Cooper Hynes Draft Profile

Dandenong StingraysMidfielder-Forward

#1

Cooper Hynes

height: 190cm

weight:

D.O.B: 28-02-2006

Leagues: AFL U18 Championships, Coates Talent League Boys

Snapshot
Analysis
Summary

SNAPSHOT: “A powerful midfielder-forward capable of posting dominant statlines, racking up possessions and both scoring and assisting goals in bulk.” – Michael Alvaro

Cooper Hynes has been turning in imperious performances at Coates Talent League level for two seasons now. After debuting with five touches as a 16-year-old in 2022, the 190cm midfielder-forward quickly stamped himself on the competition with his 2023 campaign. A bottom-ager at the time, he averaged 17.4 disposals and booted 18 goals in 13 appearances to break through and make Vic Country’s Under 17 and 18 sides.

Fast-forward to 2024, and Hynes continued to go from strength to strength. He was named co-captain of the Dandenong Stingrays alongside good mate Harvey Langford, this time kicking 23 goals in 15 games from an average 23.7 disposals. His exploits culminated in a preliminary final berth, Team of the Year honours, and second place in the Morrish Medal. What’s more, he ran out a full National Championship campaign.

The Bonbeach junior is the son of four-game former Carlton player, John Hynes, who went on to carve out a VFL career with Frankston. Hynes junior is a Richmond supporter who idolises Dustin Martin and produced some big game exploits of his own this year, including a wonderful second half performance to help Vic Country defeat Western Australia, notching 20 disposals, eight marks and two goals.

PLAYER HIGHLIGHTS:

STRENGTHS:

+ Consistency
+ Creativity
+ Power
+ Production
+ Scoreboard impact
+ Size

IMPROVEMENTS:

- Four-quarter consistency
- Running capacity

Hynes has been tearing up the Coates Talent League for a while now, and his sheer size is a huge factor when competing with peers. At 190cm and with a powerful frame, he holds his own one-on-one inside 50 or when prising contested ball. Hynes' clean hands and good vision make for slick distributive methods on the inside, where he can also lean on his physical advantages to absorb pressure, break tackles, or out-body opponents.

While he may transfer pressure at times, Hynes is relatively clean by hand and wonderfully creative by foot. He has improved significantly in being able to identify short options going forward or inboard, backing his skills to pick out the lower-percentage option and making things happen. The same goes for when he produces scoring opportunities, displaying great composure to assess moving parts ahead of him and pick holes in the defence.

Hynes' physicality makes him a weapon in contests, and while he is crafty enough to use the ball effectively, may sometimes be reliant on that factor. Nonetheless, it's part of the package he offers, and he is a highly impactful player because of it. Few others could compare with Hynes' best games on pure numbers, boasting a season-high disposal tally of 35 and personal-best five-goal effort in the Coates Talent League this year.

He posted such figures on a consistent basis, too. Hynes' lowest disposal haul was 16, dipping below 20 just three times across 15 outings - all within the last month of the season. His influence extended to the scoreboard having split his time between the midfield and forwardline around a 60-40 ratio. He was held goalless five times, but snared multiple majors on six occasions - including bags of five, four, and three (twice).

Despite his evident power, many of Hynes' key improvement areas fit into the athletic realm. He isn't blessed with speed and has come a long way in terms of meeting the high conditioning standards set of Coates Talent League players. That being said, endurance is an area Hynes can continue to improve, particularly if he plays on-ball, and will lend to greater four-quarter consistency - he tends to be a fast starter.

DRAFT RANGE: 15-25

SUMMARY:

Hynes fits the mould of in-vogue powerful midfielders who can go forward and impact games heavily in both roles. With improvements to be made to his athleticism and endurance, he may well begin his career up forward where he would capably hold his own one-on-one and help produce scoring opportunities with his creative nous. Adjusting to another step up in speed of play will be challenging, though Hynes has the physical makeup and footy smarts to last. Expect him to feature somewhere in the first round, likely in the late-teens or early-20s.

AFL U18 Championships

Season	Team	K	HB	D	M	CP	UP	T	CLR	I50	R50	GL	GM	K	H	D	M	T	G	DC
2023	Vic Country	2	3	5	1	2	3	1	2	1	0	0	1	2.0	3.0	5.0	1.0	1.0	0.0	23
2024	Vic Country	42	25	67	19	22	47	10	8	12	4	4	4	10.5	6.3	16.8	4.8	2.5	1.0	77
Total	-	44	28	72	20	24	50	11	10	13	4	4	5	8.8	5.6	14.4	4.0	2.2	0.8	100

Coates Talent League Boys

Season	Team	K	HB	D	M	T	HO	I50	R50	GL	GM	K	H	D	M	HO	T	G	DC
2022	Dandenong Stingrays	3	0	3	1	1	0	1	0	0	1	3.0	0.0	3.0	1.0	0.0	1.0	0.0	14
2023	Dandenong Stingrays	136	90	226	32	40	0	37	25	18	13	10.5	6.9	17.4	2.5	0.0	3.1	1.4	69
2024	Dandenong Stingrays	201	155	356	55	46	2	67	20	23	15	13.4	10.3	23.7	3.7	0.1	3.1	1.5	91
Total	-	340	245	585	88	87	2	105	45	41	29	11.7	8.4	20.2	3.0	0.1	3.0	1.4	174