#16 Pick - Ben Jacobs

[Zakk Wylde]

Mate, if you've ever read any of her articles on the draft, you'd realise that she would be one of the most knowledgeable people on the draft.

1 bad draft can set you back years, I just hope they picked the right kids, because atm we can't afford any bad drafts. I don't care about not taking Lycett because IMO he's overrated (unless we could of picked him up with our 2nd round) Atley is the one we should of got, but hey I'm not the recruiting manager

Yep...she also had Stephen Hill outside her top 15 too.

She knows her stuff without a doubt, but hers is just another opinion.

 

[Power freak 2008]

When we chose Jacobs I thought it made sense. Jacobs was linked to Gold Coast at 9 and I thought the Cows would take him over Brodie Smith. We need a kid who will not break from the packs after someone else did the hard work. We need a kid who can go toe to toe with the real accumulators such as Scully and Trengove.

Boak needs support and this kid is it. He is already a good size so imagine how he will be in two years. I am wagering he will play in 2012.

Atley may be quick but his ability to find the footy is not as elite as Jacobs.

 

[Phhht]

Is it just me or does he have a funny looking kicking style? i mean its effective but weird looking?

I agree that his ball-drop looks a little awkward - that scrubber kick in the forward line in the youtube footage above, is an example of him looking slow to get the footy to his boot.

Yeah totally agree looks as though he has a really poor kicking style. Probably why Quayle thinks he struggles for efficiency under pressure. Hopefully we can tidy that up over the course of a couple pre-seasons but other than that I like this selection. .

His kicking style whilst isn't fluid or silky it is reasonable. He certainly doesn't seem to struggle with it but you can probably see why under pressure he would fluff a few.

His kicking on the right probably accentuates his awkward style.

Seems to have similar traits to Swan. Certainly looks comfortable playing inside or out so happy about that.

 

[Phhht]

Atley may be quick but his ability to find the footy is not as elite as Jacobs.

In tight Atley is every bit the equal of Jacobs, in fact I would probably rate Atley better. Its providing the running support and link work that Jacobs has the advantage over Atley, especially using the ball. Not that Jacobs is elite but at pick 16 you are going to have a few things to work on. How willing and well he takes on the challenges will be key and he seems to have the right attitude towards his footy.

Still not 100% convinced we shouldn't have taken Atley, crappy disposal and all.

 

[Wargreymon90]

Does anyone similarities to jobe Watson? I think he's a good pick and
I reckon might play next year

 

[Port81]

oh and why the **** didnt we go for Atley? Emma Qualye (spelling) ranked him top 10 and Jacobs in the 20's (and all the other so called experts)

I'll be comparing him to Atley, they better not have ****ed this up

what a load of rubbish, we heard it all with boak and selwood, boak will end up a better player than selwood, then we heard it with brad ebert and dangerfield, these so called professionals are merely journalists, ill take the word of our recruiting department over emma quayle's

 

[FishingRick04]

Ah stuff it, I'm just going to say it ... watching Jacobs in that clip reminds me of Robert Harvey. The number 35, the hair, the build, the courage, his ability to find the ball, the way he moves ... except he can kick a mile!

Parker loves the kid and genuinely thought he would go before our pick. There has to be some quality there.

Optimism is a wonderful thing ...

Watching his distance shots, it made me think he and Broadbent will be confusing. Except for the left and right foot they are similar

 

[The Jaguar]

In tight Atley is every bit the equal of Jacobs, in fact I would probably rate Atley better. Its providing the running support and link work that Jacobs has the advantage over Atley, especially using the ball. Not that Jacobs is elite but at pick 16 you are going to have a few things to work on. How willing and well he takes on the challenges will be key and he seems to have the right attitude towards his footy.

Still not 100% convinced we shouldn't have taken Atley, crappy disposal and all.

I'm with you here and I think our recruiters have done well overall.

