AFL Draft 2022: Talent ambassador Kevin Sheehan urges clubs to take best talent regardless of go-home concerns
The Giants said during the trade period that they were drafting from a different pool of players to Victorian clubs. But draft guru Kevin Sheehan has a different view.
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The AFL’s talent ambassador has urged clubs to stick to picking the best prospects rather than avoid players because of concerns about the go-home factor.
Asked if it was riskier than ever to draft interstaters, Kevin Sheehan said teams would overlook a lot of top players if they always gave in to thinking their preferred choice would head home.
His comments came in light of several of this month’s trades stemming from homesickness and GWS football manager Jason McCartney saying there were some draftees the Giants could not select due to their apprehension about moving away.
Sheehan said creating great environments would help teams retain players.
“I’m one of those that (think) back your club and your system to make yours an attractive club, once you take the good player,” Sheehan said.
“If you think he’s the best player, take him.
“It’s like Freo saying ‘we’re not going to take Matthew Pavlich’ 20 years ago – ‘we’ll leave him because he might end up going home’.
“Make your club as good as it can be to be a great environment so he ends up your captain eventually.
“There’ll be some individuals they get worried about.
“But they said that about Chris Judd way back when, of Simon Black, who went to Brisbane and played 300 games, of Luke Power, who played 300 as well up there.
“Believe in your football set up and your coaching that you’ll retain the best player if you think he’s the best.”
Sheehan was speaking at SA’s draft combine, where 15 prospects were tested on their running, jumping and athleticism at Mawson Lakes on Saturday.
Fourteen SANFL players attended the national equivalent in Melbourne last week.
Sheehan said SA would be hoping to have about 12 draftees – about 15 per cent of the total taken across the country.
He named Woodville-West Torrens midfielder Mattaes Phillipou and Adelaide father-son prospect, Norwood defender Max Michalanney, as two of the best local prospects.
“Clubs see players very, very differently,” Sheehan said.
“We’re testing 139 (nationally), we think there’s about 80 spots overall.
“The number of clubs here suggest a number of these boys will definitely be taken.”
Swans take draft swipe at cross-town rivals
— Jon Ralph and Sam Landsberger
Greater Western Sydney has laid bare the extraordinary go-home factor in AFL football as it revealed some high draft pick point-blank refuse to be drafted to non-Victorian sides.
A crop of elite picks in the top handful of selections in November’s national draft are unwilling to be traded away from Victoria or have expressed enough reservations to have GWS nervous.
It is why the Giants have traded up to the No. 1 overall pick and are set to take Vic Country player Aaron Cadman, who is not seen as a flight risk.
GWS football boss Jason McCartney said on Wednesday of the available players: “There’s some we can’t pick”.
The club’s recruiting boss Adrian Caruso admitted the club had players blatantly state they would not play at a side not in Victoria.
It is a form of draft tampering but the league has not stepped in when the likes of Essendon’s Archie Perkins and Western Bulldogs midfielder Bailey Smith made clear they wanted to be drafted by Victorian sides.
“That is up to the league to identify whether or not they see it as an issue. From our point of view it makes it challenging to have early picks and you feel there are players in your top end who are not as open to moving,” Caruso said.
“We have had a scenario in the last four or five years where there are one or two guys who you have some concerns over. Some will actually go out and say it to you or their manager will say it to you that they don’t want to move. Others are more subtle and you have to work out whether they would be the right fit.
“This year it does feel there are a few more towards the top who you would have concern over. And it’s probably the reason we have traded up.”
But Sydney has appeared to have taken a swipe at their cross-town rivals over their concerns.
“I think you’ve got to be able to back your club in and the work that your welfare department does,” list boss Kinnear Beatson said.
“It’s always something that’s in the back of your mind when you’re looking at a young player.
“The history, how tight they are with their family ... it’s something you take into account, but I think if you become too distracted with that you might as well shut up shop, to be honest with you.
“We’ve got a good record of holding on to our players once they get there.
“Whether it’s the system of living together when they all arrive at the club, they don’t go out and live with host families, they go and live with other players.
“They grow up really tight mates. All of our players are really content at the moment, which is great.
“We back our system in. We’ve had a welfare department previously led by Dennis Carroll, who’s a ripping guy. His successor is Brett Kirk and his assistant Phoebe Jago.
“We do work really hard in it, and we have to, otherwise they’ll look to go home.”
Aspiring AFL players should be lectured by Aussie footballers âš½ï¸, basketballers, tennis players etc about the lengths they’ve gone to in order to fulfil their dreams.
