunch.
That’s not forgetting Rankine, who slotted three goals in his unforgettable debut last year, while there is a belief at Port Adelaide – and it is a huge call – that Butters is showing similar traits to Gary Ablett Jr at the same age.
But Walsh is the Rolls Royce who has won 25 contested possessions in his first two games in a new onball role this season and Smith has not missed a game since he debuted, playing 43-straight matches.
Smith, 20, has made clear he wants to be the best midfielder in the game, and has relentlessly pursued that ambition, weighing his food and training intensely from a young age.
One top scout this week said the young Dog’s running power was not unlike a young Ben Cousins.
“We thought it was an unbelievable draft, a cracking draft,” a scout said.
“And everyone loved Smith at the time.
“After a game at ‘Sandy’, he would go and do two hours of rehab and recovery at the beach. That was extra running or core work.
“He is incredible, his dedication and professionalism and the player I think he plays like and trains like is Ben Cousins.
“Put the drug issues aside. I’m talking about his work rate on the field, it is absolutely phenomenal, that running power.”
Asked who he would prefer from Walsh and Smith, St Kilda great Leigh Montagna said “I would take Smith”.
“Right at the moment Walsh is the better player and has more runs on the board,” Montagna said.
“But I think Bailey Smith is an absolute star.
“Probably (Smith) has better skills and he hits the scoreboard a tad more often and his running ability (is elite).
“It is a very tough one and there certainly isn’t a big gap between the two. I like Walsh but I love Bailey Smith.”
But the draft wasn’t without controversy either. There was a genuine question mark in the lead-up over how well Smith would settle at an interstate club.
In a candid interview this year, Smith said he was managing a mental health condition and described himself as a “perfectionist” and an “over-thinker”.
“The club is really good, very open with this, and lots of my teammates know I struggle at times.” Smith told the league website.
“People knew I had mental health issues before I got drafted, which is something which is OK and I take in my stride.”
Walsh has been dubbed a future club captain since his days at the Geelong Falcons and produced one of the most team-lifting moments of the 2020 season when he reeled in the mark of the year backing into a pack against Port Adelaide.
That combination of fearlessness, courage and leadership is what made Walsh an excellent first pick, a list boss said.
“It really depends on what you want to bring into your footy club,” the list chief said.
“Just say you rated Smith a nine out of 10 as a player and Walsh might be a 7.5, but then Walsh can be the captain of your footy club and contribute really strongly in some other areas.
“That’s why you take him No. 1. So, as a pure footballer, Smith stands out. He’s probably the best footballer of the lot because he’s more powerful.
“But how often does someone like Walsh come along, someone who has his ability but could also be skipper?
“He is your ultimate team player, he will do whatever the team needs.
“He will always bring his teammates into the play, and at pick one, do you go the safer option in that regard?”
Port Adelaide stands to be one of the biggest winners of the draft, nabbing Rozee, Butters and Duursma to complete their rebuild-on-the-run, while the Suns opted for two players with huge ceilings, the silky-smooth Jack Lukosius and dead-eye Rankine at picks two and three.
Lukosius has honey-sweet kicking skills on his right side.
An underage expert from a rival club this week said there were no doubts about the Suns’ pair.
“They will both work,” he said.
“Rankine is why you go to the footy, to watch a bloke like him. He’ll be a superstar and we need goal kickers in the game.
“Lukosius just needs more time, you can see what he can do with the ball.”
The magic number for any draft, Sheehan said, was 25 stars of the competition.
He said more guns from the 2018 crew would emerge this season.
“Jack Bytel is in that group and has only played only a handful of games because of injury and Caldwell has started to get a run at it and blossom,” he said.
“There is more depth in it than last year’s form would have shown. So this year becomes more about the depth of the group as we strive to get 25 of them who are stars of the game.
“That’s the benchmark around 25, it would be an enormous result if we can get to that many.
“But there is still a long way to play out to see who can play 200 games.”
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Originally published as Inside the new Super Draft: Why the 2018 draft class is the best since the famous 2001 crop
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