Future Priority Access Thread (Inc. Father/Son, Academy Players)

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

Re: Future Priority Access Thread (Inc. Father/Son, Academy Players)

Hopefully it's only minor. Stress injuries can be recurring and tend to be worse the bigger the player. Darcy at least is still quite skinny, hope he's fine by the end of November so he can join in training straight away.

All other 17 clubs need to rush to judgement. Darcy's foot is clearly lame, he's a late rookie pick at best. Move along.

[boydogs]

Re: Future Priority Access Thread (Inc. Father/Son, Academy Players)

I’ve heard he might need to amputate the foot. Would be surprised if we even draft him. So surely no club bids on him…

Watch us live trade 23, 44 & 45 back up to 17 after we pass on Darcy to fool GWS into picking him

[bulldogtragic]

Re: Future Priority Access Thread (Inc. Father/Son, Academy Players)

AFL.com

VIC METRO COMBINE CANCELLED

DRAFT prospects based in metropolitan Victoria have suffered another blow with Sunday’s NAB AFL Draft Combine cancelled. Nearly 40 players were set to show their wares with athletic testing at the Holden Centre after their Vic Country counterparts underwent testing last week.

But the AFL has decided to take a cautious approach under current COVID-19 restrictions given many of the players have exams coming up and cancelled the event.

It comes after a second season where Victorian draft hopefuls have barely hit the field due to interruptions during the pandemic.

Meanwhile, Western Bulldogs father-son Sam Darcy was due to miss the Combine testing with a foot injury that has required treatment.

The 18-year-old, who is expected to attract a top-five bid at November's NAB AFL Draft, has had a minor stress injury in his foot.


……….

I’ve heard he might need to amputate the foot. Would be surprised if we even draft him. So surely no club bids on him…

The really (hopefully) positive is Darcy sliding a few picks, which is a lot of Draft Points. The reporting now seems Top 5.

Pre NABL Season: Father/Son
Season Start: First Round
Weeks Later: Top 10
Then: Top 5
Then: potentially Pick 1

Swings back our way:

A few weeks ago: Top 3
Now: Top 5
Reporting the stress fracture and no combine & attendance to assess it.

Pick 5 (or beyond) would be a great outcome if he slides. Effectively saves us Pick 50 in DPs. If we get Pick 46 or better for Lippa, we could even trade out Pick 23 for a Future Second Rounder and a late pick (circa Pick 55) to capture the balance of DPs needed. So at least there’s something potentially positive going on right now.

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

Re: Future Priority Access Thread (Inc. Father/Son, Academy Players)

So our draft capital, those picks with points attributed to them, post Lipinski trade sits currently as Pick 23, 43,44,45,52 which adds up to 2148 points.
So we've got all based covered re any top 3 bid for Darcy. Be interesting to see if we do anymore business over the next couple of days.

[comrade]

Re: Future Priority Access Thread (Inc. Father/Son, Academy Players)

So our draft capital, those picks with points attributed to them, post Lipinski trade sits currently as Pick 23, 43,44,45,52 which adds up to 2148 points.
So we've got all based covered re any top 3 bid for Darcy. Be interesting to see if we do anymore business over the next couple of days.

Darcy will be good but we could pick up some real talents with 5 picks inside 52.

[MrMahatma]

Re: Future Priority Access Thread (Inc. Father/Son, Academy Players)

Darcy will be good but we could pick up some real talents with 5 picks inside 52.

Maybe, but hopefully we aren’t in a position to pick up a top 5 pick through the normal process for quite a while, so we’re very fortunate how this appears to be playing out. If Darcy and Marra become what they could be, then we’re in for one hell of a decade!

[bulldogtragic]

Re: Future Priority Access Thread (Inc. Father/Son, Academy Players)

So our draft capital, those picks with points attributed to them, post Lipinski trade sits currently as Pick 23, 43,44,45,52 which adds up to 2148 points.
So we've got all based covered re any top 3 bid for Darcy. Be interesting to see if we do anymore business over the next couple of days.

Yep. But Daicos will get nominated before Darcy. Their picks when evaporated gives us an extra 86 points as we shuffle up the order. So in real terms we have 2,234 which is just short of enough on Pick 1 and plenty enough from Pick 2 as you say. If he slides, those extra points could allow us to hold onto Pick 52 or trade out Pick for a Future Second and some points this year.

A good bunch of points for Young & Lippa, 499 extra points from the mega trade and our picks shuffling up after Daicos is bid is going to give us some options come draft night/s.