— Daniel Garb (@DanielGarb) October 12, 2022
Yes, it’s a different culture but the go home factor is out of control now & the draft has become compromised. https://t.co/itOcYT2QCg
RAWLINGS ON GO HOME FACTOR:
— RSN Breakfast Club (@RSNBreakfast) October 10, 2022
"With all the of the backgrounding we did on Jason none of this came out at all ... in fact it was the opposite."@NMFCOfficial list manager Brady Rawlings says there were no signs pre-draft that Jason Horne-Francis would become homesick.
Geez if Melbourne clubs are now using the “go-home factor†to poach kids from the Riverina region of NSW, what chance do the rest of us have? https://t.co/E6KCL3ONTg
— Miguel Sanchez (@MiguelS92940618) October 12, 2022
Jason Horne-Francis left North Melbourne after only a year and GWS drafted Tanner Bruhn who seemed open to playing interstate and then saw him move back to Geelong.
Said GWS football boss McCartney: “The draft board for us and maybe some other interstate clubs, it’s not the same draft board (as the Victorian clubs). And that’s OK, that’s the reality. We’re not complaining about it. So we do have to look at things a little bit differently.
“Everyone can throw up the players and we love all the players that have been talked about but there’s some we can’t pick. That’s the reality.”
DRAFT COMINE: SEE ALL THE RESULTS AS BOLTER BLITZES
Dan Batten
Geelong father-son prospect Osca Riccardi took out the 2km time trial as a draft smokey equalled the all-time standing vertical jump record at the state combine on Sunday afternoon.
Elite-running wingman Riccardi, the son of best-and-fairest winner and 288-game Cat Peter, clocked a time of 6:17 in the endurance event, which was the equal-seventh best time of all competitors at the state and national combines.
Geelong Falcons and Vic Country coach Paul Corrigan believes Riccardi deserves a spot on an AFL list, especially after a promising VFL display in the Cats guernsey later in the year, where the youngster won 13 disposals and kicked a nice goal.
OSCA RICCARDI!!!!
— VFL / VFLW (@VFL) August 7, 2022
The father-son prospect has kicked his first VFL goal 👀
Watch the #VFL: https://t.co/3V9lTlahLkpic.twitter.com/HYG2WQIa8p
“I think that proves with the time he did on the weekend that it’s only going to help his chances as an elite athlete who can get up and down the field,” Corrigan told the Herald Sun.
“I think he has got the attributes as an outside player with his repeat speed and his endurance to be on a list somewhere. Whether that takes 12 to 24 months to keep maturing and with his size and that, I think he has all the attributes with his running ability and kicking ability to be on a list.”
But it was Calder Cannons high-flyer Rye Penny who stole the show at the state combine with a stunning 89cm standing vertical jump – 14cm higher than WA small Darcy Jones’ first-placed effort at the national combine – that equalled Aiden Bonar’s record set in 2017.
However, Penny’s name won’t be added to the record books as only national combine results are listed in the all-time best results.
The athletic freak, who comes from an elite volleyball background, also blitzed the 20m sprint with a time of 2.84 (placing him second nationally) and came three metres shy of Leek Aleer’s running vertical jump record at last year’s combine with an enormous 104cm leap.
The 185cm defender started the NAB League season well, clunking 11 marks and five intercept marks – including a massive hanger – in round 1, and his standing has grown later in the year.
His incredible combine results and his call-up for Vic Metro in the final national championships game last month are a positive sign for his draft chances.
Bendigo Pioneers mature-age prospect Harvey Gallagher, another draft bolter called into that national carnival clash, also showcased exceptional all-round athleticism at the state combine.
The 19-year-old recorded an 80cm vertical jump (second nationally behind Penny), an 8.117 agility time (fourth) and came third in the state combine 2km time trial.
Gallagher has put himself firmly in draft calculations after being overlooked in the mid-season draft and last year’s intake following a breakout back-half of the year in a distributing defender role, averaging a whopping 33.2 disposals, 6.8 score involvements and 158.5 ranking points in his last six NAB League matches.
Western Jets prospect Matthew Payne was another to impress at state testing with a blistering 7.71 in the agility discipline — narrowly behind WA small Darcy Jones’ record — and a 2.875-second 20m sprint (second overall), which just pipped Swans Academy key defender Will Edwards’ time of 2.876.
The state combine featured draft hopefuls from Victoria, New South Wales, Northern Territory and Tasmania.
South Australian state combine invites will test this upcoming Saturday October 15, while West Australian prospects will undergo testing on Sunday.
Inside the combine: Who enhanced draft standing?
— Chris Cavanagh
A midfielder with “Travis Boak-like” running ability has solidified his standing as one of this year’s top draft prospects after taking out the 2km time trial at the AFL Draft Combine over the weekend.
