Can the 2022 Calder Cannons draft prospects top the best in club history
Can this year’s Calder Cannons AFL draft prospects top the best in the club’s history. See the top rated draftees of the past and find out who is pushing their case this year.
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The talent that the Calder Cannons have produced has been nothing short of special over the years.
The likes of Dane Swan and Eddie Betts have been inside the four walls of the NAB League club since its establishment in 1995.
Here’s the Cannons top AFL draft prospects of 2022 with insights from the club’s regional talent operations lead Matthew Burton.
Harry Rowston
Height: 182cm Weight: 78kg D.O.B: 12-08-2004
The inside midfielder originally from Griffiths, NSW won the MVP for the Allies this year following the AFL National Championships. He attends school at Assumption College as a boarder and has been involved in the Calder Cannons system since he was 16. Rowston has also been apart of Giants Academy who will have the first crack at him in the 2022 AFL Draft. His impressive draft year season led to a call up to the National Combine. A highlight for Rowston this season was playing a major role in his side’s AGSV football premiership with Assumption.
Calder Cannons regional talent operations lead Matthew Burton said: “After having him with us for two and a half years, he finally debut with us in the last round of the year and played four games with us which was really good.”
“Harry is an inside tough competitive midfielder. He is strong, physical and the Giants will get first crack at him when a bid comes at him.”
Paul Pascu
Height: 183cm Weight: 86kg D.O.B: 20-08-2004
A talented and professional draft prospect who originates from Oak Park. The Panola College student has had a strong season finishing runner up in the Cannons best and fairest. He is a player you can rely on to improve and work hard at any AFL club that hopes picks him up.
Burton said: “He is one of the hardest working kids we have ever had. He is a high quality leader, started as an inside mid and went to half back for the last third of the year. He has high quality leadership, high quality toughness, competitiveness and skills. He is just a high quality player who we are hoping has done enough to get his chance.”
In his leadership, Burton says “he connects the group, he is vocal, he is willing to have open conversations with his teammates and demand expectations of his teammates but he also brings the group together. He is a real connection point for all the kids from different clubs and different schools in our program.”
Rye Penny
Height: 185cm Weight: 79kg D.O.B: 03-01-2004
After beginning the year in great form which put him into draft contention, an ankle injury stopped Penny from playing a chunk of games in the middle of the season. The Bacchus Marsh Grammar student returned to play a game with Victoria Metro and matches with the Cannons to finish the season which was a positive. He is very athletic and has proven that he can develop quickly considering he only began focusing on a football career not long ago. Before then he was a talented volleyballer.
Burton said: “He came as a bit of an early season surprise package. He is a national volleyballer by trade but always had footy as a secondary and then decided at 16, 17 to give footy a red hot go. His first month of the NAB league season was really strong. His vertical and running vertical jump is off the scale. He would be in the record books. If he was at the National Combine, he would have broken records. He is a sub three second 20 metre sprint so his athletic ability is really high.”
Declan Willmore
Height: 189cm Weight: 76kg D.O.B: 12-05-2004
After being omitted from the Cannons side in the first month of the NAB league season, Willmore made a stunning turnaround to come back in the side and win the best and fairest. Willmore has become a draft prospect since his impressive return to the side.
Burton said: “Declan Willmore won our best and fairest and has given himself a real outside chance late in the season. We definitely think he is draftable within our program. He didn’t have the start of the year he wanted which saw him left out of our side at the start of the year but once he came back after playing some really good local footy, he didn’t look back.”
“He is a 190 centimetre third/hybrid forward that went into the midfield for the second half of the year. He is fantastic over his head, he knows how to kick a goal but then went and showed some real high end inside-outside midfield traits that have given him a chance to be picked up in the draft.”
The Calder Cannons has drafted 126 AFL players and 10 AFLW players since the club was founded in 1995.
Now it is time recall some of the top players to come out of the Cannons and a chance for you to vote on the greatest player of all time.
1. Dane Swan
A Brownlow Medallist in 2011, Swan played 258 games for Collingwood and won a premiership in 2010. He was the AFL Coaches Association Player of the Year and Players Association Most Valuable Player in 2010. He is also a five-time All-Australian taking the honour in consecutive years from 2009 to 2013. He was also the Herald Sun Player of the Year in 2009 and 2012. Swan began his career in 2002 and retired in 2016.
