2015 Western Australian Draft Prospects

[Old navy]

Looks like Clark might be the first WA player selected this year 193cm mids are in demand ATM.
Doesn't look that tall. In the way Patrick Cripps does.. But his a real smooth moving player.
Has played one good game so far Vs Vic Country he was best ground for WA.

 

[shrekswamp15]

Did anyone see East Perth beat Swans yesterday in the colts?

 

[ROYAL EAGLE]

Looks like Clark might be the first WA player selected this year 193cm mids are in demand ATM.
Does look that tall. In the way Patrick Cripps does.. But his a real smooth moving player.
Has played one good game so far Vs Vic Country he was best ground for WA.

I have question marks on his game.
A lot wa watches have stated the same.
Hopefully he finishes the colt season strongly, and can start to improve his marking
and kicking.

 

[Old navy]

I have question marks on his game.
A lot wa watches have stated the same.
Hopefully he finishes the colt season strongly, and can start to improve his marking
and kicking.

Yes.. He has ?'s. But straight off the bat.. He has some great attributes.

Leadership..big body..moves well. He will appeal to a lot of clubs.. Would have been good if he had played in a better midfield.
Jordan Snadden will appeal to a lot clubs too.

 

[hawk2]

Did anyone see East Perth beat Swans yesterday in the colts?

Yes was a really good game
Della Franca had a ripper 18 possessions and 5 goals. Looks like developing into a really good tall ruck/ forward. State may be sorry they didn't pick him even with wrist injury. Only had four games this season and on track to have a really good season.
Stan Wright had a great game too 32 possessions. Jarrad Mason for Swans had a pretty poor effort only 8 possessions and couldn't even come close to beating Della Franca or Ajang in the ruck. Don't know why Mason got picked for state 18s. Ajang is improving but still needs a lot of work not much footy sense. Crisp and Eaton also had good game

 

[shrekswamp15]

Yes was a really good game
Della Franca had a ripper 18 possessions and 5 goals. Looks like developing into a really good tall ruck/ forward. State may be sorry they didn't pick him even with wrist injury. Only had four games this season and on track to have a really good season.
Stan Wright had a great game too 32 possessions. Jarrad Mason for Swans had a pretty poor effort only 8 possessions and couldn't even come close to beating Della Franca or Ajang in the ruck. Don't know why Mason got picked for state 18s. Ajang is improving but still needs a lot of work not much footy sense. Crisp and Eaton also had good game

Was East Perth good or were Swans just bad?

 

[hawk2]

Was East Perth good or were Swans just bad?

East Perth were better on the day, Swans played ok but were just out classed.
Della Franca's big last quarter made a difference kicked 3 goals and Stan Wright was a major contributor.

 

[Footymamiq23]

Was East Perth good or were Swans just bad?

East Perth were too good, wright and dobson racked them up again, della Franca was outstanding in the last 1/4

 

[hawk2]

East Perth were too good, wright and dobson racked them up again, della Franca was outstanding in the last 1/4

Ones to look out for EP Colts would be Della Franca, Hadden, Crisp and maybe Ajang as a long shot.

 

[shrekswamp15]

Ones to look out for EP Colts would be Della Franca, Hadden, Crisp and maybe Ajang as a long shot.

What are we looking out for?

 

[Footymamiq23]

What are we looking out for?

I wouldn't say they're East Perth top players, the ones you should be looking out for at are wright, dobson, bayok, de campo and della franca

 

[Ciderhound]

At what pick will the first WA player be taken? The current under 18's look to be the worst squad in living memory. Heads must surely roll in the coaching and recruitment department.

 

[HawkintheTuarts]

Recruiting or development? Think you mean the latter.

Clark and Ah Chee the definites to be picked up. 6-8 would have outside chances depending on how they go and clubs rate them.

Next season will be better

 

[Old navy]

Clark with his height 193cm and leadership skills has the potential to do a Bonty on draft day.

Could go as high as top 5 depending on how the rest of his year goes.

Ah Chee looks a mid to late first rounder.

Jordan Snadden may be a late 2nd to 3rd rounder.

Good to see Kade Stewert is back out there. He may climb the draft boards also Clint Hinchcliffe could make a late charge up the draft boards.

 

[hawk2]

At what pick will the first WA player be taken? The current under 18's look to be the worst squad in living memory. Heads must surely roll in the coaching and recruitment department.

Yes something is very wrong with the state academy they seem to do ok with the 16s but either their development of talent is not working or their selecting the wrong players. Most of the staff have been with the academy for more than 10 years maybe been their too long. Needs a change.

 

[LemmingMaster]

Yes something is very wrong with the state academy they seem to do ok with the 16s but either their development of talent is not working or their selecting the wrong players. Most of the staff have been with the academy for more than 10 years maybe been their too long. Needs a change.

Change has been required for a long long time now, hopefully a massive shake up happens in the near future.

 

[ROYAL EAGLE]

Change has been required for a long long time now, hopefully a massive shake up happens in the near future.

Problem is well known funds where taken out of the academy and given to the clubs.
We have gone backwards since then the gap between under 16 stars to under 18 dud is getting bigger.

The clubs cant spend there money as well on these great under 16 talents as the academy can.

 

[LemmingMaster]

Problem is well known funds where taken out of the academy and given to the clubs.
We have gone backwards since then the gap between on 16 stars to under dud is getting bigger.

The clubs cant spend there money as well on these great under 16 talents as the academy can.

There is a massive underlying problem in the whole AFL, a massive drop off between the under 18's programme and AFL. If we're not going to fund the academy system properly, the AFL could be in massive trouble.