[Axe Man]

Re: Future Priority Access Thread (Inc. Father/Son, Academy Players)

But Daicos will get nominated before Darcy.

Is that a given? It seems that North won't nominate either player but GWS have previously indicated they would nominate Darcy before Daicos. Hopefully the recent talk of Darcy dropping a couple of spots is accurate, however GWS can still nominate him at 2 knowing we are fully committed to match.

[bulldogtragic]

Re: Future Priority Access Thread (Inc. Father/Son, Academy Players)

Is that a given? It seems that North won't nominate either player but GWS have previously indicated they would nominate Darcy before Daicos. Hopefully the recent talk of Darcy dropping a couple of spots is accurate, however GWS can still nominate him at 2 knowing we are fully committed to match.

I’m hopeful their likely inability to give him a medical on his stress fracture puts the game playing aside. No footy for months and no combine either. If they do, we have the points. If he slides, we have options. Daicos before Darcy seems a safe bet to me.

[jeemak]

Re: Future Priority Access Thread (Inc. Father/Son, Academy Players)

Darcy will be good but we could pick up some real talents with 5 picks inside 52.

It's a difficult one, because with the way our list profile is it's going to be a hard side to break into which could mean many of the kids we draft with those picks may just end up walking for worse picks than they were drafted with after us going to the trouble of developing them over a two to four year period.

[divvydan]

Re: Future Priority Access Thread (Inc. Father/Son, Academy Players)

Whilst we can't guarantee Daicos will be nominated before Darcy, he's a much more complete prospect at the moment and basically on the same tier as JHF, with Darcy a level behind.

[Bornadog]

Re: Future Priority Access Thread (Inc. Father/Son, Academy Players)

Full list of nominations for this draft:

FATHER-SON

Collingwood – Nick Daicos
Melbourne – Taj Woewodin
North Melbourne – Jackson Archer
Port Adelaide – Jase Burgoyne
Western Bulldogs – Sam Darcy

NEXT GENERATION ACADEMY
Carlton
Domanic Akuei

Fremantle
Eric Benning
Jesse Motlop

Hawthorn
Paul Haasbroek


Melbourne
Mac Andrew
Andy Moniz-Wakefield


St Kilda
Josiah Kyle
Mitchito Owens
Jack Peris
Marcus Windhager

Western Bulldogs
Cody Raak

NORTHERN ACADEMY

Gold Coast
Jason Baird
Will Bella
Jed Foggo
Austin Harris
Thomas Hofert
Antonio James
Jack Johnston
Jamie Jones
Brodie Lake
Brinn Little
Max Pescud
Bailey Reeves
Ned Stevens
Jaeden Watts


GWS
Jack Driscoll
Josh Fahey
Sam Frost
Josh Green
Harrison Grintell
Fraser Kelly
Patrick Voss


Sydney
Angus Anderson
William Edwards
Kye Pfrengle
Liam Puncher
Felix Rogers
Pierce Roseby

[boydogs]

Re: Future Priority Access Thread (Inc. Father/Son, Academy Players)

Haasbroek is tiny but an insane athlete, if he can play then look out

[Axe Man]

Re: Future Priority Access Thread (Inc. Father/Son, Academy Players)

Sam Darcy was shaping as one of the best key forwards in this year’s pool until an unexpected twist

The Bulldogs played in the grand final but are set to land one of the most exciting prospects in the draft. And father-son gun Sam Darcy could have even bigger upside than they thought.

Sam Darcy was up for the idea from the get go.

At the start of the season, the Bulldogs-bound goal kicker was already shaping up as one of this year’s best key forward prospects with a reach and a leap that has drawn comparisons to St Kilda star Max King.

But what few people saw coming was the early-season switch into defence that has showcased the father-son gem’s enormous AFL potential at both ends of the ground.

Darcy’s NAB League coach, Jason Davenport, took a leaf straight out of Luke Beveridge’s premiership playbook when he raised the unexpected change-up with the Oakleigh and Scotch College product in the pre-season, in a bid to help grow his game.

And Beveridge would have loved what he saw as Darcy, who is beautifully-balanced and still growing at 205cm, began to dominate matches from the back half with his intercept marking and sweet rebound kicking.

It means the Bulldogs’ next prized addition will be another ultra-versatile weapon, not forgetting he also bagged six goals as Vic Metro spearhead in a trial game against Vic Country at Werribee mid-year.

