Delisted Spencer White

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May 23, 2008
16,431
18,523
Melbourne
AFL Club
St Kilda
Shotgunning this thread. ;)

Phantom draft info, stats, bio and highlights videos to come.

Spencer White

Club: Western Jets
DOB: 22/09/1994
Height: 195cm
Position: Forward
Weight: 84kg

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Quigley said:
Pick 24 - Brisbane

As it is I have gone with White who is a hugely talented, high risk prospect. Boom or bust but with two AIS KPFs the next two years I think we can afford to take the hit if he busts.

Spencer White
DOB: 22/9/94 Ht: 196 Wt: 85


I tend to get sucked in most years and overhype on at least one key position forward each year. Doboscz and Manson were two last year I had rated highly and both were not even rookied. This year I am onboard with White so be warned. White got the attention of most of the BF faithful with the afl.com article on with the headline "The Next Buddy?" and I have to admit that caused me to take a closer look at him and subsequently his finish to the year. On potential White is up there with any of the key position forwards in this draft. Take out the second half of this year though and his performances were nowhere close to warranting being picked anywhere let alone high.

What a team is going to be buying is a whole bucketful of potential. White is a big powerful athlete who loves to take the game on when he gets it. He had a slow start to the year with his asthma severely limiting his lung capacity. After he had his medication adjusted his performances improved a great deal. He went from 7 goals in his first 5 games to 30 goals in his last 10 and he was one of the most dominant forwards in the TAC in the last 6 weeks of the season. His endurance is still nowhere near good enough for AFL football but at least now teams can see what they will get when he does get it close to required levels. At the combine his beep tests were actually midfield which I took encouragement from although his 3km result was poor.

White has a build a lot like Buddy having great height for a KPF with wide shoulders and slim hips. I think he will end up being more solid than Buddy and will certainly have the build to play AFL football. In addition to size, White has elite athletic capabilities. After getting a late call up he won the running jump this year at Combine getting within 2cm of the record held by Natanui and Brennan and followed that with a fourth in the standing vertical. He doesn't always use his leap a lot in games but when he needs it he can go up and get the ball. At the moment he tends to mistime his jump at the ball and whilst he has improved on that over the course of the year that would be something which could cause teams a minor concern as it is something which is not always the easiest to fix.

His pace is also excellent for a tall guy with him recording a 2.89 in the 20m and showing elite pace off the mark for anyone let alone someone his size. He is often able to get separation seemingly with ease and if he is further up the field he can run away from his opposition. He does need to put his strength, pace and jump together a bit better and more consistently in his game but you have to like the thought of what he could do when and if he does. His lack of endurance has limited his abilities to give repeat leads or work further up the ground much. As that improves it would be easy to see him playing a Buddy styled game. As it currently stands though he operates closer to goal and I see him starting his career as a FF.

He currently has a very limited defensive game and if the ball is not in his area or if it with the opposition he loses interest and tends to stand around a bit doing not much. His endurance has obviously been a limiting factor but his attitude is also a significant contributor and his coaches are going to give him a kick up the butt for not chasing more than a few times in his near future. It is worth noting that his coach has identified his attitude as needing to mature. On the field he does have a tendency to give away more undisciplined frees than you would like to see.

When in his area, White attacks the ball hard and tends to make difficult things look easy. He is exceptionally confident and loves to take the game on. He is not particularly elusive but with his strength and pace he is difficult to tackle. He will frequently run himself into trouble and he does need to focus on picking the times and places for his exuberance. He improved a lot when he focused more on doing the basics well rather than trying to do the extraordinary every time he got the ball. He had the talent to pull off the extraordinary reasonably regularly but sometimes doing the basic things would have been more effective. On the lead he is very difficult to get around for a defender and takes the ball out in front himself where it is virtually impossible for defender to spoil. His hands are huge and he is good both over his head and below his knees.

He has a nice relaxed set shot. His release is a little high but his set shot is pretty accurate. Around the ground he is similarly very relaxed with his kicking and tends to have good feel and he hits his targets well. In front of goal he very much has a full forward's attitude and you can be sure if he gets the ball in range he is going to have a shot. He does not look for his teammates but takes it on his own shoulders to kick the goal even when the percentage play would be to look to give it off.

White needs to be involved in the play more because when he is good things can happen. He is going to need to work on a lot of things but if a team is patient with him they could have an elite forward on their hands. I see him going in the second round simply because there are so many teams are going to be willing to take a punt on someone with the potential that this guy has even with the risks associated with him.

Knightmare said:
#50 Western Bulldogs (Compensation Pick) - Spencer White (VIC – KPF)
Height: 194cm, Weight: 86kg, DOB: 22/09/1994
Recruited from: Western Jets
Style:
Player comparison:
Range: 20-60
Profile: Strong marking presence and was very unlucky not to make the Vic Metro team. White has been dominating in the TAC Cup and has shown with his strong marking and goal kicking that he is worth a look. Defensively White could improve and needs to improve his endurance but when you have a guy who can present at the footy like White can and hit the scoreboard as he has the ability to do you need to take note.

