NEARLY 12 months ago, 11 fresh-faced youngsters arrived on the doorstep at West Lakes, keen to make their mark on football at the highest level.

In 2008, three of Adelaide’s newest recruits were rewarded with AFL debuts and one of the men responsible for nurturing these future stars, development manager Alan Stewart, shares his thoughts on five of the club’s first-year players, in part one of his end of season review, exclusive to afc.com.au.

Patrick Dangerfield
I thought it could be a difficult exercise this year with Patrick living in Melbourne, but I actually found it a really good experience and I think it worked well. I was able to view Patrick’s games every week because the tapes were sent over by the Geelong Falcons and we were able to do the normal player feedback on a weekly basis, based on his performances. In between playing for Geelong, Patrick came over and played some games for West Adelaide in the SANFL and he played two AFL games. We were pleased with what he was able to produce over there, with West Adelaide and in the AFL. He’s a talented young man, a powerful athlete and I rate him highly.

Andy Otten
Andy played all of his football at senior level with South Adelaide, was regularly in their best players and also played a couple of AFL games. He’s a player who responds well when given direction and has a great work ethic. I think Andy will go close to winning South’s best and fairest.

Jarrhan Jacky
Jarrhan had a good pre-season, showed some good form and played three AFL games. He was pretty solid back with Woodville-West Torrens, but then he copped a knee injury that kept him out for four or five weeks. He struggled a bit with his form after that and he suffered a minor injury to his other knee late in the season.

Myke Cook
Cooky came to the club with a knee complaint and had some issues in the pre-season, but he managed to play a little bit of footy before injuring his hamstring. It was very similar to what happened to David Mackay last year. To Myke’s credit, he played the last four games of the year - three in the reserves and one in the seniors for South Adelaide. I was impressed with what I saw with his performances. He’s a good overhead mark and he’s quick. We’re looking forward to Myke having an injury-free pre-season like D-Mac had this year and hopefully he’ll play for us next year.

Aaron Kite
For Kitey, as a 17-year-old, it was a big move for him to come across from Victoria and it’s taken time for him to adjust. He got some feedback from the players early in the year and to Aaron’s credit, he responded well. Aaron was given some really tough roles in defence throughout the year and he performed quite well for a 17-year-old.

Check back tomorrow to see how Alan Stewart rated the performances of young stars Taylor Walker and elevated rookie Jared Petrenko this season.

The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the club.