One of our Rising Star team, Jourdan Canil has bravely stuck his neck out and created a phantom draft for the first four rounds. It should be noted that plenty can change over the next few months and with the great diversity of our writers, much like the public, everyone has a different opinion. Jourdan has been the first one to put his hand up and attempt one of the hardest things to do five months from the draft. The aim is to give readers an insight into who will be available around the picks that your club has. It should also be noted that Adelaide will not have the picks designated to them, however Jourdan has used Adelaide in his phantom draft so it gives an extra pick for the first two rounds and therefore an extra player can be included.<\/p>\n
The first round can be found here<\/a>. The second round can be found here<\/a>. The third round can be found here<\/a>. So enjoy getting familiar with some of the names that will grace the AFL field in 2014.<\/p>\n 55. GWS – Erin Wasley-Black (NT \u2013 Def\/Mid)<\/strong> 56. Melbourne – Aaron Heppell (VIC \u2013 Mid\/Def)<\/strong> 57. Western Bulldogs – Lewis Fitzgerald (VIC – Mid)<\/strong> 58. St Kilda – Nathan Drummond (VIC \u2013 Def\/Mid)<\/strong> 59. Gold Coast – Louis Herbert (VIC – UTIL)<\/strong> 60. Brisbane – Cain Tickner (QLD – KPF\/KPD)<\/strong> 61. Port Adelaide – Michael Apeness (VIC – Ruck\/KPF)<\/strong> 62. North Melbourne – Nick Holman (VIC – Mid)<\/strong> 63. Adelaide – Andreas Roth (VIC – Fwd)<\/strong> 64. Carlton – Mark Orr (VIC – UTIL)<\/strong> 65. Richmond – Jake Barrett (NSW – Mid)<\/strong> 66. West Coast – Dayle Garlett (WA – Mid\/Fwd)<\/strong> 67. Essendon – Jacob Chisari (VIC \u2013 Mid)<\/strong> 68. Fremantle – Jesse Tardio (VIC – Mid)<\/strong> 69. Collingwood – Elijah Edwards (VIC – Fwd) NSW Scholarship<\/strong> 70. Sydney – Matthew Boag (VIC – Fwd\/Mid)<\/strong> 71. Hawthorn – Kurt Heatherly (VIC – Def) NZ Selection<\/strong> 72. Geelong – James Sicily (VIC – Fwd\/Mid)<\/strong> One of our Rising Star team, Jourdan Canil has bravely stuck his neck out and created a phantom draft for the first four rounds. It should be noted that plenty can change over the next few months and with the great diversity of our writers, much like the public, everyone has a different opinion. Jourdan […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":5526,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[384,403,450,546,694,718,744,780,859,862,863,878,1406,1445,1584,1601,1702,51,1773,1796,1897],"class_list":["post-6276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-apeness","tag-barrett","tag-boag","tag-chisari","tag-drummond","tag-edwards","tag-fitzgerald","tag-garlett","tag-heatherly","tag-heppell","tag-herbert","tag-holman","tag-orr","tag-phantom-draft","tag-rising-stars-2","tag-roth","tag-sicily","tag-tac-cup","tag-tardio","tag-tickner","tag-wasley-black"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6276\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nNT Thunder
\n188 cm 70 kg
\nPlayer Comparison: Matt Buntine
\nGWS have the option to pick the AIS player for themselves as a zone selection, or trade him off like they did with Anderson, Barry and Neade. Wasley-Black looks to be the kind of half back who can rack up the touches, but doesn\u2019t quite have that polish yet. He\u2019s been played all around the ground but he\u2019s found a niche running off the half back. He reads the play well, but when he\u2019s setting up the play he can butcher the ball. If no one wants to bid on him, I see GWS stealing him late.<\/p>\n
\nGippsland Power
\n181 cm 78 kg
\nPlayer Comparison: Dyson\u00a0Heppell
\nSurprising player comparison, no? Aaron is much like his brother except a little better defensively and nowhere near as good offensively. Seems to be much more of a bull type inside midfielder and a strong half back. He\u2019s great one on one and in close. I’m surprised he\u2019s less than 80 kg because he seems to be very strong in the core. He\u2019s a great link up player when he\u2019s outside or off the half back line. Against the Western Jets, he racked up 25 touches, seven handball receives, five uncontested marks and seven tackles. For a guy who hasn\u2019t been talked up massively, he seems to be a very solid late second or mid-third round pick.\u00a0If he can become a better ball user, then he has massive upside.<\/p>\n
\nOakleigh Chargers
\n190 cm 82 kg
\nPlayer Comparison: Jackson Macrae
\nFitzgerald reminds me a lot of a taller Jack Macrae in terms of footskills, reading the play and the chance to really bolt up the draft. Against the Western Jets early in the year, Fitzgerald just read the ball really well when the Jets tried to rebound and he had three or four consecutive inside 50\u2019s. He\u2019s a very silky kick and is adept on both sides of the body. He is the kind of link up player that you just value forward of the centre, as he just takes so many uncontested marks and works hard to find space. Fitzgerald only needs 15 or so touches to really influence a game. He\u2019s high quality, already has an AFL body and great athletically. Not sure why he isn\u2019t being talked up more.<\/p>\n
\nMurray Bushrangers
\n181 cm 82 kg
\nPlayer Comparison: Josh Hunt
