Past #3 Dylan Stephens

[Kennedy Parker]

Dylan Stephens
The Sydney Swans used their first pick five since Jarrad McVeigh

Jarrad Mcveigh

Age

39

Ht

184cm

Wt

84kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

19.3

5star

K

11.1

4star

HB

8.2

5star

M

4.0

4star

T

3.1

5star

MG

327.8

4star

No current season stats available

D

9.4

3star

K

6.0

3star

HB

3.4

3star

M

1.6

2star

T

1.8

4star

in 2002 to lock in a talented midfielder from South Australian club Norwood at the 2019 AFL Draft. Dylan Stephens

15

Dylan Stephens

Age

24

Ht

184cm

Wt

80kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

10.3

3star

K

7.0

3star

HB

3.3

3star

M

3.0

3star

T

1.7

4star

CL

0.0

1star

D

10.3

3star

K

7.0

3star

HB

3.3

2star

M

3.0

3star

T

1.7

3star

CL

0.0

1star

D

10.3

3star

K

7.0

3star

HB

3.3

3star

M

3.0

3star

T

1.7

4star

CL

0.0

1star

is a prolific ball-winner and creative user of the footy by hand and foot. He played predominantly on a wing in the early matches of the 2019 AFL Under-18 Championships before starring on the inside in the final match, gathering 33 disposals in a best-on-ground performance. A penetrating left-footer, he averaged 23.8 disposals and 4.8 tackles across the 2019 AFL Under-18 Championships and was rewarded with All Australian honours. He also played some excellent football at senior level with Norwood, averaging 18.2 disposals and 4.6 tackles in 12 matches. Stephens enjoyed a breakout season for the Bloods in 2020 with a memorable AFL debut in Round 6 against Richmond alongside fellow debutant, Chad Warner

1

Chad Warner

Age

23

Ht

185cm

Wt

82kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

7.0

2star

K

4.5

2star

HB

2.5

2star

M

1.5

2star

T

1.5

3star

CL

0.0

1star

D

7.0

1star

K

4.5

2star

HB

2.5

2star

M

1.5

2star

T

1.5

2star

CL

0.0

1star

D

7.0

2star

K

4.5

2star

HB

2.5

3star

M

1.5

2star

T

1.5

4star

CL

0.0

1star

. Stephens finished the campaign with eight appearances, averaging 12.5 disposals and 3.4 marks per game, while also kicking two goals.

Dylan Stephens

15

Dylan Stephens

Age

24

Ht

184cm

Wt

80kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

10.3

3star

K

7.0

3star

HB

3.3

3star

M

3.0

3star

T

1.7

4star

CL

0.0

1star

D

10.3

3star

K

7.0

3star

HB

3.3

2star

M

3.0

3star

T

1.7

3star

CL

0.0

1star

D

10.3

3star

K

7.0

3star

HB

3.3

3star

M

3.0

3star

T

1.7

4star

CL

0.0

1star

DOB: 08 January 2001
DEBUT: 2020
DRAFT: #5, 2019 National Draft
RECRUITED FROM: Red Cliffs (Vic)/Walkerville (SA)/St Peter's College (SA)/Norwood (SANFL)

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[Donza]

The North board are feral at the best of times.

I'm not invested in DS at all.

Some people aren't cut for AFL football. You have to be pragmatic.

 

[Membling]

Looks pretty bad but it must be hard as a predominantly outside player on a team that mostly can't win the hard pill

I wonder if he'll get the chance to earn his spot as they improve.

If they improve that is

From his junior days played an inside outside mix.

Can only postulate that he needs the inside stuff to get his game going and hasn't had that

 

[zyzzbruh]

And some people believed he would be a solid player for us or elsewhere. He is just mentally and physically soft.

 

[Dan87]

Regardless of talent, which there was obviously something to work with. Not everyone will excel in an AFL environment for a variety of reasons.

Gonna be a slog for him now you'd imagine

I remember reading he was running laps in primary school at lunch to make his dream happen. That's life I guess

 

[Ed_Gein]

The North board are feral at the best of times.