Chris25 said:
21. Collingwood - Spencer White (194cm forward - Western Jets)

At the start of the year, I had White as one of my top KPFs to watch. That was based largely on potential rather than performances at the time, but as the year has gone on he has started to perform more consistently and I feel as though my initial rating was justified. Unfortunately for White, he had a quiet start to the season which saw him miss selection for Vic Metro in the U18 Championships. That was no doubt a big blow, but he has come back extremely well from that and kicked 30 goals in his last 10 TAC Cup games - that fact saw him upgraded from the State Screening to Draft Combine. And at the Combine, he definitely stood up and showed what he can do. He admittedly still has a long way to go, particularly needs to focus on what he does when he isn't kicking for goal because often he can go missing. But he is a big strong target up forward, is very good in the air and is an accurate shot on goal. What he offers that few others do though, is the athleticism to go with the size. He is a good runner and has an excellent leap. Give him the time, and I think he could be one of the better KPFs from this draft. AFL Comparison: Taylor Walker.

Snoop Dog said:
# 35 Carlton
Spencer White
Western Jets
195cm / 90kg / ’94
Huge talent who just hasn’t been discussed to the extent I thought he would have been. Kicked 36 goals for the year as a strong marking, agile forward who is blessed with speed and a beautiful left boot. Has kicked some big bags through the year and is a ‘go to’ player. Already a big boy but hasn’t lost any of his agility as has bulked up and think he is probably one clubs are pretty excited about and will get talked up more as the day draws nearer as he has that x factor about him. If there was a knock on him I would think it is his consistency because the gulf between best and worst can be enormous. Clubs will back themselves to knock that out because kids as talented as him invariably get taken. Tested well so that wont hurt.
 
http://www.saints.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/5315/newsid/151667/default.aspx

“Just getting drafted is enough but when they tell you you’re on a flight to America, all expenses paid it is pretty exciting. It’s a great way to meet the players and get to know everyone so it should be good,” White said.

The tall forward said there was no mistaking his place in the pecking order and that he knew he would need to work hard to compete for a spot in the talented St Kilda forward line.

“I just want to get through pre-season and develop from there,” he said.

“I’m in my first year and there is a very good list here and everyone is going to be pressing so it will be tough.”
 
This kid has got X factor up the wazoo. He could be anything.
He's a better mark than Franklin. He does some seriously eye catching stuff. I have seen him take a couple of superb hangers.

He's also lazy.

If you can instill a hard work ethic and wait a couple of years, then you could have a dead set gun on your hands.

His real strength is his marking.

I saw him stand on blokes heads on two occasions as if it was something he did 50 times a match..

The negatives are that he didn't show me much in the way of a defensive mindset.

This is why I think the clubs with a 3rd pick in the early going might pounce. Pies 21, Dogs 22 and Port 31.

And here is what "Footy Tragic" had to say about Spencer, in his mock draft:

SPENCER WHITE
Height: 196cm, Weight: 85kg, DOB: 22/9/1994
Recruited from: Western Jets
Spencer White comes into this draft as the David Gourdis, Waylon Manson type where nobody knows exactly where he’ll go, or if he’ll go.
I think you’re slightly surer of what you’ll get with Spencer, but he does come with uncertainty all the same.
White is a very athletic tall forward coming off a 36 goal season in the TAC Cup.
He was fairly consistent through the year, kicking goals in all but three games and often using his crazy athleticism to pinch hit in the ruck.
In terms of his athleticism, he’s up there with the very best. White was in the top 2% at the Draft Combine for the standing vertical jump, he was the best at the running jump (coming within 2cm of Nic Naitanui’s record), top 10% in the 5m sprint and 10m sprint and top 7% in the 20m sprint.
His straight line pace is incredible and when you combine that with his jump, it makes him a very scary prospect as a developing full forward.
In terms of getting up the ground, this is where the problem could lie. He doesn’t win a whole lot of the ball as it is, only averaging 10 disposals a game but his endurance has been questioned as well. He ran a 12.7 in the shuttle run, and that was in 30 degree heat so he didn’t too badly there. He was in the bottom 12% in the 3km time trial and the bottom 41% for VO2 max recordings.
Playing up the ground really isn’t his game, but it is needed in modern footy just to run your opponent around, get dangerous and just get yourself in the game. He can get shut out of games quite easily, when his opponent is on top and he can often seem to lose interest and not chase as hard as what he usually would.
Defensively, he shouldn’t be a liability with his athleticism. He averaged 1.5 tackles a game, which isn’t too bad for a key forward.
Where he’s most dangerous is deep forward, so the ball can be sat on top of his head and he can run and jump at it. His contested marking is a feature, where he averages 1.7 a game but his conversion is even more impressive. He kicked 36 goals and 12 behinds for the season, putting him in the elite category for goal conversion. He also kicked the ball at 71% through the season, which is outstanding for a key forward.
If you’re looking at potential, you don’t get much better than Spencer White. On pure athleticism he’s the best key forward in the draft but it’s all about how hard he works and how he’s developed when he’s drafted.
http://www.footytragic.com/blog/2012-post-season/kristians-2012-phantom-draft/