I confess that I didn't know much about Jacobs until we picked him but I was pretty impressed by the vids that I saw. He even made some good decisions in the forward line when he was near the boundary, where he looked inside and found a player with an accurate kick instead of blazing away at goal. His stats are very impressive aswell. An average of 29 is excellent so he obviously knows how to find the ball. Looks like he has a solid body aswell and might even play early next year.

Another great attribute that he seems to have is the penetration on his kicks, which shouldn't be underated with all the zoning that will no doubt continue to happen over the next few seasons. Also I used to love watching Dewwy smash goals home from 60 out!!!

 

[Natman]

Regarding the criticism with his kicking style, it appears to me that he drops the ball from too high that makes it look awkward, but still be effective and he tends to give the kick too much "air time". He will need to kick more directly and lower to give the defenders less time to match up.

 

[King_Tredrea]

Meh. Decent enough, but nothing that really screams first rounder IMO. I don't like the kicking style, high loopy kicks will get punished at AFL level. I'd prefer Atley, but what do I know?

sfa. that wasn't retorical was it?

 

[Jonts]

I like him, thought the crows would go him over smith honestly

I think he'll be the first, first round draftee to play 10+ games at port in a long time

 

[Power House]

Hope he goes better than our last recruit from Brighton Grammar - Luke Peel!!

 

[PJ Power]

Wouldn't be surprised if this is like the 2003 draft for us - 50/50 on the hits and misses. Similar to that year, we had a mid-teen pick, some action in the thirties (Symes, Peel) and a 50+ pick (Pettigrew).

The more I look at Jacobs' ball-drop, the more it has a little Brad Symes about it - only a little.

 

[philthy05]

i like what he brings to our team. i think we have been screaming out for a big kick for awhile, really since dew left. i doubt he is in dew's class but has to be better than alot of the kicks we have ( some decent ones there but not alot that can really cover some ground). also the mix in our midfield with boak, harts, sal, gray, pearce, cassisi, broady, pittard looks really good. ild like one real line breaker into that mix though. maybe come from moore, motlop or one of the other new boys.

 

[Power freak 2008]

Meh. Decent enough, but nothing that really screams first rounder IMO. I don't like the kicking style, high loopy kicks will get punished at AFL level. I'd prefer Atley, but what do I know?

Those clips have Trengove and Scully in them so he was mixing it with these guys who were a year older. In terms of junior footy that is a lot. He is a great kick and has the advantage of being both a gatherer and distributer. That type of player is damaging because they can hurt you in more ways than one.

For those who are not familiar with this guy, there are a lot of peole who had him in the top ten. He was certainly there in the draft machine on the AFL website. I would have chose Atley but he was one of those mids that I had in my list of wants. If the recruiters chose him over Atley they see something in him (probably his ability to hurt you inside and hit targets)that tips him over the line.

It means they think he is champion materiel if you would choose him over Atley. Let us look forward to a new gun player that can be like Nick D from St Kilda or Lenny Hayes. Why be seduced by flashy players that have trouble nailing targets. Him and Hartlett along with Newton adds players who hit targers at will.

 

[RonSon]

There is some footage up on the PAFC site of him now.


He seems to have good disposal by foot, a few kicks across his body that are spot on, a few good strong marks and a couple of goals on the move from 50m. Seems to gain a fair bit of ground with the ball and his kick. Don't see anything of him getting the ball in a pack or traffic in the clip.

 

[Honeyboy Wilson]

The poor kicking comments... Are you basing it off the 2009 video? It's definitely improved since then.

 

[Jakko]

Im glad I kept a copy of the Vic Metro V WA game now. Jacobs had a very good first half (about 15 disposals) but a poor second half. Was right in the thick of a quarter time push and shove, and was really mouthing off at the WA players. You can see the stat chaser in him, which is ok since he can use it well. He has a bit of a face contortion when he drops the football, and kind of hunches over a little, I kept thinking Brent Guerra with his action. Hes got confidence and some mongrel, good pick IMO.