I'm not invested in DS at all.

Some people aren't cut for AFL football. You have to be pragmatic.

Your last line is exactly right. It's easy enough to have rose-tinted glasses on when it comes to players that play for your own club, but like you say you have to be pragmatic when it comes to making decisions on player retention if you want to achieve Premiership glory. Stephens unfortunately didn't develop in the way the club would've liked despite being a 1st round pick, so it's worked out for the best that he left.

 

[RedBloodBlackSwan]

The Serong angst still baffles me.

I think there's a slim chance we draft Chad Warner if we'd already drafted a very similar player (at the time) earlier in that same draft. So there's no guarantee that if we picked Serong that we would've had this Warner/Serong duo everyone seems to be craving.

But OK let's say we do still draft Warner and they're both on our list. Warner probably doesn't even get games. Worth remembering that Serong was significantly more senior-ready in his first year than Warner. He won the Rising Star award while Warner managed just two games and wasn't anywhere near fit enough. Serong would've claimed the spot that is now Warner's. Because we know that the year after, Mills is added to the midfield, and then Gulden.

Warner would basically be what Sheldrick currently is... a promising young mid who is still mostly untried because he's far down the pecking order.

It's smart drafting - if the recruiters believed Warner was the equivalent of a Serong - to use a pick 39 to get said player, rather than a pick 5. If Stephens comes good, our draft strategy that year is seen as a masterstroke, because we got our own Serong for a lazy pick 39 plus the best inside/outside mid of that draft - which Stephens was, and denying that is pure revisionism, regardless of how he turned out.

Swings and roundabouts.

It’s an interesting perspective. FWIW I think you are over thinking it. Swans take best available. Also not convinced that Serong and Warner are more similar than Stephens and Warner - though haven’t thought about it too deeply either.

The way I look at Stephens though, is that selections like his is why our team is now full of high endurance players who can kick well. Stephens was a miss (so too were Ling, Stoddart, Taylor and probably others as well) but you can’t get them all right. Drafting is an numbers game to a certain extent.

Serong was not known for being a good kick, and I suspect that is why we didn’t draft him. Now did we over index on elite kicks? Probably. In the modern game, is it better to have an excess in class over an excess in grunt? Most likely. Is it time to stop asking and answering my own questions? Most certainly.

 

[Punts]

And some people believed he would be a solid player for us or elsewhere. He is just mentally and physically soft.

We both got shot down plenty of times saying this.

He isn’t any good at the top level unfortunately

 

[zyzzbruh]

We both got shot down plenty of times saying this.

He isn’t any good at the top level unfortunately

I remember being bewildered when people were calling for Jmac to be dropped for him. That is despite seeing him be an absolute squib on each prior showing whilst Jmac plays with his heart on his sleeve.

 

[caesar88]

It’s an interesting perspective. FWIW I think you are over thinking it. Swans take best available. Also not convinced that Serong and Warner are more similar than Stephens and Warner - though haven’t thought about it too deeply either.

The way I look at Stephens though, is that selections like his is why our team is now full of high endurance players who can kick well. Stephens was a miss (so too were Ling, Stoddart, Taylor and probably others as well) but you can’t get them all right. Drafting is an numbers game to a certain extent.

Serong was not known for being a good kick, and I suspect that is why we didn’t draft him. Now did we over index on elite kicks? Probably. In the modern game, is it better to have an excess in class over an excess in grunt? Most likely. Is it time to stop asking and answering my own questions? Most certainly.

Not sure I can be overthinking it when I literally included the alternative scenario where we do take Serong. In that scenario I think he ends up keeping Warner out of the side, and things could be very different.

 

[RedBloodBlackSwan]

Not sure I can be overthinking it when I literally included the alternative scenario where we do take Serong. In that scenario I think he ends up keeping Warner out of the side, and things could be very different.

I was suggesting that there is no way to know what would have happened if Serong and Warner were both drafted. You identified one scenario in quite a bit of depth. Plenty of others could also result, so many that - to me at least - it isn’t worth trying to think through, it’s enough just to say we would never know. Maybe this was also your point though and these are just semantics?

