• NAB AFL Draft Hub
• Listen to this week's Road to the Draft podcast
• Indicative draft order: What picks will your club take to the draft
• Cal Twomey's Phantom Form Guide - October edition
• The draft pool: Cal Twomey analyses this year's best prospects
• In the gun: Every club's top draft target
FOR A player considered a likely top-20 draft pick, Daniel Venables might be one of the hardest to place in this year's NAB AFL Draft.
Venables is a dynamic playmaker capable of turning a game in an instant, as he displayed when he kicked the winning goal to lead Vic Metro to a come-from-behind two-point win over Vic Country in the Under-18 NAB AFL National Championships in June.
The midfielder/forward can burst away from opponents with searing speed or, if he decides to do so, crash through them by utilising his size and power.
An up and down season, due to injury and inconsistent form, makes Venables one of the more interesting players to track on draft night.
Venables, the great grandson of North Melbourne hall of famer Johnny Lewis, has raw and natural talent and does things on the football field that are difficult to teach.
An example of this was the superb running goal he kicked while bursting out of the centre square against Western Australia in the Championships in late June.
Venables enjoys taking take the game on and relishes the physical contact around stoppages and when competing against his opponent as a mid-sized forward.
Venables was unable to test at the NAB AFL Draft Combine as he is still nursing a foot injury that ruled him out of most of the second half of the season.
He also has the propensity to flash in and out of the play and go missing at times, which is a major reason as to why Venables has that unknown factor about him.
Venables, who turns 18 in November, has explosive speed and power in the mould of Geelong superstar Patrick Dangerfield and Sydney Swans speedster Gary Rohan.
If he goes to ground, Venables is quick to spring to his feet, much in the same way Dangerfield is able to do, and get back involved in the contest. A little like Dangerfield in his youth, Venables still needs to work on his game sense to get more involved on a consistent basis.
Based on his skill set and natural talent, Venables could easily be a top-10 draft pick. But the foot injury and patchy form may see him drop down the order to a selection in the teens.
Venables is a driven character prepared to give his all for his team. He has a knack for winning the ball when he has no right to do so and he is clever around goal. If he finds consistency within his game, he could be anything.
