In Summary
Melbourne has worked hard to balance its list in the off-season, recruiting a mix of young talents, hard-bodied mature players and versatile talls. That trend continued in the rookie draft, where Melbourne added four strong-bodied players familiar to the club's coaching staff. Jai Sheahan, Tom Couch and Leigh Williams have all trained with the Demons and impressed coaching staff while James Magner trained at St Kilda but was well known to former St Kilda assistant coach, now Melbourne assistant, Brian Royal. Sheahan played under new assistant coach Aaron Greaves at the Geelong Falcons in 2011 and many were surprised he was overlooked in the AFL National Draft while Tom Couch (son of 1989 Brownlow Medallist and former Cat Paul Couch) was in Collingwood's VFL side last year, so was well known to new coach Mark Neeld. The 24 year-old Magner, a former Hailebury boy who has worked in construction, is a strong body and hard to play against. Williams had slipped through the system but dominated up forward in the Eastern Football League.
What the recruiter said
"Our philosophy was to get at least two strong-bodied, experienced players who can play AFL football straight up. That was our plan. We also had an early pick in the rookie draft and if the right young player was there who we thought had great scope to develop into a long-term AFL player we would take him. In terms of the balance of our rookie list it also means we've got two talls (Sheahan, Williams) and five mid-ranged running players (Couch and Magner join Daniel Nicholson, Michael Evans and Kelvin Lawrence who remain on the Demons' rookie list)." - National Recruiting Manager Barry Prendergast:
NAB AFL ROOKIE DRAFT
No.6 Jai Sheahan
DOB: 27/01/1993
Height: 195cm
Weight: 82kg
Prendergast says: "The Geelong Falcons boy (from Newtown/Chilwell) is a tall forward who is an excellent kick with a good set of hands. He is very mobile and a good lead-up player. He was a goalkicker in 2011 and won the Geelong Falcons best and fairest but we think he can play back too. He is one we thought had a lot of scope for development."
No.24 Tom Couch
DOB: 17/06/1988
Height: 177 cm
Weight: 79kg
Prendergast says: "Mark Neeld knew a bit about him having seen him play for Collingwood's VFL team. He's been a really good stoppage player with his inside work been his forte at Collingwood. We're really looking to top up our midfield in terms of stronger bodies. He is one who has proved he can do things against AFL listed players."
No.42 James Magner
DOB: 8/12/1987
Height: 178cm
Weight: 82kg
Prendergast says: "He is just a gun stoppage player at VFL level with a strong hard body who won Sandringham's best and fairest in 2011. He has been training at St Kilda and we've had our eye on him as well. In terms of our list management and getting some balance, he was at a good age in terms of just being physically prepared to play AFL football. He's a hard competitor."
No.59 Leigh Williams
DOB: 19/05/1990
Height: 193cm
Weight:
Prendergast says: "From Norwood in Melbourne's Eastern Football League, he was that league's leading goalkicker last year (Williams kicked 80 goals). He trained here in the pre-season and made good improvement. He's a marking forward and obviously a good set-shot for goal who is strong-bodied and has a good set of hands. He had been playing back and has only gone forward full-time in recent times. He is just one of those blokes who has, for whatever reason, slipped through the system a bit. While it is really hard projecting the transition from the Eastern Footy League to the AFL, he has not put a foot wrong while here and impressed the coaching staff."
