AFL Draft 2020: Gold Coast Suns add academy members Alex Davies and Joel Jeffrey to primary list

The Gold Coast Suns have pre-listed this classy quartet of academy stars before the start of Wednesday night’s AFL National Draft.

Exciting Queensland teenager Alex Davies has set his sights on playing in Round 1 after being pre-listed by the Gold Coast Suns ahead of Wednesday night’s AFL National Draft.

Davies, a highly rated inside midfielder, and fellow Gold Coast academy product Joel Jeffrey have been added to the Suns’ primary list under the AFL’s rules.

Jeffrey, the son of former St Kilda and Brisbane player Russell Jeffrey, is a NT product who stands 192cm and can play at both ends of the ground.

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Gold Coast AFL academy kids Joel Jeffrey, Alex Davies, Rhys Nicholls and Aiden Fyfe have been pre-listed ahead of the AFL National Draft on Wednesday. Picture: Scott Powick

It is a big win for Gold Coast as both players would have gone inside the top 30 had they not been tied to the Suns.

Fellow Gold Coast academy members Rhys Nicholls and Aiden Fyfe have also been pre-listed, but to the rookie list.

It means the Suns will have just one active pick at Wednesday’s draft – pick No. 5 – in which they’re said to be eyeing ready-made Victorian midfielder Will Phillips.

Davies will have a stress-free draft night given he knows his fate, although the determined 18-year-old said he didn’t yet consider himself an AFL player.

“I’m only on the list at the moment, but I’ll call myself an AFL player once I get an AFL game in,” he said.

“I’ve known for quite a while where I’ll end up, so I’ve had a lot of security in that.

“I already know most of the players and the coaches at the Suns, so it’s a better position to be in (than most kids on draft night).

“Everyone’s said the Gold Coast is the place to be, both with the lifestyle and the team they have.

“It’s great to be walking in without the stress of going through the draft.”

The Suns young gun Matt Rowell. Picture: Albert Perez/Getty Images

Davies will join a strong, emerging young crop at the Suns, which includes the likes of future stars Matt Rowell, Izak Rankine and forward Ben King.

“I need to work hard during the pre-season and put my best foot forward to getting a game early,” he said.

“Obviously being a competitor I always want to play Round 1, so that’s what I’ll aim for during the pre-season.”

The rangy midfielder, who stands 192cm, has been on the Gold Coast since 2018 and finished his schooling at All Saints Anglican School.

He grew up in Cairns as the son of a Tasmanian-born father and a Japanese mother.

“I can speak a bit (of Japanese) to get around but I’m not fluent,” he said.

THE DRAFT BOLTER DRAWING NICK RIEWOLDT COMPARISONS

He is the draft bolter already matching it with men who has been likened to Nick Riewoldt with his ability to work opponents up and down the ground.

West Australian key forward Logan McDonald has gone from a probable first-round draft pick to an almost certain top-five selection over the course of this year – one in which he took the WAFL by storm.

“Not too many kids at 18 can go to WAFL level and average two or three goals and take half a dozen marks as a power forward,” former West Coast spearhead and Western Australia under-18 coach Peter Sumich said.

“If you’re talking about a bolter in the top-end, he’s the one.”

Logan McDonald’s work ethic on the field is similar to Nick Riewoldt. Picture: AFL Photos via Getty Images

McDonald laid the foundations for a strong year over summer, but the secret to his success was getting his hands on the training program of Eagles full-forward Josh Kennedy after the WAFL season was postponed.

That was arranged through family friend Jaymie Graham, an assistant coach at the Eagles who had also done some work with McDonald earlier in the year.

“I was doing that program every second day and that was really tough stuff but I think that really set me up to have a strong year and put my best foot forward,” McDonald said.

McDonald logged 16 disposals, four marks and kicked 3.2 in his senior WAFL debut for Perth in Round 1.

He finished the year as the fourth-highest goalkicker in the WAFL with 21 majors from nine games.

“I didn’t expect to play as well as I did at that level,” McDonald said.

“I think the club stuck their neck out playing me as an 18-year-old kid and I was just happy to repay the faith and kick a few goals.”

McDonald also worked closely with former Eagles forward Fraser McInnes at Perth, picking his brain at every opportunity.

“He was fresh out of the AFL system and plays a similar position to me,” McDonald said.

“He probably got sick of me asking him a lot of questions towards the end, but he’s a really good person and helped me a lot with my football on the field and off the field.”

A hard runner who has clean hands and is a strong contested mark, McDonald has not always been a power forward.

In fact, he played as a ball-winning midfielder throughout his junior football until a growth spurt at age 15 which now sees him stand 196cm.

“I think I’m someone who likes to get their hands on the ball a bit more than your average forward,” McDonald said.

“Playing midfield from a young age, I think I read the game a bit differently.”

McDonald has a twin brother, Riley, who “hates sport”.

But the draft hopeful is someone who also played cricket and basketball growing up and is now a big American sports fan.

“I get up in the morning and watch the NBA and the NFL,” McDonald said.

“I’m just a big sport head. Whatever sport’s on in the world, I’ll watch it.”

MEET THE DRAFT’S MULTI-TALENTED INTERCEPT STAR

He works at Bunnings, played district cricket, jumps out of planes, fixes cars and can play a swag of musical instruments.

The easygoing Denver Grainger-Barras is a multi-talented machine, but it is the football field where he shines most brightly.

A top prospect for this year’s AFL national draft, Grainger-Barras has been working in the plumbing department of his local Bunnings in Perth this year while plugging holes in defence playing senior football in the WAFL for Swan Districts.

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Clubs view Denver Grainger-Barrass as the best key-defender in the draft. Picture: Michael Dodge/AFL Photos

An intercept-marking key defender, the 18-year-old led the league for average intercept marks (3 a game) and intercept possessions (7.4 a game) across eight sizzling outings which caught the eye of AFL recruiters around the country.

