Taken from BF:
Maybe this has been said before, but here's some interesting things I didn't know when researching Alex Keath.
1. Possible upside - Only started playing footy again in 2016 round 5 after putting all his efforts into a cricket career. So he's really only a 4th year player
2. Possible leader - Co captain of the SANFL side in 2017
3. Determined person - Look at his inside football profile in his first 5 AFL games of his career. Here's some of the comments
"Debutant had some trouble with Harry Taylor but did win some one-on-ones late in the game."
"Responded well in the second half after Darcy Moore had control of him in the first."
"Kept his place in the side and recovered well after conceding the first goal of the match to Justin Westhoff."
"Given a lesson by Lance Franklin early, didn’t lower his head and played out the game reasonably well."
Seems like a bit of a pattern here, started poorly yet did not drop his head. It also seems he didn't want to give up on cricket, but had to after not getting a first class contract. Does come across as a very determined person with a kind of resilience to him. That's good.
4. 2019 was a really, really good year for him - Maybe it comes as no surprise to others, but I had no idea he was this good (but I haven't been watching much AFL this year). This is from snippets out of a newspaper article
Of all key-defenders, the 197cm Keath, who won a Showdown medal in his 20th career game, ranks first for contested possessions (7), fourth for intercept possessions (8.3) and fifth for disposals (16.3), rating elite in all three categories.
On average, only Jeremy McGovern, Dane Rampe, Phil Davis, Sam Frost and Aliir Aliir won more possession from an opposition disposal than Keath in 2019.
And, despite missing four matches with a leg injury, Keath’s 49 intercept marks was nine more than any Crow.
His ability to read the play, leave his man and dominate in the air is obvious but Keath also proved he is a terrific one-on-one defender.
Of the top-25 players in the competition for total defensive one-on-ones contested, Keath’s loss percentage of 22.4 is the 10th-best.
In the first 17 matches of the year, Adelaide conceded 9.9 marks inside-50 per game — the fourth-best number in the competition.
But with Keath missing between Rounds 19-22, the opposition took full advantage, with Carlton (16), St Kilda (9), West Coast (14) and Collingwood (19) recording 58 between them in four weeks
And his 2019 numbers stack up against former Crow Jake Lever in his last year at West Lakes.
Alex is quality and I really hope we get him.