Past #35: Aaron Black - 50 NM games - 64 goals - traded to Geelong for pick 92 in '16 trade period

[Kimbo]

Height: 193cm
Weight: 78kg
DOB: 29/11/90
Recruited from: Eaton Boomers/Peel (WA)
Bio: Athletic key forward whose excellent hands are a feature. Agility and awareness are also strengths.
Matt Burgan's draft rating: 10-25

Watch Aaron Black in action

What type of player are you?
I feel I am a versatile player as I can play in a number of different positions. I am a positive, team player.

Which AFL player do you feel you resemble, and why?
Paddy Ryder, as he is a versatile and athletic player.

What are your strengths as a footballer?
My marking, reading of the play, athleticism, hard work ethic and kicking on opposite foot (left).

What parts of your game would you like to improve?
My physical strength and fitness.

Which AFL team do you support and how did you come to barrack for them?
I support West Coast as all my family members do.

Who has been the biggest influence on your career so far, and why?
My dad. He has always encouraged me and been positive about my football. He has taught me most things I know about football from a young age.

 

[The Filth Wizard]

Stoked... excellent pick up.

 

[Kimbo]

From: http://www.contestedfooty.com/2009/10/aaron-black-2009-afl-draft-prospect.html

Aaron Black has spent 2009 playing in Western Australia for Peel Thunder. Coming from a basketball background, it has been said that he could have played College Basketball in America had he continued down that path. As he is too old, he did not participate in the Under 18 Championships, but a strong second half of the season in the WAFL has seen him come into the spotlight.

Playing 13 games for the Peel Thunder Colts, and even 2 for the Peel Thunder Seniors, he managed to kick a few bags of goals. The highlight of Aaron Black's season was in round 14 against Subiaco. It was wet and windy but he still managed to amass 29 disposals, took 14 grabs, and kicked an amazing 6.4. Amazingly his opponents in Subiaco kicked the same score as Black, but Black was more accurate.

Many see him as a tall forward, but Aaron Black has shown his versatility having played time in the midfield and ruck as well. In round 23 playing in the Peel Thunder Seniors team against Fremantle, he gathered 26 possessions, 7 marks, and 13 hit outs, in a rucking role. His great year saw him finish 5th in the Peel Thunder Colts Best and Fairest, and also earned him an invitation to the 2009 Draft Camp. It was here he really started to stake his claim for selection.

Standing at 192 cm tall, and weighing 82 kg, Aaron Black finished equal third in the standing vertical jump. He also managed to finish equal second in the new kicking test. He has been likened to Geelong player Mitch Brown, who only really came into the limelight at the 2008 Draft Camp and ended up a first round pick.

Aaron Black's WAFL Stats
TheWest.com.au- Aaron Black article
BigFooty Forum - Thread about Aaron Black
Demonland - Thread about Aaron Black
Draft Camp Results
AFL Site- Aaron Black Draft Watch

 

[Kimbo]

From: http://www.afldraftinfo.com/2009/08/aaron-black-peelwa-draft-profile.html

Height: 192cm Weight: 82kg
Preferred foot: Right/Dual Sided
Position: Tall Utility KPP
Potential: 7.5-8.5/10

Style: smaller Kurt Tippett?


Strengths



> Excellent leap and decent-good pace off the mark and over distance
> Excellent work ethic, competiveness and intensity – strong attack on the ball, puts his body on the line, will consistently present as a leading target, give repeat efforts, chase and apply defensive pressure on regular occasions
> Very good aerial presence (‘plays’ taller than 192cm) – excellent leap, significant reach advantage for his height – both give him a real advantage in the air
> Very mobile with clean hands and very good ball control at ground level
> Good user by hand – very quick reflexes/release and effective/clean use
> Very versatile football all-rounder – gets moved around into various roles in defence, ruck, midfield and forward within games – adapts to each role very well and quickly
> Good-very good overall decision maker that keeps the play flowing by moving forward quickly