 

[HawkintheTuarts]

Why are state league clubs getting paid before a player gets drafted? Strange. Also heard talk last season of the WAFC wanting to freeze those payments as well? Bit of a mess really.

I don't think this year could necessarily be seen as a catastrophic failure though, the talent is just not there even if guys like Della France were picked. That's a selection issue, not a development one. It would be different if next year that group doesn't continue improving then you can clearly see its the system that needs changing.

 

[hawk2]

There is a massive underlying problem in the whole AFL, a massive drop off between the under 18's programme and AFL. If we're not going to fund the academy system properly, the AFL could be in massive trouble.

I don't know that you can put it all down to funding. I just think the whole set up is wrong. These boys are taken in as 16 year olds and the Academy seem to be able to turn them out OK but the problem is that there is nothing for the gap year (17 year olds) and this is were the system is falling down. Surely between the Academy and the WAFL clubs they can address this issue. Some WAFL clubs seem to be sitting on there hands and doing very little to actually develop these elite players. They should be training at a senior level, given more advanced coaching and challenged to get better.
In relation to the WA Academy I think these guys are failing badly if other states have same funding how come they can still turn out talent, what are they doing wrong. Have they been in the job too long and are just coasting, maybe a whole change of staff might bring some new ideas into the Academy.

 

[hawk2]

Why are state league clubs getting paid before a player gets drafted? Strange. Also heard talk last season of the WAFC wanting to freeze those payments as well? Bit of a mess really.

I don't think this year could necessarily be seen as a catastrophic failure though, the talent is just not there even if guys like Della France were picked. That's a selection issue, not a development one. It would be different if next year that group doesn't continue improving then you can clearly see its the system that needs changing.

If you are saying the talent is not there then why isn't it. If the Academy is doing its job then it should have selected 18 year olds that do have the talent like Della Franca. Some talented 18 year olds have missed out so that under age players can play and that certainly hasn't paid off.

 

[HawkintheTuarts]

If you are saying the talent is not there then why isn't it. If the Academy is doing its job then it should have selected 18 year olds that do have the talent like Della Franca. Some talented 18 year olds have missed out so that under age players can play and that certainly hasn't paid off.

Except picking the under-agers was never going to pay off in terms of results now, so would you assume otherwise when expected results happen? Choosing the under-age players doesn't pay off now, it pays off next season. If it doesn't then yes, you can question the development. Right now, as in the case of DF, the issue is selection, not development.

As for why the talent isn't there...it's never static, every year's crop of players are different. This is is really bad, next season looks really good. Last season Vic Metro had a lot of good player, this year Vic Country do and Vic M don't. Ebbs and flows..

 

[hawk2]

Except picking the under-agers was never going to pay off in terms of results now, so would you assume otherwise when expected results happen? Choosing the under-age players doesn't pay off now, it pays off next season. If it doesn't then yes, you can question the development. Right now, as in the case of DF, the issue is selection, not development.

As for why the talent isn't there...it's never static, every year's crop of players are different. This is is really bad, next season looks really good. Last season Vic Metro had a lot of good player, this year Vic Country do and Vic M don't. Ebbs and flows..

OK but playing these underage players has been to the detriment of our current 18 year olds is that really fair. These underage players should be given the chance to train with the 18s squad but not play in championship. Treat it as a development year. Maybe if the academy developed this strategy things might improve in the future. You cant always blame poor performance on no talent. It can be bad selections, poor coaching and total mismanagement of players.

 

[Eastern Rangers]

Except picking the under-agers was never going to pay off in terms of results now, so would you assume otherwise when expected results happen? Choosing the under-age players doesn't pay off now, it pays off next season. If it doesn't then yes, you can question the development. Right now, as in the case of DF, the issue is selection, not development.

As for why the talent isn't there...it's never static, every year's crop of players are different. This is is really bad, next season looks really good. Last season Vic Metro had a lot of good player, this year Vic Country do and Vic M don't. Ebbs and flows..

Still going on about Della Franca? If he's not a hard ball winning inside midfielder then he's not going to make any difference the squads performance.

The WA squad doesn't have enough underage players to cover the lack of quality in this years draft group, not too many. There would be a dozen extra underage players who would walk into the squad on talent alone IMO. Guys like Hura, Seton, Powell and Waterman haven't been a detriment to the performance of the team generally. Getting pillared out of the middle and turning the ball over coming out of defense hasn't been down to those players.

The problem with the 16's to 18s development is that it's not necessarily going to be the same players dominating U18 as there was two years earlier. You look at the 2014 draft group and they simply didn't have the physical attributes to compete with Vic Metro and didn't have the depth of quality to go with South Australia. Too much was bet on a small group of players, most of whom where poor athletically speaking.

This year the squad lacks the on ball muscle, rather than class on the outside. The very opposite of the problem WA had last year (injuries hurt WA more last year). If the draft year simply hasn't produced the right type of players or not enough high end athletes are excelling in terms of football smarts and application to the game then your eventually going to get found out at higher levels.

I'm more optimistic about the 1998 group, they tick both the football and athletic boxes and have a great mix of talls and smalls. If they aren't competitive then the development rather than player selection is really the problem and WA should really consider a stand alone U16 competition.

 

[HawkintheTuarts]

Still going on about Della Franca? If he's not a hard ball winning inside midfielder then he's not going to make any difference the squads performance.

No idea what you think I'm saying but if you read my posts properly you'd know I was only using Della Franca as an example and was making th exact same points.