{"id":72198,"date":"2020-09-15T16:18:08","date_gmt":"2020-09-15T06:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/afl.draftcentral.localhost\/?p=72198"},"modified":"2020-10-13T23:42:43","modified_gmt":"2020-10-13T13:42:43","slug":"afl-draft-watch-henry-smith-wwt-eagles-south-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/2020\/09\/15\/afl-draft-watch-henry-smith-wwt-eagles-south-australia\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL Draft Watch: Henry Smith (WWT Eagles\/South Australia)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

IN the midst of football’s long-awaited return, Draft Central<\/em> takes a look at some of this year\u2019s brightest names who have already represented their state in some capacity leading into 2020, or are bolting into draft contention. While plenty has changed between now and then, we will provide a bit of an insight into players, how they performed at pre-season testing,<\/em>\u00a0and some of our scouting notes on them from last year.<\/p>\n

Next under the microscope in our AFL Draft watch is Woodville-West Torrens (WWT) prospect Henry Smith<\/strong><\/a>, a raw tall with plenty of upside. Measuring up at 202cm, Smith is not only able to impact with his aerial marking, but also provides terrific follow-up efforts at the fall of the ball. Despite missing the first three games of this year’s SANFL Under 18s season, the 18-year-old ruck\/forward impressed enough across nine outings since to earn his spot on the National Combine invitee list. Should he fill out and sharpen his conversion, Smith looms as a key position option who could prove difficult to stop in full flight.<\/p>\n

\u2014<\/p>\n

PLAYER PAGE:<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Henry Smith<\/strong><\/a>
\nWWT Eagles\/South Australia
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

DOB:<\/strong> September 24, 2002<\/p>\n

Height:<\/strong> 202cm
\nWeight:<\/strong> 82kg<\/p>\n

Position:<\/strong> Key Position Forward\/Ruck<\/p>\n

Strengths:\u00a0<\/strong>Contested marking, athleticism, follow-up\/ground level efforts, upside
\nImprovements:<\/strong> Raw, finishing consistency<\/p>\n

2020 SANFL U18s averages:\u00a0<\/b>9 games | 13.1 disposals | 4.2 marks (2.2 contested) | 3.8 tackles | 7.0 hitouts | 1.2 clearances | 1.9 inside 50s | 0.9 goals (8) | 1.2 behinds (11)<\/p>\n

\u2014<\/p>\n

PRESEASON TESTING RESULTS:<\/strong><\/h4>\n

N\/A.<\/p>\n

>> Full Testing Results:<\/strong>
\nJumps<\/a>
\n20m Sprint<\/a>
\nAgility<\/a>
\nYo-yo<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/p>\n

2019\/20 SCOUTING NOTES:<\/strong><\/h4>\n

2020 SANFL Under 18s Round 11 vs. North Adelaide<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

By:\u00a0Michael Alvaro<\/em><\/p>\n

Another of Woodville-West Torrens\u2019 200cm prospects, Smith rotated between the forwardline and ruck to good effect. He showed some of the upside which earned him a national combine invite, following up well at stoppages while also faring well aerially as expected. Smith was another to use his height to advantage, clunking some big pack marks both around the ground and inside forward 50 against multiple opponents. Remarkably, all five of his marks were contested. While perhaps more of a lead-up forward prospect, Smith\u2019s ruck craft was reasonably sound as he finished the game with 15 disposals, 15 hitouts, and fourth-term a goal.<\/p>\n

2020 SANFL Under 18s Round 10 vs. Norwood<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

By:\u00a0Tom Wyman<\/em><\/p>\n

The AFL Academy member produced arguably his best performance of the season to-date, dominating the airways up forward and providing a presence in the ruck in relief of teammate\u00a0Zac Phillips.\u00a0<\/strong>As usual, Smith was the Eagles\u2019 number one target in attack. They looked to centre the ball for him inside 50, allowing him to run and jump at the ball and use his contested marking strength to advantage. A prime example of this came in the just minutes into the clash, when Smith took a strong grab then converted the resultant set-shot from close range.<\/p>\n

However, aside from his strong aerial presence, Smith\u2019s cleanliness at ground level, quick and effective distribution by hand, and willingness to crack in and tackle hard was impressive. He spent more time in the ruck against the Redlegs than in previous weeks and fought well against\u00a0Nathan Hearing<\/strong>, combining particularly well with teammate\u00a0Harrison Dawkins<\/strong>\u00a0at stoppages. The key forward finished with 15 disposals, two goals, five marks (two contested), nine tackles, ten hit-outs and four inside 50s.<\/p>\n

2020 SANFL Under 18s Round 5 vs. Glenelg<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

By:\u00a0Michael Alvaro<\/em><\/p>\n

Again starting as the Eagles\u2019 primary target up forward, Smith showed nice glimpses of his best form with strong marks, taking the ball at its highest point. He looked ominous on the lead at times and is difficult to defend at the Under 18 level on account of his height and reach on the lead. With good delivery, he was granted goalkicking opportunities but failed to make the most of his set shots. By the fourth quarter, his confidence may have been a little shot as he opted to kick inboard from 20-metres out, which got him a goal assist nonetheless.<\/p>\n