“I played some good games and some average games but just tried to learn as much as I could through the system,” Grainger-Barras said.

Learning is a passion and is at the core of almost everything Grainger-Barras does.

He entered the four-wheel driving scene “not knowing anything” but now has a Nissan Patrol he has souped up himself and has taught himself to play songs on the piano and guitar by watching YouTube videos.

“Once you get the basics down, it’s not too hard to learn to play music,” Graiger-Barras said.

“I like challenging myself and learning stuff. Sometimes it takes longer than it should but I like to commit and get the job done.”

Tough-as-nails, Grainger-Barras played on after dislocating his shoulder in a tackle during his senior WAFL debut last year.

“I laid my only tackle for the day and I got him holding the ball but I put my shoulder out at the same time,” he said.

“I remember telling myself I couldn’t go off and let us be a man down on the bench so I played on and I took overhead marks and felt fine.

“It wasn’t until after the game when the physio came up and had a play and sort of pulled it out again that it was sort of sore. Going to bed that night I was in agonising pain.”

Grainger-Barras has added 3kg to his light frame since the end of the season, but admits he has more work to do on that front.

He still weighs in about 20kg lighter than the player he is often compared to – West Coast’s Jeremy McGovern.

“I used to say I wanted to be a mix between Jeremy McGovern and Alex Rance because I wanted to able to play as lockdown as Alex Rance was but have the same float off that Jeremy McGovern has,” Grainger-Barras said.

“In today’s game that mix is probably Dylan Grimes. If I could be anything like him as an AFL player I think I’d be doing something right.”

A hot competitive streak means Grainger-Barras will do his best to get there.

Even at the West Australian draft combine, all he wanted to do was better fellow top draft prospect Logan McDonald.

“I had some goals I wanted to beat and I’m an extremely competitive person so I wanted to make sure that everything Logan did I tried to do a tiny bit better,” he said.

How star rookie is handling Buddy comparisons

– Dan Batten

The comparisons to Sydney superstar Lance Franklin have come thick and fast for young sensation Jamarra Ugle-Hagan and he is turning those daunting remarks into a positive.

The academy ace, who is tied to the Western Bulldogs, has spectacular ability and standout athletic traits as a key forward, which will see him attract a bid inside the first five selections in the draft.

Ugle-Hagan is embracing the hype of being likened to the best forward of the modern era, rather than shying away from it.

The 194cm Indigenous talent, a Scotch College product, is highly sought after.

While he knows he has a long way to go in replicating Franklin’s incredible feats, the 195cm forward is using the four-time Coleman medallist as a yardstick for achieving his own goals.

“I just use him as a person that sets goals for me,” Ugle-Hagan said.

“Everyone has that person you want to become or even do better (than), but it’s just setting yourself a high goal to obviously do what’s best for me and I’d like to think I can get there.”

“It’s words at the end of the day, I’ve got to show my X-Factor.”

“It’s good having other people believing I can … Hopefully I can get there one day.”

The Framlington product put himself on the map as a possible number one selection last year with 24 goals in nine matches for the premiership winning Oakleigh Chargers.

Despite Ugle-Hagan’s standout performances as a bottom-ager and the buzz surrounding him, he is unsure whether Franklin would know him by name.

The Western Bulldogs are expected to swoop on Ugle-Hagan.

The Crows have the No. 1 pick but are expected to miss out.

“I haven’t met him at all, I don’t know if he knows me or not – I hope he does. A great bloke and obviously an unreal player.”

Talent boss Kevin Sheehan says there are definite similarities between the two.

“It’s a fair comparison, Indigenous boys who are left footers and goalkickers … he’s got a lot of class about him,” Sheehan said.

However, he recalled a notable difference. While Franklin dominated in his draft year back in 2004 and was in the frame for the number one selection, he only showed “glimpses” in his bottom-age year, unlike Ugle-Hagan who dominated.

“ (Ugle-Hagan) showed more than glimpses late in the year in the finals for Oakleigh in among Matt Rowell and Noah Anderson, who we now know can play AFL. This kid looked a star and was very exciting and we were looking forward to his eighteenth year,” he said.

Sheehan expects the Bulldogs to swoop on Ugle-Hagan even if Adelaide comes calling at pick one.

Through academy rules the Bulldogs will receive a 20 per cent discount on the draft value index when matching a bid for Ugle-Hagan and are able to use their later selections to account for the points deficit.

The Bulldogs currently hold picks 29, 33, 41, 42, 52 and 54 after gaining 170 draft points in a pick swap with Greater Western Sydney on Tuesday.

Sheehan says bidding on Ugle-Hagan with the first selection is not the obvious choice for the Crows, given South Australian tall Riley Thilthorpe, gun key forward Logan McDonald and game-breaking midfielder Elijah Hollands also have strong cases.

“It’s a decision that they are going to anticipate what the Bulldogs will do. There is no doubt that (the Bulldogs) will match it pretty quick, so you then end up with a second pick,” Sheahan said.

“You’d rather come away with the view that you’ve got the best player and it’s very subjective as to which one is the best anyway.”

The wunderkind has his hopes fixed on achieving his AFL dream at present but aspires to become a role model for Indigenous children and wants to continue making inroads in Indigenous communities.

“At the moment, AFL footy is a dream – because you want to play. The other dream is to make young Indigenous boys look up to me and get the opportunities that I had to go to Scotch College and just knock down doors,” Ugle-Hagan said.

“Especially coming from an Indigenous community, there’s no excuses and you’ve just got to keep pushing.”

Originally published as AFL Draft 2020: Gold Coast Suns add academy members Alex Davies and Joel Jeffrey to primary list