OVERVIEW

Harrison Jones had his year cruelly ended early after a back stress fracture mid-season. At that stage he was hitting his strides winning plenty of the ball and impressing in close for the Murray Bushrangers. Jones is a strong inside midfielder who has a great centre of gravity which sees him stand up in tackles and handball to teammates who are free on the outside. He is a fierce tackler and endurance runner who just wears down opponents across four quarters. While his kicking could improve and he could have more of an impact on the scoreboard, Jones' bread and butter is at the coal face, dishing off handballs with quick hands. He is projected to be more of a rookie prospect given his limited year and improvements, but he has a number of enticing qualities to present to recruiters.

STRENGTHS

• Endurance
• Strength
• Accumulation
• Tackling
• Inside work

Harrison Jones' greatest strength is his endurance which is among the best in the TAC Cup. While he was unable to test his endurance in the Yo-Yo test at the Natural Combine, it was expected he would have pushed eventual winner Andrew Brayshaw all the way. Along with his endurance he has fantastic strength, and at 185cm and 80kg, he has a readymade body for the rigours of AFL football. He wins a whopping 59 per cent of his possessions in close, and loves to lay a tackle, averaging 7.6 per game, second to only Lachlan Fogarty of all National Combine invitees.

He averaged 23.5 disposals in his eight games, of which 13.5 were handballs. This is no surprise to those who have watched him as Jones plays a largely team-orientated role, handballing it out from a stoppage to a teammate in space. His inside work is top notch and he plays his role week in, week out. His strengths all work well in tandem to provide him with the tools to be a top inside midfielder. It is expected that if selected, Jones will have no trouble against the bigger bodies in the AFL.

IMPROVEMENTS

• Kicking
• Scoreboard impact

Jones' two improvements all surround his feet with kicking and scoreboard impact the two improvements for me. His kicking was just 53 per cent, which given his high rate of inside ball, it was not a surprise that it was low. However it is not the efficiency as much as it is the choice to use his feet in any given circumstance. He is so strong with his hands and often caught in a contest, but it would be good to see him win a bit more outside ball and use his feet to see what he can offer a team on a wing or half-forward. As it stands he has okay without being outstanding pace and agility, so it is easy to see why he has developed into an inside midfielder. But it would be good to see him develop that outside game further and add a bit of X-factor to his game and hit the scoreboard in the process. He had limited games this year, but these would be areas I would look for Jones to improve next.

DRAFT PROJECTION: Rookie

SUMMARY

Harrison Jones is a readymade inside midfielder. He is strong, has quick hands and loves to tackle. He has all the attributes to be a solid inside presence at the elite level, given his pace and agility are okay. His endurance is elite and will help him run out games from the beginning to the end and if he can round out his overall game to include a more damaging outside presence, then he could become a more complete player. Overall, expect Jones to be a rookie selection given his limited exposure, but given the relative lack of depth in this draft and preferences for different clubs, he could be a late pick on draft night.