Weaknesses



No major concerns at this stage – IMO his game just needs fine-tuning in areas


Other



> Testing suggests he needs to improve running capacity (high 12 beep test), but I wouldn’t have any concerns from watching him play – considering he will have very good scope for improvement in improving his running capacity as he hasn't had the same exposure to quantity/quality of football pre-seasons as most others this is a great positive given he is already a very hard worker on the field
> He seems to have a well developed game sense overall considering his football experience to date – has progressed very well in this area since earlier in the season - still needs finetuning in certain aspects (i.e. tends to get run under the ball by opponents in marking contests), but you would expect it to develop to an even higher level with more experience, coaching and conditioning at the elite level

> Decent field kick – dual sided, somewhat low trajectory - sound accuracy with good depth – reliability may need some improvement but not a concern - typically an accurate finisher in front of goal from set shot or general play
> Decent OH grab
> He seems to have a reasonably good frame that should fill out - probably needs at least another 10kg on him
> 19 year old – basketball background (considered as a US college level prospect?) – played for Eaton Boomers in the SWFL previously – 2009 was his 1st year in the WAFL football system
> 5th in Peel Thunder’s Colts B&F
> Averaged 13d, 4m and 2g over 16 games at colts and 17d and 5m at league level – keep in mind he has been thrown around in lots of different roles and hasn’t been able to settle into a position as yet
> Debuted at league late 2009 – 3 games, in the best twice (and as the best player for Peel on both occasions)



Stats


2009 WAFL Colts and League Stats



Overall



Black is a versatile, rangy tall prospect that has a wide and very good range of attributes with lots of development potential even though he is a 19 year old, as this is his first year in the WAFL system and he has only focused on football as a career as of this year. It’s hard to project what type of player he’ll develop into - at worst I think he’ll still be a very serviceable best XXII tall utility/KP player to a team, at best he could be a top 50-100 AFL player as either a key forward or a genuine tall utility type player that can play at both ends and even off a wing – either way I think he is a safe bet of being a very valuable player for his team. It seems like he’ll go as a mid to late first round pick.

 

[DarwinRoo]

Happy 19th Birthday for Sunday Aaron

 

[jezaroo]

Going by the report the kid has been an absolute steal, absolute loads of upside there!!

 

[Wally Carter]

We got our quality forward.

At 192 cm/82 kgs this kid may take a while, but it sounds as if he has absolutely torn some games apart. Very exciting.

Get him here, get him eating and get him punching weights.

 

[RooBoyz24]

I am happy with this selection.Looks the goods and another player from Peel Thunder.Gee i am excited cant wait to see him in action.

 

[NICK_ROOBOY83]

Sounds like a really good pick up by us, a season or two of building his weight and strength up and we should see the results.

 

[Joey7]

This guy is the steal of the draft - was tipped to go top 12. How he slid this far back is unbelievable - he is a strong powerful forward - get him and tarrant up and going and we are set for 10 years.

 

[Dogs_r_barking]

Congratulations Roos, i think you have got an absolute steal in Black and your other picks are really good. We have had our eye on Black all through the draft, and I can't believe we didn't go after him. The colts coach is a dogsman who rates him really high, higher than Morabito.

 

[Boozeroo]

G'day Aaron, I'd like to introduce you to Drew Petrie, your new forward line mentor.

You blokes should get along fine......

 

[fairdinkum]

We got our quality forward.

At 192 cm/82 kgs this kid may take a while, but it sounds as if he has absolutely torn some games apart. Very exciting.

Get him here, get him eating and get him punching weights.

Yep. This sounds like the sort of bloke you 'don't expect anything from' for a couple of seasons at least. If we are still defending Hansen after three seasons then surely Black gets at least the same.

 

[stainedclass]

Petrie V2?

 

[roos_fanatic08]

So happy with this pick. I honestly though Griffiths would end up here. I never even though Black would go past pick 12. Will take a bit of time I think but with a bit more development, and with his athleticism he could very well be something special!

 

[HollyLovesWCE]

This kid will be a star! Great pick up North!

