Player Watch #39: Nathan Drummond

From AFL site.

Medium midfielder with good speed and elite endurance. Played well as a 19-year-old in two matches in NAB AFL Under-18 Championships, averageing 15 disposals in two appearances. Played 12 games for Murray Bushrangers at TAC Cup level, averaging 26 touches and kicking 11 goals. A standout at the NAB AFL Draft Combine, finishing first in the clean hands test (26/30) and second in both the repeat sprint (23.95 sec) and beep test (level 15.9). Was equal-second in the kicking test (27/30), goalkicking test (25/30) and standing vertical jump (76cm), fifth in both the running vertical jump (90cm) and 3km time trial (9:59) and equal-sixth in the 20m sprint (2.93 sec).
We'll fix those figures. ....
 
Reminds me of Gary Rohan in how he takes the game on. Rohan also did well in the kicking test but was only average in actual game time.
 
AFL hopeful has more than football heritage


"Nathan Drummond isn't sure whether he will be drafted. It's what he has always wanted, but if it happens it will be at the end of the year and he has lots to think about before then, like finishing school and playing a lot more games.

What he does know is that he has had every opportunity to try his best and, as a young indigenous person, never felt held back. He goes to school at Melbourne Grammar, plays for the Murray Bushrangers and has made the Vic Country squad for the under-18 championships that start this week. ''If I want to do things, I feel like I can do them,'' he said. ''Nothing has been put in my way.''

Drummond grew up in Shepparton, and only ever wanted to play football. He has good bloodlines: his great-grandfather, Tom Drummond, captained Collingwood in 1922 and played in two premierships.Travelling across the US with his family at the end of last year, the teenager worried he would fall behind the other players, so spent as much time as he could on hotel treadmills and came back to run his best beep test and give himself a chance to show recruiters he could play through the midfield. ''I try to always think that if you're not training, someone else is getting an edge on you. It makes me work hard.'' "

More here

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-ne...re-than-football-heritage-20130521-2jz5n.html
 
2nd favourite player from this draft pool, behind Caleb Daniel. think he has the potential to be a very good AFL player. Can play inside/outside, half back or half forward. Very versatile player.
 
black fanta

s**t just got real

I prefer Chocolate Saucehead. My missus is a saucehead which means I'm allowed to say it. I also like chocolate.

Good luck Nathan! We are slowly, quietly building a ranga army.
 
I also love the fact he is ready to go from round 1. Perfect replacement for Grigg on a wing.
 
Here's Knightmare's thoughts on Drummond from his Phantom:

Nathan Drummond (VIC – Mid/Def)
Height: 181cm, Weight: 85kg, DOB: 19/01/1995
Recruited from: Murray Bushrangers
Draft range: 30-rookie
Best position/role: Midfield – on the ball.

Strengths:

Acceleration –
Drummond while he is a rare athlete he also critically uses his acceleration in game. He has a rare burst of acceleration and can really take on the game. Most noticeable is from stoppages he will get first possession and just take it and go, take on the other midfielders, run around and past them, run to 50m and kick a goal. He can also when positioned in the back half use his acceleration to break the lines and take on the game at full pace. He also often will look to hit the ball at pace and continue when collecting it to run on at full pace to run into an open goal or if up the ground look to take on the game.

Athleticism – Drummond was one of the stars at the draft combine finishing top 10 in every category except agility, which is not at all a problem for him as someone who can run around guys and move exceptionally well in general play. His testing demonstrated a rare speed/endurance combination and that elite endurance in game only allows him to use his acceleration with frequency in game. He also has excellent leaping ability.

Inside game – What most stands out with Drummond’s inside game is his ability to read the ruck taps and get into the right positions to get first possession. Drummond’s contested ball winning ability is also excellent as someone who consistently wins the ball in close. He is also an excellent tackler and has excellent tackle per game numbers. Some of his work by hand extracting on the inside finding outside runners is also very good but at times he can try to do too much by hand and turn it over.

Ground level ability – Drummond is extremely clean with his ground ball pickups, just taking it cleanly, rarely fumbling. He is so clean with his pickups that he can hit the ball at speed, and take it one grab cleanly on the move and continue accelerating.

Tackling ability – Drummond is an excellent tackler, he has excellent tackle per game numbers and is someone who at stoppages will give the tackling effort but then also is an excellent chase down tackler who will really go after guys and chase them down and drive them into the ground.

Marking ability – Drummond is a strong, clean mark overhead. He is at times capable as a linkup marking target, he can push behind the play for the intercept mark and he is also in the air capable of taking some high flying marks.

Scoreboard impact – Drummond kicks his goals through the midfield but 11 goals from 12 games is a terrific return and those are impactful goals with many of them coming directly as a result of his own work winning the ball and accelerating away from stoppages.

1v1 ability – When utilised in the back half Drummond has the strength in the 1v1 contests to hold his position and more often than not beat his man.

Weaknesses:

Kicking efficiency –
Drummond is a low, hard kick. He has the ability to lower his eyes and hit inside 50 targets at times and finish from 50m, he can also at times deliver a kick to a target when getting tackled but he has an overall poor kicking efficiency, headlined by one game in the TAC Cup where he had only the two efficient kicks and 16 inefficient kicks! He can at times have a tendency to try to do too much with his kicks, sometimes missing his targets completely or at other times putting too much power behind his kicks to be easily marked by team mates. He could also improve his conversion in front of goal from his set shots and field kicks, finishing with more behinds than goals this season in the TAC Cup. He can also after marks struggle to find a good target often going down the line to a contest, not using the high percentage option as much as he needs to.

What I expect will improve:
Drummond I expect will continue to work to expand his inside game. He also with some coaching can learn when to deliver low hard dagger kicks and when to take a bit of power off his kicks which should help him at least iron out what he does by foot.

Who he can become?
Drummond has the scope to develop into something like a slightly less dominant, midfield version of Shaun Atley.

When will he be ready to play?
Drummond if required could possibly play as soon as season one but more likely he would be pushing for some senior games in season two and looking in season three to establish himself as a regular part of a best team.

How to best utilise him?
Drummond is best utilised on the ball through the midfield as a ball winner.

Interpretation of his numbers:
Drummond’s numbers are strong without being outstanding for an overager. His overall disposals per game numbers are overall above average though for an overage midfielder not outstanding. His mark and tackle per games numbers are excellent. His scoreboard impact is excellent for a midfielder. The area statistically where Drummond struggles is disposal and kicking efficiency, both of which are poor.
 
From The Age



Nathan Drummond (Murray Bushrangers)


Born 19.1.1995, 181cm, 85kg

AFL biography: Tough, inside medium midfielder with elite speed/endurance combination. Has had excellent TAC Cup year after being injured in 2013. Playing as a 19-year-old he averaged 15 disposals, four marks and six tackles for Vic Country in the NAB AFL Under-18 Championships. Good leap and overhead mark for his size.

Lee Fraser, Murray Bushrangers: "Nathan was at school in Melbourne last year so he's basically missed out on the draft and come back with an AFL attitude. He's super professional. We challenged him early on in the year to work on his contested footy and he's gone into the centre square and won a lot of it for us. His defensive attitude has been outstanding. He has a 15 beep and a sub three second 20 metre sprint and he's starting to use those qualities in his game."
 
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Lukey D

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he played a few games for Richmond VFL this year IIRC. anyone watch those games?
he must have done a few things right during those games for RFC to take him as a third rounder
Being a statsman for the Tigers VFL team this year, I saw him first hand in the few games he played. Didn't get a lot of it but was fantastic and very exciting when he did get the ball.
 
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