11. Jake Batchelor

[Roachy8]

Jake Batchelor

D.O.B: 13/02/1992
Number: 31
Height: 188cm
Weight: 79kg
Junior Club: Frankston Bombers
Recruited From: Dandenong Stingrays - 2010 National Draft, Richmond 2nd round pick # 30.

Graeme Yeates (Dandenong Stingrays Coach) says:

"Jake won our best and fairest playing predominantly as a rebounding half back. A good size, he has great hands and is a super reader of the game. A terrific one-on-one player who set up a lot of our rebounds and was our No. one rebounding player and at marking the ball from opposition kicks. He's one of those classic, rebounding half backs that AFL clubs are really excited about. A really balanced player coming off a tremendously consistent year and he deserves a crack at AFL level. I think he'll get it."

Kevin Sheehan says:

Left-footed medium defender who is strong overhead and a neat disposer of the ball. Provides good run and can lock down on opponents.

RFC Official Bio:

Jake is a left footer who posses great depth and precision in his kicking, and will be looked upon to add further depth into our rebounding defenders.

Jakes best game was a 31 possession, 8 mark and 10 R50 game against Tasmania’s U18 National side in Rd 5.
Jake is a real team player that does the small thing instinctively well. He is always there for his teammates either taking a chop out defensive mark in front of an opposition leading forward or to put on a strong block for his team at the stoppages

http://www.richmondfc.com.au/jake batchelor/tabid/15510/default.aspx


Pre-draft highlights:

[youtube]0k0by3kavsI[/youtube]

Recent Articles:

Batchelor roams the field
http://www.richmondfc.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/6301/newsid/105459/default.aspx

“He’s a very attacking player, likes to back himself in, is really strong one-on-one, a very good contested mark, a strong left-foot kick, and he was probably in the quickest three or four players at our club.
“He does play like the quintessential half-back flanker . . . reads the play extremely well, wins his own footy, wins his one-on-ones, is very strong overhead, and can push up the ground.
“We moved him forward one day, and he took about eight marks in our inside-50. We chucked him in the midfield a couple of times as well, and he kept finding the footy. He’s got a happy knack of being where the ball is.”

Batchelor party for Jake
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/batchelor-party-for-jake/story-e6frf9jf-1225969756769

The Dandenong Stingrays product has made a name for himself in the TAC Cup for his dash off half-back.
And despite facing stiff competition at Punt Rd, the 18-year-old said he wanted to continue in that role.
"I do want to keep that up," Batchelor said. "I've got a bit of competition with Chris Newman and Brett Deledio there - a lot of competition.
"But I've played there for the last three years and I think I've grown into that position pretty well.
"But I think I could find myself on a wing or half-forward or even give a chop out in the middle once that fitness base grows. We'll just have to see what happens."

 

[Roachy8]

& from assistant coaches Danny Daly and Brendon Lade

We see Jake being a rebounding defender - an elite kick, good decision-maker and with good endurance. He's a smart footballer. We're looking to get him playing early in the season.

This is a pleasing assessment for Tiger followers.
Not only that there may be another quality rebounding half-back with an 'elite kick' in the yellow and black soon (early in the season even) but it will possibly help pave the way for Deledio to spend more/most or all of his time in the middle in the future.

Tiger fans will be salivating at this prospect... so "Batchelor Pad" (as Jack Reiwoldt has dubbed him) is a key pick up for our future plans.

 

[Toadvine]

Saw him at training on Australia day and he has added some decent size.

Will put a lot of pressure on Farmer and may line up round 1 I think.

Looking forward to seeing how he goes in the All-star game.

 

[Roachy8]

Was far from disgraced on Sat night in his first official outing in the Yellow & Black.

Collected 13 disposals across the 2 games and showed good agression and certainly excellent kicking skills.

Not hard to imagine Jake will debut earlier rather than later this season.

 

[Roachy8]

With thanks to RFC Official, I will link this here as well.

The more I see/hear this kid the more I really like our selection.
Quality kid.

[youtube]H3pvQlLEO44&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

 

[folester41]

i expect jake to play atleast a dozen games provided his body holds up/

 

[Roachy8]

Congratulations young man!

Debut in game 1 of round 1 at The MCG v The 'Stink' in front of 70,000 odd fans... breathe it in Batch... game 1 of many, many, many more.

Go hard & go well you good thing!

 

[Rustof]

Yep, have been very impressed with what i've seen from him this pre-season. Looks to be a good player.

 

[Roachy8]

Hard to fault my boy Batch's debut game in the mighty Yellow & Black.

Spent a fair time in our back half, a lot of it under fire from the Blues as they bombarded the inside 50's early on.

Looked composed, read the play pretty well and made some good decisions whilst under the pump and does have a ripper left foot.

7 kicks, 6 handballs for 13 disposals with 3 marks as well.

On that performance you could be well pleased young man and start thinking about next Friday night v the Saints.

 

[Roachy8]

Jake's round 2 game v The Saints was another great experience for our new Tiger.
Stats were down a bit on his round 1 effort but Batch played a slightly different role including at times trying to shut down everyones most hated Saint, Tiprat Milne.

Just 7 possessions but laid 3 solid tackles and smashed Farren Ray at one stage in the 4th.

Continued to look quite composed whilst at times under extreme pressure and again I was surprised at his build... does not look like a typical Richmond first year running player of the past.