Can't wait to see him in WC colours when he decides to come home In my dreams... *sigh*

 

[Juryduty]

In the phantom draft he was to go at 12, and we get him at 25. Great get roos.

A local boy from Bunbury, go champ do us proud.

 

[Twinkletoes]

In the phantom draft he was to go at 12, and we get him at 25. Great get roos.

A local boy from Bunbury, go champ do us proud.

Have you seen him live Jd? If so, what were/are your impressions?

 

[numchuks]

This guy is the steal of the draft - was tipped to go top 12. How he slid this far back is unbelievable - he is a strong powerful forward - get him and tarrant up and going and we are set for 10 years.

if he was a top 12 pick, such a steal etc. etc. Then why did we pass on him at 21, and then get him at 25. If he was such a gem, then we would have taken him with our 2nd pick, not waited till our 3rd.

If you ask me, his real value was probably a top 25-30 pick and he was simply another player that was masively overrated in the Bigfooty pre draft talk. I don't think he's a steal at all.

 

[Homeless]

/me gives numchucks some "happy" pills.

 

[shiraz]

if he was a top 12 pick, such a steal etc. etc. Then why did we pass on him at 21, and then get him at 25. If he was such a gem, then we would have taken him with our 2nd pick, not waited till our 3rd.

If you ask me, his real value was probably a top 25-30 pick and he was simply another player that was masively overrated in the Bigfooty pre draft talk. I don't think he's a steal at all.

I'd guess we picked him at 25 because after pick 20, many of the mids with the best rating were gone, but both Carlisle and Black were still available. I think that the decision to take Bastinac at 21 was a gamble that, knowing the players that WC & ESS were after, there was a good chance that one of Black or Carlisle were going to be there. Supporting this view is the amount of time North spent deciding picks 21 and 25. For 21 we used the full time, but 25 was instant. I think the first instinct was to go tall @ 21 (Black or perhaps Carlisle, don't know), but when we saw the gamble, we took it. We knew exactly who we wanted when the gambit paid off.

Make of this what you will, but this looks like awesome draft tactics to me.

 

[Play by Numbers]

Was upset when NM drafted Bastinac. But then wait, what I can't believe it, Black has slipped to our second round picks.

As you can imagine seconds later I was one unhappy chappy.

No doubt I will be secretly pissed about this for awhile, especially if Black lives up to his promise.

I would be pretty happy if I was a NM fan.

 

[Kimbo]

Was upset when NM drafted Bastinac. But then wait, what I can't believe it, Black has slipped to our second round picks.

As you can imagine seconds later I was one unhappy chappy.

No doubt I will be secretly pissed about this for awhile, especially if Black lives up to his promise.

Hmm, on top of taking Sheppard over Jetta you mean?

 

[Carnthe]

I'd guess we picked him at 25 because after pick 20, many of the mids with the best rating were gone, but both Carlisle and Black were still available. I think that the decision to take Bastinac at 21 was a gamble that, knowing the players that WC & ESS were after, there was a good chance that one of Black or Carlisle were going to be there. Supporting this view is the amount of time North spent deciding picks 21 and 25. For 21 we used the full time, but 25 was instant. I think the first instinct was to go tall @ 21 (Black or perhaps Carlisle, don't know), but when we saw the gamble, we took it. We knew exactly who we wanted when the gambit paid off.

Make of this what you will, but this looks like awesome draft tactics to me.

Exactly what I was thinking.

 

[Joey7]

if he was a top 12 pick, such a steal etc. etc. Then why did we pass on him at 21, and then get him at 25. If he was such a gem, then we would have taken him with our 2nd pick, not waited till our 3rd.

If you ask me, his real value was probably a top 25-30 pick and he was simply another player that was masively overrated in the Bigfooty pre draft talk. I don't think he's a steal at all.

Are you for real - different clubs have different wants at certain stages in the draft - obvioulsy our priority was our midfield, hence why we picked up RB@21. Pretty obvious answer. He is a steal.