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Gitcha Harley running: 2010 WAFL draftees

Gold Coast coach Guy McKenna had Harley Bennell locked in months before the AFL draft, but how about fantasy coaches?

GOLD COAST, AUSTRALIA - NOVEMBER 18: Guy McKenna presents Harley Bennell with his jersey during the AFL draft at the Gold Coast Conference and Exhibition Centre on November 18, 2010 in Gold Coast, Australia. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

Think back to the start of this year when fantasy coaches were hemming and hawing over whether to get one or both of Tom Scully and Jack Trengove, where the smart move was to get both. Many will be scared off Bennell by his low WAFL Dream Team average in conjunction with his high price, but the fact that all of his 12 games as a mid-sized midfielder came in the seniors means those numbers are a lot more impressive than they look. By way of comparison, David Swallow averaged just on 65 in Dream Team in the VFL last year (more on that in another post).

Jack Darling had been winning all the headlines pre-draft and duly fell down the board to West Coast, who evidently still don’t mind taking kids with alleged character issues despite their recent history, but his junior history is littered with starring performances. Please note that the following tables are split in two due to many players playing in both seniors and colts (reserves) grades of the WAFL. Understandably, there’s a discrepancy in averages, the biggest of which is for Darling himself, suggesting that he hasn’t got the body to dominate with the big boys just yet, as you’d expect.

2010 WAFL DRAFTEES – COLTS STATISTICS
Player Tm Pos Recruited from Ht Wt G K H M T HO FF FA G.B DT avg
Jack Darling WC F West Perth 191cm 87kg 6 74 46 34 20 14 15 7 17.9 102.5
Alex Fasolo CO F East Fremantle 180cm 80kg 9 165 64 55 20 3 7 12 6.11 98.8
Ben Newton PA M South Fremantle 184cm 77kg 6 73 62 30 17 1 11 6 10.5 93.3
Reece Conca RI M Perth 185cm 79kg 7 99 59 36 15 1 7 10 4.3 84.0
Kirk Ugle CO F Swan Districts 172cm 69kg 4 39 28 4 24 0 8 3 7.6 82.0
Tom Ledger SK M Claremont 178cm 73kg 15 175 163 33 34 0 33 26 8.13 73.5
Jayden Schofield WB B East Fremantle 179cm 75kg 21 247 131 105 40 2 25 26 15.8 72.6
Jamie Cripps SK B East Fremantle 183cm 75kg 1 6 11 4 4 0 1 2 1.0 69.0
Angus Litherland HW B Claremont 190cm 86kg 16 122 59 29 32 1 10 20 1.0 41.0
2010 WAFL DRAFTEES – SENIOR STATISTICS
Player Tm Pos Recruited from Ht Wt G K H M T HO FF FA G.B DT avg
Jamie Cripps SK B East Fremantle 183cm 75kg 6 73 50 31 12 0 4 7 9.10 84.5
Alex Fasolo CO F East Fremantle 180cm 80kg 9 114 45 43 32 0 7 10 14.8 84.2
Reece Conca RI M Perth 185cm 79kg 5 54 38 29 10 0 5 3 0.1 72.4
Jack Darling WC F West Perth 191cm 87kg 12 96 69 63 36 7 15 15 13.8 68.5
Jacob Brennan WC B East Fremantle 193cm 83kg 19 195 101 75 74 2 16 25 2.1 66.5
Harley Bennell GC M Peel Thunder 185cm 74kg 12 98 104 32 21 9 13 13 13.11 62.8
Tom Derickx RI R Claremont 201cm 100kg 22 112 108 63 53 330 26 37 10.4 57.4

The quiet acheiver amongst this lot is Fasolo. It seems Collingwood can never get enough small forwards on its list, so I would be wary of Fasolo’s job security, especially if Brad Dick makes a full recovery from this year’s ongoing problems. However, his recruitment may point to the Magpie coaching staff not having confidence in Dick in the long term, as well as Leon Davis nearing the end. Then again, with the retirements of Paul Medhurst and Tarkyn Lockyer I suppose they did need to bolster their stocks in that area.

As I said, I will do a similar post for the SANFL presently. Let me know what your thoughts are about this lot. I’d be particularly interested to hear commentary on Bennell. Can you take the same sort of chance on #1 and #2 in the draft again?

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