2020 SANFL Under 18s Round 4 vs. North Adelaide<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

By: Michael Alvaro<\/p>\n

The second of WWT\u2019s bigmen, Smith played as a permanent forward and looked the most likely aerial target afield. He started strongly with a nice contested mark in between two opponents, but went on to miss a couple of set shot opportunities in the first term. What was most impressive about Smith, contested marking aside, was his ability to impact the play after aerial contests, with solid tackling efforts and touches at ground level adding a handy dimension to his game. His return obviously did a lot for the Eagles side, despite only booting three behinds from his 10 disposals and five marks (three contested).<\/p>\n

2019 Under 17 Futures All-Stars<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

By: Ed Pascoe<\/em><\/p>\n

The other big Henry to ruck for Team Dal Santo \u2013 Smith actually showed more up forward with a strong contested mark and set shot goal in the first quarter. The Woodville-West Torrens prospect, as good as he looked overhead, also had a great pickup in the middle of the ground which was excellent for a 200-plus cm player and if he could improve his aggression in general he could prove to be a hard player to stop at the next level.<\/p>\n

\u2014<\/p>\n

Featured Image: <\/strong>Henry Smith (centre) with Zac Dumesny and Luke Edwards after the 2019 Under 17s All-Star clash | Source: SANFL<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

>> 2020 AFL National Draft Combine List<\/a>
\n>> 2020 South Australia U18s Squad Prediction<\/a><\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

>> August 2020 Power Rankings<\/a>
\n>> July 2020 Power Rankings<\/a>
\n>> September 2020 Power Rankings<\/a><\/p>\n

>> CATCH UP ON OUR DRAFT WATCH SERIES<\/strong><\/p>\n

Allies:<\/strong>
\nTahj Abberley<\/a>
\nCharlie Byrne<\/a>
\nJackson Callow<\/a>
\nBlake Coleman<\/a>
\nBraeden Campbell<\/a>
\nAlex Davies<\/a>
\nOliver Davis<\/a>
\nErrol Gulden<\/a>
\nJoel Jeffrey<\/a>
\nPatrick Walker<\/a><\/p>\n

South Australia:<\/strong>
\nKaine Baldwin<\/a>
\nBailey Chamberlain<\/a>
\nBrayden Cook<\/a>
\nZac Dumesny<\/a>
\nCorey Durdin<\/a>
\nLuke Edwards<\/a>
\nLachlan Jones<\/a>
\nTariek Newchurch<\/a>
\nCaleb Poulter<\/a>
\nTom Powell<\/a>
\nTaj Schofield<\/a>
\nRiley Thilthorpe<\/a><\/p>\n

Vic Country:<\/strong>
\nSam Berry<\/a>
\nTanner Bruhn<\/a>
\nJack Ginnivan<\/a>
\nOliver Henry<\/a>
\nElijah Hollands<\/a>
\nZach Reid<\/a>
\nNick Stevens<\/a>
\nJamarra Ugle-Hagan<\/a><\/p>\n

Vic Metro:<\/strong>
\nJake Bowey<\/a>
\nJackson Cardillo<\/a>
\nNikolas Cox<\/a>
\nConnor Downie<\/a>
\nEddie Ford<\/a>
\nBailey Laurie<\/a>
\nFinlay Macrae<\/a>
\nReef McInnes<\/a>
\nArchie Perkins<\/a>
\nWill Phillips<\/a><\/p>\n

Western Australia:<\/strong>
\nJack Carroll<\/a>
\nHeath Chapman<\/a>
\nDenver Grainger-Barras<\/a>
\nLogan McDonald<\/a>
\nNathan O\u2019Driscoll<\/a>
\nZane Trew<\/a>
\nBrandon Walker<\/a>
\nJoel Western<\/a>
\nIsiah Winder<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

IN the midst of football’s long-awaited return, Draft Central takes a look at some of this year\u2019s brightest names who have already represented their state in some capacity leading into 2020, or are bolting into draft contention. While plenty has changed between now and then, we will provide a bit of an insight into players, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":72197,"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":[11774,8,3130,11606],"tags":[11813,14412,24,235,156,12880,11809,10162,709,13095,9390,14411,1335,13566,236,11374,234,11256,14014,1948,1951],"class_list":["post-72198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-afl-draft-watch","category-news","category-south-australia","category-wwt-eagles","tag-2020-afl-draft","tag-2020-afl-national-combine","tag-afl-academy","tag-afl-draft","tag-afl-draft-central","tag-afl-draft-prospects","tag-afl-draft-watch","tag-draft-central","tag-eagles","tag-forwards","tag-henry-smith","tag-key-position-forwards","tag-national-combine","tag-rucks","tag-sanfl","tag-sanfl-under-18s","tag-south-australia","tag-south-australia-under-18s","tag-state-18s","tag-woodville-west-torrens","tag-wwt"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72198","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\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72198\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}