I THINK the rookie list has been one of the best things to be introduced by the AFL for a long time and we've seen the benefits of it this year in the emergence of Lewis Stevenson, Ashton Hams and Andrew Strijk.
West Coast has a great history with its rookie list and you only need look at the 2006 premiership side to see four success stories in Dean Cox, Quinten Lynch, Brett Jones and Chad Fletcher.
Then there's midfielder Matt Priddis, who is up there with the best players in the competition in terms of extracting the ball from a stoppage.
They're great examples for our current rookies to follow.
Rookies can generally be classed as either mature-age guys who can come in and have more of an immediate impact, or project rookies, which is where Stevenson would fit.
He arrived at the club a pretty slight young guy, and he was probably 12 to 18 months behind the top tier of players in his draft. So he was always going to take time to develop and we've seen him come on significantly this season both physically and, as a result, with his football.
There are guys who will play a lot of good AFL football who start at 20 or 21, and we're confident Lewis will be one of those players.
His biggest asset is his kicking, left or right foot, and not just 30 to 35m kicks. He can actually get depth and distance over 55m and keep it pretty flat, which is a great trait for him to have in his artillery.
Hams and Strijk are mature-age guys who arrived at the club late last year and it's unfortunate they missed out on eight weeks of pre-season training.
Strijk came to us with a few little niggles and he basically didn't do a pre-season, but we're happy with what he's shown at WAFL level this year and then at AFL level when he's had his chance.
He's another good kick and it's something that these three guys have probably all got in common.
Hams is playing an important role in our side at the moment and we knew we were getting a very good footballer after his Simpson Medal performance in the WAFL grand final last year.
He's a beautiful left foot kick - we don't have too many left-footers - and he's played a lot more roles at AFL level than he probably did at WAFL level.
He's a strong, nuggety guy, who's physically ready to play, so we're confident playing him in his first year.
The rookie list is a great system for unearthing players who may have been looked over, but from here it's up to those guys how far they go. They might play another 20 games or they might be here for 10 years plus.
We're confident they can do the latter.
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the club.
