AFL 2021: Fringe Tiger Callum Coleman-Jones will be pursued by AFL clubs
A tall Tiger who has played just one career game is set to become hot property, with rival recruiters taking a keen interest. Find out why.
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Richmond key tall Callum Coleman-Jones will be heavily pursued by rival clubs aware of the lack of talls in the upcoming national draft and new rules favouring key forwards.
Coleman-Jones played in Richmond’s Round 1 VFL win over Sandringham on Friday at Punt Road in front of a host of rival recruiters.
Clubs including Greater Western Sydney have already attempted to drag him out of Richmond in recent years, with some prepared to offer up late first-round selections given his potential.
Coleman-Jones, 21, is unsigned early in the season and has shown no signs he was keen to move despite that interest.
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But rivals are well aware the Tigers are finding it difficult to give game time to Coleman-Jones for a variety of reasons that included his 10-game COVID breach AFL suspension, which expired last week.
He has played only a single AFL game after being taken at pick 20 in the 2017 national draft.
Key position forwards who can also ruck have never been more valuable in the modern game, given teams are getting the ball in quickly to those players in the forward line.
But Richmond key forwards Jack Riewoldt and Tom Lynch are showing no signs of slowing down, with Riewoldt set to secure a one-year deal for 2022 after a five-goal haul against St Kilda.
And the Tigers will have Ivan Soldo returning from an ACL tear in 2022 to play alongside 26-year-old Toby Nankervis, with ruck-forward Mabior Chol and 206cm first-year tall Samson Ryan also playing as ruckmen in the VFL.
Richmond coach Damien Hardwick even threw up a mid-season loan period last week given the Tigers have so many developing talls.
Clubs are excited about the depth and talent in the upcoming national draft given so many players will emerge after a barren 2020, but clubs are not thrilled by the long list of talls.
It means clubs that have a shortfall in that department will need to trade for them rather than take them early in the draft as Hawthorn (Denver Grainger-Barras) and Sydney (Logan McDonald) did in the 2020 national draft.
Clubs including North Melbourne, Adelaide, Collingwood, Essendon and Gold Coast are all lacking quality key position or have ageing star forwards and are making do with various forward-line configurations.
Richmond not only has exciting young father-son draftee Maurice Rioli Jnr working hard on his craft and fitness in the VFL, it also has an excellent draft hand for the upcoming draft.
Richmond has its own first, second and third-round selections plus Geelong’s first-rounder, St Kilda’s second-rounder after the Jack Higgins trade and a Gold Coast third-rounder from the Oleg Markov trade.
BIG NAMES TO WATCH IN VFL ROUND 1
-Nick D’Urbano
Eyes will be on No.1 draft pick Jamarra Ugle-Hagan when he lines-up in Footscray’s clash with Gold Coast on Saturday morning.
Ugle-Hagan has turned heads in VFL practise matches as he continues to press his claim for a debut while reigning Bulldogs leading goal-kicker Mitch Wallis will again line-up in the twos after being dropped a fortnight ago.
Ben Brown and Sam Weideman will ramp up their respective returns when they line-up for the Casey Demons on Sunday against Box Hill.
The key forward duo played their first games since returning from injury last week as the former builds towards his Melbourne debut.
Josh Jenkins kicked three goals in Geelong’s VFL practise game last weekend and will seek to impress yet again in Sunday’s curtain-raiser against North Melbourne.
The 31-year-old has only featured twice for the Cats since joining from Adelaide at the end of 2019 and was dropped after round one.
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Collingwood youngsters Oliver Henry and Will Kelly will push their claims to help remedy the Magpies struggling forward line with a strong showing against Werribee.
GWS recruit Jesse Hogan will line-up in his second game back from a quad injury in the VFL’s version of the Battle of the Bridge on Saturday.
The 26-year-old key forward will be looking to resurrect his career at his third club after being traded to the Giants from Fremantle.
VFL ROUND ONE
FRIDAY
Richmond v Sandringham, Swinburne Centre, 12.00pm
Frankston v Coburg, Skybus Stadium, 7.30pm
SATURDAY
Footscray v Gold Coast, VU Whitten Oval, 11:20am
Sydney v GWS, Tramway Oval, 12.00pm
Aspley v Port Melbourne, Graham Road, 1.00pm
Brisbane Lions v Essendon, Southpines Sporting Complex, 1.30pm
Carlton v Southport, IKON Park, 2.00pm
Werribee v Collingwood, Avalon Airport Oval, 2.30pm
SUNDAY
Box Hill Hawks v Casey Demons, Box Hill City Oval, 12.05pm
Geelong v North Melbourne, GMHBA Stadium, 1.00pm
Northern Bullants v Williamstown, Preston City Oval, 1.00pm
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Lions v Essendon
Geelong v North Melb
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