AFL draft: Calder Cannons midfielder Jack Bytel joins St Kilda
ST Kilda drafting a player named Jack — we should have seen it coming. The Saints’ brigade of Jacks will have another addition next year, Calder Cannons co-captain Jack Bytel.
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ST Kilda drafting a player named Jack — we should have seen it coming.
The Saints’ brigade of Jacks will have another addition next year, Calder Cannons co-captain Jack Bytel.
Bytel will join Jack Billings, Jack Sinclair, Jack Lonie, Jack Steven, Jack Newnes and Jack Steele at Moorabbin next season.
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The classy on-baller’s impact was curtailed by back injuries this season after he was considered a first-round draft prospect.
A back stress fracture and bulging disc, which he continues to manage, caused Bytel to slide to pick no. 41 when St Kilda pounced.
“I think at the start of the year and certainly at times last year he was considered a first-round draft pick,” Calder Cannons coach Ross Smith said.
The Aberfeldie junior averaged 22 disposals, three marks and six tackles from six TAC Cup matches this year after posting averages of 27 possessions and six tackles as a 17-year-old.
“He’s got very good skills left and right,” Smith said.
“He values himself as an inside-mid. But I think he has got really good value as an outside mid as well.
“He probably hasn’t had the fitness to be able to do that because he has carried this back for so long.
“We certainly haven’t seen the best of him this year.”
Smith pointed to Bytel’s last game of 2018, when he had 23 possessions despite playing limited game time against Oakleigh Chargers, as evidence of his quality.
“(St Kilda) will need to persevere with him in the early stages, get him right and then once he’s over that they’ll get themselves a pretty good player,” he said.
Bytel has been likened to Sydney Swans captain Josh Kennedy and Port Adelaide skipper Travis Boak.
“I like to describe myself to clubs as a contested type of player, good around stoppages and I win clearances,” Bytel said pre-draft.
“I like to think you can build a midfield around the type of player I am, a contested player and a tall inside mid.”
Bytel was the second Calder Cannon chosen on Friday after Rhylee West headed to the Western Bulldogs as a father-son pick.
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