Murray Bushrangers midfielder Oliver Hollands, who is the brother of Gold Coast’s Elijah Hollands, clocked a time of 5min 54sec to finish equal-first in the test alongside Bendigo Pioneers product Jason Gillbee.
Hollands had finished equal-fourth in the Yo-Yo test at the NAB League testing day in March, reaching a level of 21.8.
Recruiters describe Hollands as one of the best two-way runners in this year’s draft pool, with his work rate drawing comparisons to Port Adelaide champion Boak.
“That gut-running and being able to run two ways is something I’ve always driven within myself as a kid,” Hollands said.
“I’ve always tried to use that as a weapon in my game, trying to be able to get contest to contest.”
A small midfielder from Western Australia also made a big impression at the combine, smashing a 14-year record in the agility test.
Darcy Jones, who stands just 175cm tall and has drawn comparisons to Western Bulldogs defender Caleb Daniel, clocked a time of 7.70 seconds in the agility test on Sunday.
The time beat the draft combine record of 7.77 seconds, which was set by former Fremantle speedster Stephen Hill back in 2008.
Jones also topped the leaderboard in the vertical jump test, leaping 75cm to finish equal-first alongside Greater Western Victoria Rebels defender James Van Es.
Van Es won the running vertical jump, while Western Australia’s Edward Allan finished first in the 20m sprint with a time of 2.81 seconds.
The national draft combine was attended by 68 of the country’s top draft prospects.
Players including Will Ashcroft (knee), Harry Sheezel (hip), Bailey Humphrey (thigh) and George Wardlaw (managed) attended the combine but did not take part in fitness testing.
A top-five draft prospect, Wardlaw has had a series of hamstring injuries this year and said he was not quite ready to be put to the test.
“I’m feeling pretty much 100 per cent right now and I should be testing, but with the risk-reward it isn’t really worth it,” Wardlaw said.
“We’ll have a running session in front of scout’s midway through November.”
The AFL national draft will be held across two nights on November 28 and 29, with the pre-season and rookie drafts to follow on November 30.
AFL DRAFT COMBINE RESULTS 2022
Vertical Jump
75cm – Darcy Jones (WA)
75cm – James Van Es (VIC C)
72cm – Jack O’Sullivan (VIC M)
70cm – Olli Hotton (VIC M)
70cm – Reuben Ginbey (WA)
70cm – Elijah Hewett (WA)
69cm – Jacob Konstanty (VIC C)
68cm – Blake Drury (VIC M)
68cm – Tyrell Dewar (WA)
68cm – Josh Weddle (VIC M)
68cm – Edward Allan (WA)
Running Vertical Jump
98cm – James Van Es (VIC C)
90cm – Josh Weddle (VIC M)
90cm – Will Verrall (SA)
89cm – Jack O’Sullivan (VIC M)
87cm – Darcy Jones (WA)
87cm – Mattaes Phillipou (SA)
84cm – Toby McMullin (VIC M)
83cm – Mitch Szybkowski (VIC C)
83cm – Reuben Ginbey (WA)
83cm – Anthony Munkara (ALLIES)
83cm – Lachlan Cowan (ALLIES)
Agility
7.072sec – Darcy Jones (WA)
8.182sec – Jaxon Binns (VIC C)
8.217sec – Elijah Hewett (WA)
8.247sec – Steely Green (WA)
8.255sec – Edward Allan (WA)
8.267sec – Luke Teal (VIC M)
8.285sec – Toby McMullin (VIC M)
8.292sec – Jacob Konstanty (VIC C)
8.325sec – Harry Rowston (ALLIES)
8.343sec – Noah Long (VIC C)
20m Sprint
2.814sec – Edward Allan (WA)
2.880sec – Toby McMullin (VIC M)
2.883sec – Coby Burgiel (VIC C)
2.910sec – James Van Es (VIC C)
2.912sec – Darcy Jones (WA)
2.924sec – Olli Hotton (VIC M)
2.928sec – Reuben Ginbey (WA)
2.929sec – Cooper Vickery (VIC C)
2.937sec – Josh Weddle (VIC M)
2.951sec – Lloyd Johnston (ALLIES)
2km Time Trial
5min 54sec – Ollie Hollands (VIC C)
5min 54sec – Jason Gillbee (ALLIES)
6min 00sec – Jaxon Binns (VIC C)
6min 03sec – Josh Weddle (VIC M)
6min 15sec – Reuben Ginbey (WA)
6min 16sec – Jakob Ryan (SA)
6min 17sec – Steely Green (WA)
6min 21sec – Will Dowling (SA)
6min 25sec – Blake Drury (VIC M)
6min 25sec – Seth Campbell (ALLIES)
6min 25sec – Mattaes Phillipou (SA)
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