white-spencer-2012.jpg
 

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Handy stats in the VFL so far. Anyone seen how White's work rate looking?
Seemed perfectly fine for someone his size and age yesterday, especially for a very warm day. Seemed to run out the game well and did most of his best work in the last 2 and a bit quarters. Might be a race to see who debuts first out of him and JD!
 
“He’s a development player, he’s got some good coaches working with him, Adam Kingsley, Aaron Hamill and Paul Hudson, they’re all working with him and he knows he has to keep working hard and he’s putting the work in, he’s a great kid,” Simon McPhee said.

“He’s got some talent but he’s got to keep working hard and that’s the key to him. He’s got a great work ethic and he listens and he’s obviously talented so all of those things put together, hopefully it all works out for him.”

“We just want him to keep improving and that’ll be up to the senior coach to make those decisions (when he makes his AFL debut),”
 
Spencer White

VFL Games: 13
VFL Goals: 13
Disposals: 9.23
Marks: 4.08
Tackles: 1.77

“He showed all and sundry that he has some serious ability to play. He competed really well as key forward against much bigger bodies. As he gets more work into his body and conditioning he will be a handful for any opposition to deal with. He was well-respected by the Sandy playing group by returning to see all games after his year ending operation,” – Sandringham Assitant Coach, Matt Embling told True Zebras.

The main thing to take out of Spencer’s first year at Saints is that it’s clear as daylight this kid has some serious talent. He can turn it on at any time and win game off his own boot. When he was drafted he was likened as the next Buddy Franklin, which many people thought was bit over the top.

But from first game you see of Spencer, all you see is Buddy in him. The way he runs, carry’s ball or whatever it is, he is a clone of Buddy. Nothing was more evident than his 90m running goal in Round 4 after pinpoint pass from Jimmy Webster hit him on chest just outside opposition’s forward 50 and he just sprinted away and ran into open goal.



In first half of season Spence was pretty inconsistent, would play couple good patches in a quarter each week. Which to be fair to him nearly every time turned the game in Zebras favour. Over the course of season he started to put 3-4 quarter performances together. He didn’t hit the scoreboard as much during this time but he was involved in play and providing a contest at every opportunity. White was targeted early on with opposition double teaming him at every opportunity, which is something he’s going to have to get used to so good learning curve for him.
Unfortunately his season was cut short with ongoing wrist injury that required surgery again, he could have played out season but Saints decided to send him into surgery early.

Overall was solid season by Spencer White, has the base to now build on and he certainly has the talent to do damage in AFL. Saints fans should be very excited about this young prospect.



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Anyone got stats on how he's developed since the start of the year ie height, weight..?

On there website it says his grown 1cm to 195cm. And the same weight when he arrived 84kg, not sure how up to date that is though!
I heard recently that his a bit lazy on the track.
Hope that what people say, 'the next buddy' hasn't gone to his head.
 
Not bad for the 5th youngest person on our list who is still 19 years old.


Weird stat about his age is he's only 4 months older than dunstan.

Anouther weird stat, based on his listed weight
- Lenny Hayes
- Farren ray
- dunnel
- marksworth
- Ross

All weigh more/the same as him
 
You knew it was coming.


Coop well done. Your faith in him is starting to be vindicated. You may have many good years ahead of you leading this cheer squad.
 
My son has had his no and name on his jumper for 2 years now. I would imagine he was the first. So yep no 1 and no 2 fan I dont think no 2 had much choice in it. It was either that or the soup kitchen.
Or was it really just Kosi's number you had on the jumper & was stoked when Spencer was handed it? ;)
 
Not bad for the 5th youngest person on our list who is still 19 years old.


Weird stat about his age is he's only 4 months older than dunstan.

Anouther weird stat, based on his listed weight
- Lenny Hayes
- Farren ray
- dunnel
- marksworth
- Ross

All weigh more/the same as him

Nah, I reckon he's put on 5-6 kg this year and is up at 90 (or almost 90). 84kg has to be way off compared to now.
 
Was a great debut and can't wait to see how he progresses over the coming years. If he can work on what he needs to work on from Roo and the coaches he will be a gun!! Exciting stuff - I hope he can live up to the hype!! :thumbsu::thumbsu:
 

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