 

[caesar88]

I was suggesting that there is no way to know what would have happened if Serong and Warner were both drafted. You identified one scenario in quite a bit of depth. Plenty of others could also result, so many that - to me at least - it isn’t worth trying to think through, it’s enough just to say we would never know. Maybe this was also your point though and these are just semantics?

My point was the rewards if Stephens came good combined with Warner would've been greater overall combined than if we'd just drafted Serong combined with Warner.

There'd have been two different players with two different roles and a place for both in the team, as opposed to two players potentially vying for the same role and one ending up on the outs because of it.

But because Stephens didn't come good, that logic is now not recognised and it's just seen as this illogical bust of recruiting.

 

[The King!]

Stephens did go to the worst possible club for him

 

[.Shotties.]

We both got shot down plenty of times saying this.

Boy, you really hold onto the one you got right, don't you.

 

[Donza]

Stephens did go to the worst possible club for him

Perth eagles....

 

[Donza]

Your last line is exactly right. It's easy enough to have rose-tinted glasses on when it comes to players that play for your own club, but like you say you have to be pragmatic when it comes to making decisions on player retention if you want to achieve Premiership glory. Stephens unfortunately didn't develop in the way the club would've liked despite being a 1st round pick, so it's worked out for the best that he left.

We have a pick 6 playing reserves...

 

[The King!]

Perth eagles....

He will be good in the SANFL next year

 

[The King!]

But in all seriousness , he's at a club where he needs to do a fair bit,

Be better at say the Cats or somewhere more stable

 

[Donza]

But in all seriousness , he's at a club where he needs to do a fair bit,

Be better at say the Cats or somewhere more stable

No foundlings at the Cats

 

[The King!]

No foundlings at the Cats

Anywhere better than North

I do feel for the guy , he works hard

 

[tombomb]

But in all seriousness , he's at a club where he needs to do a fair bit,

Be better at say the Cats or somewhere more stable

From a footballing perspective (ignoring the money), he should have just stayed with us.

He would have maintained a bit of currency as a high pick in a good team for another few seasons, and would have had options to move if things weren't going well.

Now I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't even see out his contract with North.

 

[The King!]

From a footballing perspective (ignoring the money), he should have just stayed with us.

He would have maintained a bit of currency as a high pick in a good team for another few seasons, and would have had options to move if things weren't going well.

Now I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't even see out his contract with North.

Agree a lesser 2 year deal here, probably would be playing ahead of Warner and Mitchell etc, plug away

 

[tombomb]

Agree a lesser 2 year deal here, probably would be playing ahead of Warner and Mitchell etc, plug away

It wasn't a situation like JPK at Hawthorn, where he is trying to get into the centre in a team that has Hodge, Mitchell, Sewell, and Lewis and a couple of others. There were a few ahead of him on the wing and flank, but they weren't all superstars.

He should have backed himself in to be good enough to get ahead of guys like Roberts, Corey Warner, Sheldrick, wicks etc. All those kind of fringe type guys. Maybe that is part of his problem, that he doesn't think he is better than those players.

Perhaps the money was overwhelming and I wouldn't begrudge anyone taking that path. But from a purely football perspective, I think he made a terrible decision not to re-sign with us. Now he is at North and they are a total mess, and all their supporters are going to smash him after every game because they thought they were getting a really good player.

 

[Donza]

Agree a lesser 2 year deal here, probably would be playing ahead of Warner and Mitchell etc, plug away

He would have been playing reserves.
Sorry.
Legit list clogger

 

[GoTheSwannies]

I get the sense that Clarko isn't the type to give someone a bunch of chances.

Stephens has the security of a 4-year deal. He needs to spend the next year or two working in his deficiencies and getting hungry. Do his time in the 2s and come back when he's given an opportunity and throw caution to the wind. He's not going to survive with his current mentality.

 

[Dan87]

He was going to get spat out in two years or four years

He made the right call imo