The Dandenong Stingrays add another three players into the AFL through the pre season and Rookie draft which was held on Tuesday 13th December 2011. Brett O’Hanlon (Pick 3 Overall in the pre season draft), Darren Minchington (St Kilda pick 66 Rookie draft and Piva Wright pick 74 Rookie draft) .
The Tigers, who had pick nine overall, of the 11 selections on offer, opted for the 18-year-old from TAC Cup team Dandenong Stingrays, Brett O’Hanlon, 189cm and 87kg, who had an excellent season, impacting strongly for Dandenong as a medium-sized forward and forcing his way into the Vic Country team at the under-18 national championships.
“Brett is a lead-up forward, who is a strong contested mark and a penetrating left-foot kick. He’s a competitive player, who will always give you a contest and tackle with intent. And, he’s also a smart player, who reads the ball well and makes good decisions once in possession,” said Richmond’s recruiting manager Francis Jackson.
“We are pleased to add Brett to the playing group and feel that, although he is early in his development phase, he has the scope to become a quality AFL player.”
The Tigers took strongly-built, 18-year-old, key defender, Piva Wright, with their fifth pick (No. 74 overall).
Wright, 189cm and 97kg, impressed throughout the 2011 season for TAC Cup team Dandenong Stingrays, as well as with Vic Country in the under-18 national championships.
He combines physical presence and aggression with good mobility for his size, along with an outstanding vertical leap, which he uses to advantage, both defensively and offensively.
The Saints looked for versatility in the NAB AFL Draft were they collected local player Darren Minchington, a small half forward who shot to under-18 prominence after gaining a mid-season call up to the Dandenong Stingrays.
St Kilda list manager Ameet Bains said "Darren is another interesting kid. He spent the first part of this season playing for Dromana in the Mornington Peninsular league so he's a local boy for us, and off the back of that form as a junior kid playing senior football, a few clubs basically requested the Dandenong Stingrays try and pick him up in their program and get him to play in the TAC Cup, which they did, and he was quite impressive with his form over the course of the year. He played mostly as a smaller half forward, he has very good goal sense and he can push up into the midfield. He's got good skills and is quite agile and evasive as well, and he's a sharp decision maker."
Dandenong Stingrays Region Manager Mark Wheeler was pleased with the outcome of the draft, but would have hoped a few more were given opportunities. He said, “The pleasing outcome for the boys who missed out was the amount of mature players from the VFL given opportunities in the draft or Rookie draft. The boys will now have to prove themselves against players who were drafted next year when they get the opportunity to play against them.”
Last Modified on 17/12/2011 15:04