First round selections a possibilty: Sheehan
THE AFL's national talent manager, Kevin Sheehan, has talked up the prospects of two AFL hopefuls ahead of Saturday's national draft.
The man widely regarded as the leading authority on young footballers in the country reckons West Perth's Stephen Hill and Swan Districts' Chris Yarran will be at an AFL club early on in the piece at the national draft on Saturday.
Sheehan said the WA pair, who teamed up at the under-18s national carnival earlier in July, could go in the first round and end up either in Melbourne or Adelaide or stay at home and live the dream in Perth.
In racing parlance, Hill’s the bolter, his stocks rising considerably as a possible first round pick for either Fremantle or Essendon. He had a very good national carnival and won all-Australian selection.
Clubs are loathe to show their hand, but WAFC talent and coaching manager, Jon Haines, indicated Hill was now rated a high-end pick.
"He is a very talented player with good skills, a good mover and he is pretty resilient," Haines said.
"He would play on the opposition's best midfielder, shut him out and then go and win a lot of the football himself. That was really impressive. I think that was what got a lot of people’s attention from a recruiting point of view.
"He showed a really strong sense of resilience and mental toughness which is very attractive from an AFL club’s point of view and he tested really well at the draft camp.”
Early predictions have it that at least nine Indigenous young footballers will be drafted on Saturday.
Either way, expect a few surprises this weekend.
MOTLOP shoulders the burden for brother Steven's surgery
PORT Adelaide's Daniel Motlop has given his little brother a leg up to his potential AFL career.
Motlop has paid for surgery to Steven's shoulder after continued problems from an injury he picked up in September.
The 17-year-old NTFL Wanderers midfielder hurt his shoulders playing for the Northern Territory on Grand Final day at the MCG as an over-age player in the under-16s Division 2 grand final. He's booked in for a second operation on the other shoulder next week.
The injury prevented Steven from showing his full wares at the AFL draft camp in October but what he could do, he impressed, testing in the top-24 in the repeat sprint test.
Steven is certain to be on most clubs' radars ahead of the draft. Port Adelaide coach Mark Williams said this week he was a virtual 'clone' of Daniel.
And if he ended up at Alberton, there'd be three Motlops there, Steven, Daniel and Marlon, to make it four sets of brothers, along with the Cornes's, Westhoffs and Burgoynes.
DARREN MONCRIEFF
AboriginalFootball@westnet.com.au
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Last Modified on 25/11/2008 11:06