\nDrummond is a solid defensive half back who can push up into the midfield. He provides rebound off the half back and links up well as he is a decent kick. He’s not overly quick or athletically gifted, but he goes hard at the ball and is solidly built. The best part about Drummond is that he\u2019s accountable for his man, but at the same time he knows when to take the game on by himself. He could pair nicely with Nathan Wright off the half back line for the Saints.<\/p>\n
\nNorth Ballarat Rebels
\n187 cm 75 kg
\nPlayer Comparison: Kyle Hardingham
\nHerbert is an explosive utility who could become a great pick, but his light frame and abhorred ability to go missing from games frequently really puts a dampener on what could be a gem of a player. This year, he\u2019s been used more across the half back as a Kyle Hardingham type, due to his great leap and ability to read the flight of the ball. When forward, Herbert is a great over head mark and is fantastic around goals. He\u2019s an accurate and long disposer of the ball and has kicked bags in the past.<\/p>\n
\nAspley
\n194 cm 91 kg
\nPlayer comparison: Michael Hurley
\nTickner is a Lions academy player like Isaac Conway but probably won\u2019t command as much attention. He\u2019s a key position swing man who can clunk marks and play at both ends well. The best part is that he\u2019s already at a great size, so he can certainly push for selection from round one. He\u2019s been hampered by injuries this year so he may not be highly sought after, but he\u2019s one of the better key position value players.<\/p>\n
\nEastern Ranges
\n199 cm 101 kg
\nPlayer Comparison: Tom Bellchambers
\nI have seen Michael Apeness play a few times now and he\u2019s got the size to tear a game to shreds. Of course, sharing the forward line with Tom Boyd makes it hard for him to stand out. Apeness is a very strong contested mark and a decent shot on goal. He came to life against NSW\/ACT with 33 hitouts and really giving the Metro midfielders fantastic service. He’s probably not the most agile of ruckman, but he\u2019s come on in leaps and bounds this year.\u00a0 There\u2019s a few better pure ruckman in this draft, but his versatility and performance on the big stage are impressive enough to warrant draft selection.<\/p>\n
\nMurray Bushrangers
\n186 cm 79 kg
\nPlayer Comparison: Matthew Broadbent
\nHolman stood out against Tasmania, yet he only had 22 touches. He plays as an outside midfielder, but he has a great tank so he\u2019s near the contest quite a lot, applying pressure constantly. He\u2019s a solid kick over 30 metres, but he doesn\u2019t have a great penetrating kick. I considered going with Michael Gibbons here, but I think North will prefer that medium outside midfielder rather than having another guy who can rack it up then turn it over. Holman\u2019s run and carry is good, but his lack of speed and ability to play inside leaves him in that fourth round to rookie category.<\/p>\n
\nEastern Ranges
\n174 cm 72 kg
\nPlayer Comparison: Mark LeCras
\nI genuinely cannot believe the lack of love this guy gets. He is the best pure small forward in the TAC Cup, and manages to kick plenty of goals, even when all the delivery goes to Boyd, Apeness and Petracca (a great prospect for next year). He is great on the lead and knows how to get out of the big guys way while still being in a damaging position. He’s a fantastic mark for his height, yet also a magician below the knees. His field kicking isn\u2019t that great and he\u2019ll always be a permanent forward. I think that lack of versatility is why people don\u2019t rate him, but if you look at the starting small forwards for Metro against NSW\/ACT, it was Jack Billings, Christian Salem, Jesse Tardio and Ben Lennon, all of whom are predominately midfielders who can play forward. Roth has been starved of opportunities but performs so well consistently.<\/p>\n
\nWestern Jets
\n195 cm 97 kg
\nPlayer Comparison: Chris Dawes
\nThere’s something I don\u2019t quite get with Orr. He\u2019s a better player than his stats say, but in all fairness, he is a seriously limited player. He\u2019s a good mark on the lead and in the air, yet he only takes three to four marks per game. He\u2019s a good target up forward, yet he hasn\u2019t kicked more than one goal in a game this year. Against Oakleigh, he threatened to kick three or four, but the wind put him off horribly that day. He\u2019s a serviceable back up ruckman, averaging around eight hitouts a game (Duon Dawam, their first ruckman, is leading the league in hitouts).\u00a0 He can play as a key back too, which is important. He\u2019s strong in one on one competitions and honestly on an output basis that is where he\u2019s done his best work. But I like him as a lead up forward. He\u2019ll never be exciting on the stats sheet but at least the Blues will have a forward target with real size and consistency.<\/p>\n
\nTemora
\n182 cm 78 kg
\nPlayer Comparison: Heath Hocking
\nBarrett just tries all day long, no matter how much they\u2019re getting smashed by. I likened him to a more skilful Heath Hocking as he gets his own ball, can keep his player quiet and can go forward. He’s also fairly powerfully built and has great core strength. Against Vic Metro, he had 22 possessions and kicked two nice goals. He sustained a leg injury, yet continued to play on through that. I really like his attitude and he also has a high enough skill level to be considered for the main draft.<\/p>\n
\nSwan\u00a0Districts
\n181 cm 75 kg
