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Delisted 11: Cooper Whyte (2021 - 2023)

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calder_daddy said:
Anyone have access to that?
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Making the most of an opportunity he saw he could take advantage of during what was an extremely frustrating time for elite junior footballers may soon pay off for Geelong Falcons midfielder Cooper Whyte.
In the middle of a season interrupted entirely by Covid in 2020, Whyte decided to get busy and set his mind on working harder than ever.

It set him up for a prolonged crack at it in 2021, resulting in him finishing the season runner-up to fellow Grovedale product Mitch Knevitt in the Falcons’ best-and-fairest count.

Ahead of this week’s AFL draft, Whyte says with family behind him, his decision to stay active and maintain his high fitness levels paid off.

“It was good to get a fair bit of footy in this year compared to last year,” Whyte said.

“Obviously last year was pretty disappointing because I felt like I was on for a good year but Covid shut down the footy season.


“I still managed to keep up my training all of last year during lockdowns though so that was good. It was pretty frustrating but my family is pretty sporty so they always kept me going and it gave me an opportunity to get out of the house.

“I just used it as an opportunity to try to get ahead of everybody else because I would say most people probably would have dropped the bundle, so it was good.”

Whyte was a top junior basketballer and spent three years as part of the Geelong Supercats program.

But the Collingwood fan ultimately made the call that football was where his passion was.

AFL Under 18 Draft Combine last week at Trevor Barker Oval, Sandringham. Photo: Michael Klein.

AFL Under 18 Draft Combine last week at Trevor Barker Oval, Sandringham. Photo: Michael Klein.
“I don’t watch it as much as I used to and I got to a point where I had to either choose basketball or footy and I ended up going with footy,” he said.

“The bigger club environment was better for me to build relationships and it feels a bit more home. I have always been around footy clubs and I just love the physicality of the game, which there is a bit more of in footy compared to basketball.”

Whyte has spoken to multiple clubs about his prospects, with the feedback from most being around the need for him to improve his consistency.

It is an area of his game he knows needs work, which he has been focusing on since football finished up earlier in the year.

As a Magpies fan the soon-to-be Grovedale College graduate has likened his game to Jordan De Goey and says he hopes his explosive attributes will hold him in good stead if he is at an AFL club in 2022.

“I would probably say Jordan De Goey. He has that explosiveness and ability to go forward and hit the scoreboard and I think that physicality is the main part of my game,” Whyte said.

“So that training is all about shorter reps and more high explosive efforts.

“I have had a few conversations with clubs and most of them have been positive. Most of the weaknesses they have seen have been pretty similar, just around inconsistency within games, which I agree with but I think the other attributes I have are pretty good.

“I think part of that is my endurance and that is what I have been focusing on since the season got called off, so I have been doing running programs and weights around that while still maintaining that explosiveness.”

The AFL national draft kicks off on Wednesday, November 24 and concludes on Thursday, November 25.
 
I hope he's not like Jordan De Goey off-field. But welcome to the club.
 
Knevitt, Willis and Whyte all very physical in their approach to the game....interesting..
 

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BORIS332 said:
Sounds like Kroeger is too. All explosive out of stoppage also.
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Bar dangerfield our midfield is very one paced (which is one of the reasons constable wasnt a great fit for us) so its pleasing to see the club address this for the future. It will make a big difference if these guys become afl standard mids.
 
His game has some rough edges as youd expect for a late pick but i absolutely love how he hits the contest its almost manic and given he is relatively late to the game he has some real upside and is the type of kid that will give 100 % to make it. I think his year for the falcons was underrated and he could be a hidden gem.
 

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David the Cat said:
Yes...a change of approach perhaps??
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We seem to like guys with powerful acceleration and who like to crack in or agile flanker types.

I definitely think power from stoppage has been a focus for a while. Holmes, Evans, Parfitt, Stephens were all pretty solidly built with good explosiveness (Holmes was misleading because his running meant he wasn't as built in the upper body but his thighs are trunks). Even guys like Cockatoo and McCarthy were known for their explosiveness.
 

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Delisted 11: Cooper Whyte (2021 - 2023)

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