{"id":74236,"date":"2020-10-30T15:34:54","date_gmt":"2020-10-30T05:34:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/afl.draftcentral.localhost\/?p=74236"},"modified":"2021-10-05T10:26:31","modified_gmt":"2021-10-05T00:26:31","slug":"explainer-pocket-podcast-brayden-cook-vs-conor-stone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/2020\/10\/30\/explainer-pocket-podcast-brayden-cook-vs-conor-stone\/","title":{"rendered":"EXPLAINER | Pocket Podcast: Brayden Cook vs. Conor Stone"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\n\n\nOVER the last week, Draft Central<\/em>\u00a0launched its brand new series of pocket podcasts, a collection of short-form discussions which narrow in on a range of topics heading into the 2020 AFL Draft. In\u00a0the next edition<\/a>, Chief Editor\u00a0Peter Williams<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0again sat down with AFL Draft Editor\u00a0Michael Alvaro<\/strong><\/em> to compare two of the most exciting and similar medium-forward available in this year\u2019s crop.\r\n\r\nThe players under our microscope are South Adelaide’s Brayden Cook<\/strong>, and Oakleigh Chargers’ Conor Stone<\/strong>. They measure up virtually identically in terms of size and athletic attributes, with both prospects having also enjoyed steep rises on the back of their on-field performances. Cook has come from the clouds this year to consolidate his standing as a draft bolter, while Stone burst onto the scene with promising showings in the Chargers’ 2019 NAB League premiership team. Their claims to dual-position status as deep forwards who can also play on the wing adds another air of similarity, making them an ideal pair to set alongside one another.\r\n\r\nTo listen to the comparison in full, click here<\/a><\/strong>.\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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Here are the respective players’ pocket profiles:<\/strong>\r\n(Click on their names highlighted in red to read their full draft profiles)<\/em><\/p>\r\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Brayden Cook<\/strong><\/a>\r\nSouth Adelaide\/South Australia<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

DOB:\u00a0<\/strong>July 18, 2002\r\nHeight:\u00a0<\/strong>189cm\r\nWeight:\u00a0<\/strong>82kg<\/p>\r\n

Strengths: <\/strong>Versatility, athleticism, goal sense, smarts\/evasion, overhead marking, game-winning ability, decision making\/creativity<\/p>\r\n

Improvements:\u00a0<\/strong>Finishing consistency, strength<\/p>\r\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Conor Stone<\/strong><\/a>\r\nSt Kevin’s\/Oakleigh Chargers\/Vic Metro<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

DOB:<\/strong> April 22, 2002\r\nHeight:<\/strong> 188cm\r\nWeight:<\/strong> 81kg<\/p>\r\n

Strengths:<\/strong> Goal sense, finishing, athleticism, vertical leap, smarts\/anticipation, endurance<\/p>\r\n

Improvements:<\/strong> Untapped versatility, explosive speed, consistent impact\/output<\/p>\r\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Here’s how they match up athletically:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\r\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Cook:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Standing Vertical Jump – 58cm\r\nRunning Vertical Jump (R\/L) – 72cm\/74cm\r\nSpeed (20m) – 3.103 seconds\r\nAgility – 8.45 seconds\r\nEndurance (2km) – 6:48<\/p>\r\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Stone:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Standing Vertical Jump – 67cm\r\nRunning Vertical Jump (R\/L) – 73cm\/83cm\r\nSpeed (20m) – 3.10 seconds\r\nAgility – 8.67 seconds\r\nEndurance (yo-yo) – 21.5<\/p>\r\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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\n\n\nUltimately, there are a few points of difference which separate these two prospects. It should also be pointed out, in the interest of fairness, that Cook’s testing data has been pulled from the recent South Australian Draft Combine, while Stone’s results are from preseason as he awaits the Vic Metro combine on October 31. Furthermore, Cook has been able to push his case massive in 2020 with a full season of football, while Stone has been made to wait it out on the sidelines like all other Victorian prospects this year. Like Cook, he could well have been another to push into top 25 calculations with a big top-age campaign.\r\n\r\nThough they measure up at essentially the same height\/weight and play the same role, clubs will find little areas which have them leaning towards one player more than the other. At least at NAB League level, Stone has proven more of a forward\/wingman, whereas Cook has proven to start on the wing before shifting forward. Both are capable of kicking big bags of goals and can take eye-catching overhead marks, while their smarts at ground level bode for outstanding forward craft. Stone has a strong athletics background and arguably boasts a greater endurance base, but Cook is a touch lighter and more nimble across the ground in open play.\r\n\r\nAt this point, and by no fault of Stone, Cook is potentially ahead in terms of draft stocks having been able to prove his worth on-field more recently. Time will tell whether that is the case come draft day, which looms on the week of December 7. Both look like second round candidates.\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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>> Power Rankings: October Update<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n

Past Episodes:\r\n<\/b>Key defenders kicking comparison<\/span><\/a>\r\nOffence from defence<\/span><\/a>\r\nDenver Grainger-Barras vs. Heath Chapman<\/span><\/a>\r\nThe top non-aligned midfielders<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\r\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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OVER the last week, Draft Central\u00a0launched its brand new series of pocket podcasts, a collection of short-form discussions which narrow in on a range of topics heading into the 2020 AFL Draft. In\u00a0the next edition, Chief Editor\u00a0Peter Williams\u00a0again sat down with AFL Draft Editor\u00a0Michael Alvaro to compare two of the most exciting and similar medium-forward […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":47690,"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":[17,8,11595,3375,11603],"tags":[11813,235,2761,12880,385,2516,12911,15001,12171,10162,14972,8240,13095,12382,15002,7951,48,14988,14971,3361,236,1714,234,1723,1869,1880,1945],"class_list":["post-74236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national-championships","category-news","category-oakleigh-chargers","category-podcast","category-south-adelaide","tag-2020-afl-draft","tag-afl-draft","tag-afl-draft-podcast","tag-afl-draft-prospects","tag-aps","tag-aps-football","tag-brayden-cook","tag-comparison","tag-conor-stone","tag-draft-central","tag-explainer","tag-final-siren-podcast","tag-forwards","tag-marquee-matchup","tag-medium-forwards","tag-nab-league","tag-oakleigh-chargers","tag-player-comparison","tag-pocket-podcast","tag-podcast","tag-sanfl","tag-south-adelaide","tag-south-australia","tag-st-kevins","tag-under-18s","tag-vic-metro","tag-wing"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74236","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=74236"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87429,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74236\/revisions\/87429"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}