\nPlayer Comparison: Lewis Jetta
\nGarlett is a classy outside midfielder who will be one to watch. The discipline and attitude issues will ultimately decide whether he\u2019ll be passed over again, but he is the silkiest player in the draft. In the WAFL this season, he has been tagged frequently, yet still averages over 20 possesions and two goals a game. He carries with him explosive speed, great decision maker and a kick that has great penetration. He obviously needs to put on some weight, but that will come in time. Garlett can hit the scoreboard most games, although he doesn\u2019t often kick bags, excluding a recent haul of six goals. I can see him being a very handy half forward whilst his body develops, and eventually should transition into a full time winger or outside midfielder.<\/p>\n
\nBendigo Pioneers
\n176 cm 76 kg
\nPlayer Comparison: Travis Colyer
\nThere is a high chance that due to his size, Chisari won\u2019t even get drafted, also being left out of the Vic Country squad. But there is serious upside to the small midfielder that not many others in this draft have. He is an extremely intelligent footballer. He\u2019s not your traditional inside midfielder; instead of getting the ball and distributing it out of the pack, he will pick the ball up on the inside and then have the pace to break away from it. His acceleration is a real highlight and it allows him to to not only break free from contested situations, but gives him time and space to get a clean kick away. Chisari, like Colyer, is the type of player that will back himself to run the length of the field and blaze away, though he is a better kick. A smart, quick and skilful footballer, Chisari is worthy of a second round pick, but he could be a steal late in the draft.<\/p>\n
\nNorthern\u00a0Knights
\n179 cm 72 kg
\nPlayer Comparison: Sharrod Wellingham
\nThe first few times I saw Tardio play, I wasn\u2019t particularly impressed. He\u2019d come off for spells every eight or so minutes absolutely spent. I didn\u2019t really think he was that great until I realised who was on the bottom of every pack. He was hidden by bodies, but managed to grab 32 disposals. In another game he played a little more on the outside and up forward and slotted two nice goals. The highlights of his game are his tenacity, speed and his vision in setting up forward 50 attacks. The real disappointment for me is that he hasn\u2019t performed on the big stage and he\u2019s certainly lacking a tank. There are parts of his game that he needs to work on, but he could be a decent player.<\/p>\n
\nOakleigh Chargers
\n165 cm 62 kg
\nPlayer Comparison: Jeff Garlett
\nEdwards has been someone that the Pies have put quite some time into, perhaps hoping he\u2019d grow a little more. That hasn\u2019t eventuated, but one thing Edwards does have is extreme speed. He\u2019d have everyone in this draft covered for speed by a long shot. With the ball in hand, he could easily be that 100-metre player carrying it from half back to half forward and getting the crowd going. He\u2019s pure X-factor and whilst his skills aren\u2019t bad, they aren\u2019t exactly great. He doesn\u2019t get much of the ball and is too small to be a midfielder. He\u2019s received a lot of hype, but he\u2019s fantastic to watch when he\u2019s on.<\/p>\n
\nGeelong Falcons
\n185 cm 90 kg
\nPlayer Comparison: Dayne Zorko
\nBoag is another like Amon who would be a main midfielder at most clubs, but the midfield at the Falcons is filled with guns. He\u2019s a strong bodied midfielder who has great core strength and he breaks tackles easily. He’s not blessed with speed, but he\u2019s strong, tries hard and is versatile. He\u2019s played forward quite a bit and has been a solid goal kicker. He\u2019s a strong inside ball winner, but his skills are good enough to help on the outside as well. Due to being over looked for the Championships and others being more athletically gifted, Boag will go late, although I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if he goes top 50, or potentially not at all.<\/p>\n
\nSandringham Dragons
\n193 cm 85 kg
\nPlayer Comparison: Ted Richards
\nI haven\u2019t seen much of Heatherly but he has been talked up as being as good as worth a pick in the late first round if he wasn\u2019t an international selection. He’s a strong key back who can link up well and is offensively talented. There’s plenty of time for him to develop so I don\u2019t think he\u2019ll play much next year, even though he\u2019s at a decent size already.<\/p>\n
\nWestern Jets
\n186 cm 75 kg
\nPlayer Comparison: Steve Johnson
\nSicily is a player who I really like and who is going under the radar so far. He doesn\u2019t carry as big a bag of tricks as Steve Johnson, but he certainly is dangerous around goals and is a live wire. He\u2019s kicked 13 goals from eight matches this year, including three bags of three. Averaging 16 touches per game and 5.7 marks isn\u2019t doing him justice. In the draw against Oakleigh early on this year,\u00a0Sicily was the most impressive player on the ground, amassing three goals, 10 marks and 24 disposals, 18 of which were effective. He’s one of the better-rounded skilful half forwards in the draft. There are players who might be better goal kickers, but in terms of excitement and consistency, Sicily is right up there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"