 

[Power freak 2008]

I like him, thought the crows would go him over smith honestly

I think he'll be the first, first round draftee to play 10+ games at port in a long time

Yes, I thought the Crows were going to pick him as well.

 

[Macca19]

It looks like a Nathan Lonie-esque 'kick ball long and high and hope something good happens' type kick to me.

Simon Goodwin got away with this his whole career.

 

[powermad]

Does anyone similarities to jobe Watson? I think he's a good pick and
I reckon might play next year

I think Jacobs is much quicker than Watson.

Jacobs 20m time of 2.96 is the equal of Dangerfields and would have been equal 7th in 2009. He timed only 0.01 seconds slower than Jetta did. He doesn't have a pace problem if he has a time like that. He doesn't look tat quick from te footage of him but it's nice to know he can go when he needs to.

 

[PeacefulWarrior]

I'm a bit late on the uptake here, but I recon Jacobs looks a gun. I agree Toots, I think we're all gonna love this guy. Looks to have a lot to work with.

 

[Ford Fairlane]

It's funny, the one consistent positive commented on about Jacobs by the draft watchers - especially Port's recruiting manager - is his kicking. And yet based on a few minutes of youtube from 18 months ago, that feature is being questioned here.

Meanwhile, the tiser is already having to produce articles on the crows' 'next 200 game player' Brodie Smith, defending his disposal. His Eagles coach managed to come up with his disposal being 'more than serviceable' ... I wonder if we had drafted Smith, whether he would have been as critically analysed as Jacobs already is?

 

[PJ Power]

Ford, the issue with Jacobs seems to be that his kicking has been so heavily highlighted as a major strength........"booming", "penetrating", "powerful" are all terms that have cropped up into his profiles as descriptors of his left leg.

We've been bitten a bit before by the likes of Lonie and Nash, to know that "neat-looking left foot kick" does not equate to accurate, penetrating, constructive. Perhaps that's why the supporters here are not falling for the praise without first seeing the evidence for ourselves.

The only footage that I've seen so far shows a slightly unorthodox kicking style that results in nice chip passes to the advantage of his teammates. Hopefully, there is more and better to come.

Regarding Brodie Smith - it's interesting that his defendants are already out in force regarding his kicking accuracy. Can't see the need really.......we've already heard that Rendell had him number two on his list behind Polec. The kid must be another superstar.

 

[Ford Fairlane]

Ford, the issue with Jacobs seems to be that his kicking has been so heavily highlighted as a major strength........"booming", "penetrating", "powerful" are all terms that have cropped up into his profiles as descriptors of his left leg.

We've been bitten a bit before by the likes of Lonie and Nash, to know that "neat-looking left foot kick" does not equate to accurate, penetrating, constructive. Perhaps that's why the supporters here are not falling for the praise without first seeing the evidence for ourselves.

The only footage that I've seen so far shows a slightly unorthodox kicking style that results in nice chip passes to the advantage of his teammates. Hopefully, there is more and better to come.

Regarding Brodie Smith - it's interesting that his defendants are already out in force regarding his kicking accuracy. Can't see the need really.......we've already heard that Rendell had him number two on his list behind Polec. The kid must be another superstar.

It's not that people aren't 'falling for the praise', it's that he's being criticised by a few based on some footage from the 2009 championships (which also highlighted his courage, workrate and footy smarts, which people don't seem so keen to talk about). This isn't a case of wait and see, it's already being stated that he has to improve his kicking. I just get the feeling that if he had been one of the board draft favourites, like Smith, he wouldn't already be subjected to this level of critical scrutiny.

The 2010 footage is not as instructive about the elevation of his long-kicking, but he shows a fair degree of poise and accuracy with his delivery - we do need to see that under pressure, but that's a judgement yet to be made for most of us.

As far as Nash goes, anyone who didn't know that his reputation - even from junior football - for a good looking kick that was its own particular brand of torture to watch when it came to hitting targets, wasn't paying attention.

Lonie, long kick was about as good as that description ever was, and there were other issues with his play that put supporters way offside.