PORT Adelaide is set to receive another injection of quality young talent at season's end, with the club bound to gain access to one of this year's most highly rated father-son prospects.
Midfield jet Jackson Mead has emerged as a potential top-30 pick in this year's NAB AFL Draft pool, enjoying a promising start to his 2019 campaign.
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The talented teenager is the son of inaugural Port Adelaide best and fairest winner Darren Mead, who played 122 AFL games for the club between 1997 and 2002. He was also a three-time premiership player with Port Adelaide's SANFL side in the 1990s.
Mead's promising start to the year has been rewarded with his selection in a 26-man Australian under-18s side, which is set to play the Casey Demons' VFL team at the MCG on April 20.
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Despite not being the tallest midfielder at 181cm, Mead has a big body and is a first-possession midfielder who starred for Woodville-West Torrens in last year's SANFL under-18s Grand Final. He won 21 disposals and kicked four goals in a best-on-ground display.
He has continued that form into this season, winning 28 disposals, six clearances and kicking a goal at SANFL reserves level during last weekend's slate of round one matches.
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Able to use his craft and nous around goal to also push forward and hit the scoreboard, SANFL under-18s coach Tony Bamford has indicated he believes Mead will find his place in the midfield at AFL level.
Should he be recruited to Port Adelaide at season's end, Mead would be the Power's first father-son selection since Brett Ebert in 2002.
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The club also has access to another father-son prospect in Trent Burgoyne, who is the son of premiership player and 240-game champion Peter Burgoyne.
Port Adelaide has already unearthed a host of quality young prospects that have reinvigorated its side this season, blooding four debutants throughout its unbeaten start to the year.
Connor Rozee, Zak Butters and Xavier Duursma were all top-20 picks from last year's draft, while Willem Drew is a third-year player who has come on in leaps and bounds over the summer.