You simply can not buy experience like Friday night and Jake will only continue his fast-track learning curve the more time he spends in the firsts. (Having said that, may be under a bit of pressure to hold his spot this week with Webbs & to some extent Nason's good games at Coburg)

No matter... all early signs are good for this lad.

 

[folester41]

another youngster with composure, something we didnt see much in our youngsters prior to drafting martin (exception of jack, lids and cotch of course), looks a long term player and should only take a few seasons to be a really valuable player for us.

 

[Roachy8]

Just to keep the weekly update going...

Jake again 'held his own' amongst his more credentialed teammates in Saturday nights drubbing.

As part of possibly the most inexperienced backline in AFL history, on a horrible night and against generally a much bigger, harder and more experienced Hawk outfit The Batch eeked out 11 servicable possessions with 5 marks and 3 solid tackles.
Due to our inexperience at the moment, Jake is being asked to step up much quicker than first year players really should be and although will probably continue to do so, a spell at some stage back at Coburg probably beckons to ensure we don't blow him apart.

Still more than certain of his long term prospects for the Yellow & Black though.

 

[folester41]

was pretty quiet last night but i like the way he doesnt neglect his defensive duties when playing a half back role, always see him spoiling or getting involved when the ball hits the deck, also must say he is pretty strong for his age.

 

[amba vaghdeva]

Jake absolutely flattened Dane Swan with one great tackle. He looks pretty strong for a young fella.

I like his composure and foot skills.

 

[Roachy8]

Cooking along beautifully at present is young Jake.

Picked up another 11 disposals on Friday & I liked that 8 of these were kicks which shows that he is being used to clear the backline with his quality left boot.

Also another 6 tackles including the squashing of Swan which certainly made this ole Tiger smile.

Will probably get 'rested' at some stage this season but I hope he stays in for a couple more weeks at least so we get to see him up against forwards of a similar vintage to him rather than the likes of Milne or premiership players.

Keep it up Batch!

 

[Roachy8]

My boy succumbed to the dreaded Tiger "leg" last week and has been listed as having a 'hot spot' and is currently "indefinite" on the HUN injury list.
Interesting though, on the official Tiger web site injury list he is not mentioned. (So quite probably was 'rested' and delt a savage Tiger 'leg' by way of reason!)

Either way, let's get you fit and back in the ones on the back flank asap young man.



& now the edit.... straight back in young man.... & fair enough too.
(Get stuffed HUN injury report!)

 

[leighroy]

batchlor is going along very nicely. realy love the way he reads the play , doesnt panic and uses the ball well. hat off to francis , great pick up

 

[Spluff]

Really got involved on the weekend, his defensive work (especially the bone crunching tackles - this guy may be the best tackler in our team) is as good as always, but he got a lot more of the ball, and when you kick like he does, it really contributes. As he gets more confident in running off, he'll start shredding teams off the half back .

 

[Roachy8]

After a quieter round 6 game, Jake certainly stepped up and had a fine outing on Saturday v Fremantle.

Was among those named in the 'bests' in a number of media reports.
Career high 23 disposals with 6 handballs but importantly, 17 ripper kicks which showcased his skill with the boot.
Again showed good agression with body work and strong tackles and it is great to see a youngster that already has a maturing body rather than a broom stick build.

Displayed a cool head a number of times and can be seen on RFC Roar Vision this week briefly discussing the game and the recovery.
Very pleased to see him named in the back half every week.

Keep it up Batch!

 

[Roar Metre]

From Mark Robinson's HUN article 'The Tackle' yesterday:

Jake Batchelor

Plenty of best-played games listed today, and, OK, it was only Batchelor's sixth, but we going to apply the oft-used cliche: The Tigers have found one here. His best previous numbers were 13 in Round 1 v Carlton and on Saturday night it was 23 against the Lions. Conca has been added to the talented list of Martin, Cotchin, Riewoldt, Deledio, Foley, and today Batchelor joins them. For a young player, a baby, the key elements of performance are effort, standing up under pressure and making cool decisions. Tick. Tick. Tick. As for the Tigers ... welcome back. Terrific win.

 

[Roachy8]

Was a quieter game on Sunday from Jake and was given the run-around a bit more by the Doggies forwards as they whipped the ball in there quickly and often.
Still got it 11 times which included 10 kicks & I like him using his boot rather than handballing it on. Another 4 tackles pleased as well.

Looks locked into the back half though... partly due to his solid if not spectacular form but also due to little pressure coming from Tigers at Coburg.

Could have another interesting game on Saturday against The Bombers goal-kicking half forwards...

 

[McGun]

Chris Newman Junior.

 

[juss]

Chris Newman Junior.

Good call, definetely has that same composure and awareness that the skipper has, also a good kick, though perhaps not quite as penetrating as Newman who is a great kick.

My favourite thing about Batchelor is he lays a ripping tackle. Also he looks like he's been playing the role for about 5 years. Seems like one of those guys who will be in the side from day one til the end, similar to Deledio.

 

[TOOs_Finest]

Footy Barometer - Round 22

ON THE BLOCK: Jake Batchelor might be the toughest teenager in the comp, but will do well to recover from a popped shoulder before Sunday's twilight clash.

Fair wrap, and on the mark

 

[Roachy8]

Thanks DD...

I have been a bit soft looking after my budy Batch... I will improve!