Davenport said Darcy surpassed everyone’s expectations in the new defensive role earlier in the season, solidifying his standing as a top-three pick in Wednesday night’s AFL national draft.

“He just intercepted a couple of balls and from a timing and footwork perspective it was really, really impressive,” Davenport said.

“Just that co-ordination and fluency. How he can get in the right position and time things so he marks the ball at the highest point.

“It is as good as I have seen from someone his age.

“We saw the move as an opportunity for him to develop, but at the time we didn’t realise how quickly his ceiling was going to elevate. It was a scary rate.

“At 205cm, the young guys that big can move a bit like baby giraffe, but this kid is pretty special.”

On the day he kicked six majors in the trial game, Darcy showed the many ways he can win the footy and snag goals, reaching high for marks, diving low to ground, and then casually slotting them from tight angles across his body.

“That game he was picking up ground balls with his opposite hand and snapping with his opposite foot from 40m out,” Davenport said.

“So he is someone who can truly play at both ends and, as a secondary position, in the ruck as well.

“When you look at the Bulldogs’ list with (Aaron) Naughton and Jamarra (Ugle-Hagan) and these sorts of players, there might be an opportunity for him as a defender in his first few years.

“It will be a great problem to have deciding which end (to play him at).”

BULLDOGS IN HIS BLOOD

The Dogs will hit the key-position jackpot for a second year in a row when Darcy starts his new life as a third-generation Bulldog, following in the footsteps of his father and club great Luke, and late grandfather, David, who sadly passed away last year.

With Bulldog in his blood, Darcy, who is the eldest of four siblings, says he has loved the red white and blue for as long as he can remember, and relished the 2016 premiership triumph.

“I don’t remember too much of Dad playing because he retired in 2007 when I was about four, but I grew up a mad Doggies supporter,” he said.

“I always went to the footy, loved going with mates and sometimes with family.

“I loved watching Liam Picken, the ‘Bont’, Bob Murphy, those guys. Aaron Naughton, and the way he goes about it, Alex Keath as well.

“I have always been extremely passionate about footy, and always tried to train hard and work at my game and enjoy watching it, so I have always been a footy-head like that.

“It has always been in the back of my mind growing up, just that dream to make it to the Dogs. That was (the goal).”

That dedication has shown throughout the past two seasons, stacking on about 10kg from his home gym.

And his smooth moves around the ground for a big man can, in part, be attributed to the running and sprint coaching he has undertaken since about grade six.

Darcy, whose godfather is GWS Giants’ coach Leon Cameron, said that running work has helped him learn how to pay “high and low”.

Occasionally, he will also pick his dad’s brains during a kick at the park across the road, but club great and director Luke Darcy has been conscious to let his son do his own thing.

“Dad has always been a great support for us, and always just said, ‘I’m there if he needs me,” Darcy said.

“He has always let the coaches run the show, but if I ask for it (help) when we are going for a kick or something he will say practice this or that, and helped me out with a few things.

“So, he’s great to have around.”

COVID COMEBACK

Sam Darcy also got a taste of what life will be like at the kennel earlier in the year when he spent a week at the club as part of the father-son program.

There, he enjoyed the locker room chat, the team meetings and being on the end of Marcus Bontempelli and Jackson Macrae passes in training drills.

While the past two years weren’t easy coming in and out of Covid-19 lockdowns, having seasons wiped out and schooling from home, the stint at the Bulldogs was definitely a highlight.

“It was pretty crazy the first time I walked in, just being in the change rooms and in the gym with everyone. Talking to the players and being in their meetings,” he said.

“It felt pretty surreal.

“The skills were very high level and pretty awesome to be a part of that, but by the end of the week it was feeling a bit more normal.”

Not that you will hear Darcy talk himself up. The humble and hardworking big man is as coachable as they come, according to Davenport.

But behind the friendly veneer is a fiercely-driven teen who can’t wait to complete his recovery from a foot problem, which put him in a moon boot for three months late in the year.

Soreness turned into a micro-fracture, but Darcy is on the mend and will be ready to play again next year.

Davenport raved about Darcy’s character and work ethic.

“Because of his calm demeanour people might not fully understand just how competitive he is,” Davenport said.

“He carries a great level of maturity already, but boy he loves to compete.

“The football world could potentially become his oyster very quickly.”

[Axe Man]

Re: Future Priority Access Thread (Inc. Father/Son, Academy Players)

Apparently GWS haven't even bothered interviewing Daicos. They definitely won't be bidding on him and are odds on to bid on Darcy.