2. Eddie Betts
One of the best small forwards the game has ever seen, Betts has kicked the AFL Goal of the Year on four occasions. He is a three-time All-Australian who played 350 games, 218 for Carlton and 132 for Adelaide. He kicked a total 640 in his AFL career.
3. Paul Chapman
A three-time premiership player with Geelong in 2007, 2009 and 2011, Chapman was also an All-Australian in 2009 and 2010. He played 251 games with the Cats from 2000 to 2013 and was a Norm Smith Medallist in the 2009 grand final. He finished his career with Essendon where he played 29 matches.
4. Darren Milburn
A two-time premiership player with Geelong in 2007 and 2009. Milburn played 292 games between 1997 and 2011. He made it into the All-Australian team in his premiership-winning year in 2007.
5. Ryan O‘Keefe
A two-time premiership player with the Swans in 2005 and 2012, O’Keefe played 286 games with the club and was a Norm Smith Medallist in the 2012 grand final. He was an All-Australian in 2006.
6. James Kelly
A three-time premiership player with Geelong who was an All-Australian in 2011. He played a total of 313 AFL games between 2002 and 2017, 273 of them were with Geelong and 40 were with Essendon.
7. Jude Bolton
A 300 gamer and two-time premiership player for the Swans in 2005 and 2012. Bolton played 325 games for the Swans.
8. Touk Miller
The Coaches Association Player of the Year in 2022 and an All-Australian in 2021 and 2022, Miller, 26, has played 160 games with Gold Coast since joining the club in 2015.
9. Daniel Talia
A two-time All-Australian in 2014 and 2016, Talia played 200 games for Adelaide. He was at the club from 2012 to 2021.
10. Jake Lever
An All-Australian in his premiership winning season with Melbourne, Lever has played 136 AFL games at age 26. He played 56 games with Adelaide from 2015 to 2017. Then he joined Melbourne where he has played 80 since 2018.
Dion Prestia
A three-time premiership player with Richmond who played 95 games with Gold Coast before joining the Tigers in 2017. Prestia, 30, has played 97 with the Tigers and was an All-Australian in 2019.
Chloe Molloy
Drafted to Collingwood in 2017, Molloy, 23, has been Calder’s biggest draftee since then. She has played 47 games for the Magpies and was an All-Australian in 2018 and 2021.
Cam Guthrie
A 230 gamer with Geelong, Guthrie, 30, was a 2022 premiership player with the Cats and 2020 All-Australian.
Peter Wright
The 26-year-old has played 109 AFL games, 66 with Gold Coast and 43 with Essendon who he joined in 2021 after five seasons with the Suns.
Zach Guthrie
A 2022 premiership player with Geelong, Guthrie, 24, has played 54 games with the club.
David Rodan
After playing with three clubs, Rodan’s AFL career tallied 185 games. He played with 111 games with Port Adelaide, 65 with Richmond where he started in 2002 and nine games with Melbourne where he finished in 2013. Now you will see Rodan behind the goalposts as an AFL goal umpire.
Jason Johnson
A 2000 AFL premiership player with Essendon who played 183 games for the club between 1997 and 2008. He made it into the All-Australian team in 2001.
Tom Lonergan
A 200 gamer with Geelong and 2011 premiership player. Lonergan played a total of 209 games with the club.
Mark Johnson
A premiership player in 2000 for Essendon, Johnson played 194 games for the club between 1999 and 2007 before moving to Fremantle where he played 14 games in 2008.
Tom Liberatore
A premiership player with the Western Bulldogs in 2016. At age 30, Liberatore has played 195 games with the club since joining in 2011 after with father Tony.
Andrew Welsh
Played 162 games with Essendon from 2002 to 2011 before becoming a TV commentator in 2013.
Georgie Prespakis
Drafted to Geelong in 2022, Prespakis made it to the All-Australian team in her first season where she played 19 games for the Cats.
Ivan Maric
An All-Australian in 2012, Maric played 80 games with Richmond from 2012 to 2017. Before then he played 77 games with Adelaide from 2005 to 2011. He was Richmond’s vice-captain in 2015 and 2016.
Brandon Ellis
A two-time premiership player with Richmond, Ellis played 176 games with the club and won an All-Australian in 2014. He then joined Gold Coast where he has played 55 games.
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