Past George Hewett - free agent to Carlton, 2021

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George Hewett

George Hewett is regularly praised in the media by his teammates and coach John Longmire for his steadfast reliability. Regardless of whether the 2013 draftee is tasked with winning the footy or blanketing a ball magnet, he has the full trust of the Sydney Swans camp. Dustin Martin, Patrick Cripps and Shaun Higgins are just some of the gun midfielders Hewett has shut down in his unheralded career as a Swan. The South Australian carved out a career-best season in 2019 en route to finishing second in the Bob Skilton Medal voting, joining star duo Dane Rampe and Luke Parker on the podium.

George Hewett
DOB: 29 December 1995
DEBUT: 2016
DRAFT: #32, 2013 National Draft
RECRUITED FROM: Broughton-Mundoora (SA)/North Adelaide (SANFL)

 
Feb 28, 2007
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The inside word
Medium midfielder with neat skills on right and left sides who shows great courage in the contest. Has good awareness and vision, allowing him to set up the play for his team. Impressed for SA in NAB AFL Under-18 Championship-winning team.

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2013-10-20/george-hewett

#29 GWS (via Brisbane) - George Hewett (SA – Mid/Fwd)
Height: 185cm, Weight: 78kg, DOB: 29/12/1995
Recruited from: North Adelaide
Style:
Player comparison:
Range: 15-45
Profile: Hewett is a young, high production midfielder who can also play forward. He’s also got an impressive inside game with his inside awareness as well as the ability to win his own ball inside the contest doing the dirty work. He keeps his feet in the contest and rarely goes to ground when tackled. He’s good by both hand and foot, very duel sided and has some class to him with ball in hand. He’s got a late year birthday and with the traits he’s demonstrated there is strong scope to improve.

http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/knightmares-2013-phantom-draft.983436/


George Hewett
DOB 29/12/95 Ht 185 Wt 74

I think teams have pegged Hewett as a guy who might be a good get later in the draft. He was interviewed by 10 teams at the Combine which shows the level of interest in him. I don’t think it is because he is likely to go high more so that they might have been hoping he would be overlooked a bit and would drop to them. With a 29 December birthday he is the youngest player in this draft and is almost a year younger than quite a lot of the other players out there. I think that needs to be considered when assessing his development potential especially as a midfielder.

Hewett played a lot of time onball at the Champs and was decent with 16 disposals per game without really standing out. He was overshadowed by the likes of Dunstan, Aish and probably McKay as well but he was not disgraced. The role he played was not one I expected but I do think it probably helped highlight his potential as an all round mid to recruiters. Playing a more inside role he showed reasonable ability inside. He did tend to be a bit stationary at contests or not attacking the ball. He was scragged regularly when he received the ball inside and whilst he showed a good swimming action to keep his arms free he was regularly under pressure. In those situations he did remain composed and didn’t panic which again is a good indicator. For a guy who was giving away weight to most of his opponents I also thought he showed good ability to keep his feet and pretty decent balance.

Hewett is not the best read of the taps but was reasonable and when he get the ball his handballing in tight was pretty good. Another thing working more inside showed was a decent tackling ability. He was not a big tackler in the SANFL U18s but at the Champs he averaged a very decent 3.4 tackles per game and showed reasonable technique. One thing I was disappointed about with his Champs performance was his lack of spread. For a guy who has played a lot of time on the outside and has pretty good endurance he did not get to space nearly enough. He averaged as many contested possessions (8) as uncontested possessions (8) whilst this ratio is massively in favour of uncontested possessions at the SANFL U18 level. If he could have combined his usual ability to rack up uncontested possessions with the inside game he showed at the Champs I think we would be talking about him going much higher than we are.

At SANFL level he averaged 24 disposals per game splitting time between half forward and the midfield. He was given some time in the reserves and did okay but according to his coach they didn’t want to throw him to the wolves given his fairly light build. On his body shape I think he has a frame which will support a fair bit of bulk as he develops and I am not worried about him weighing only 74kgs atm. As mentioned above he attended the Combine but like many SA kids he did not test. He subsequently attended the State Screening and only tested for the beep test for some reason. He was one of the few who attended the State Screening to go over 14 but unlike the others he did not have the excuse of doing all the other testing in the same day. Still 14 is a very solid result and certainly indicates that there is a bit to work with.

I would have liked to see him test for pace as it is a question mark for me. There are times where his pace seems fine but generally I think he does not play with great speed. When he puts in he can seem to get away quickly but it does not seem a common feature of his game. It is pretty similar with his elusiveness. He will occasionally make a guy miss with a nice step but in general play he tends not to get around players particularly easily and inside he gets scragged a lot. It could be the case that he is a player who is regularly tired in game situations and so is not able to use his talents often enough and as his endurance improves it will become more of a feature of his game. Then again it might not. I really don’t know at the moment.

As mentioned he played a fair bit up forward in the SANFL U18s as a high half forward. He could start up there at AFL level but personally I do not see him in that role long term. I don’t think he is a particularly dangerous forward and lacks a bit of goal sense. He will pick up a goal here or there but generally they are generated by run rather than forward craft. Still with teams liking to blood young mids up forward he will have some appeal given the work he has done there.

How high you take Hewett I think depends on who you are comparing him against. He is closer in age to this year’s bottom aged group and if you compare him against those players he had an excellent year and would be considered a very good prospect. If he was born 3 days later he would not be in this group at all but would have to wait to next year. If you take the mindset that he is a bottom aged player who needs to be put away for a year of development then it could really pay off.

http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/quigleys-2013-mock.1041146/
 
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Do we now have the youngest player in the AFL? 29th December 1995 would be hard to top.


Out of curiosity, what could be the youngest eligible player by date (ie. the cut off date) not by players at the draft table?
 

Swansujelly

Norm Smith Medallist
Sep 6, 2009
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Hannebry was a young pick. I don't mind this pick. Could end up 2-3 cm taller, and looked okay in the vids. Another gem from the 30's?
 

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Sydswans0512

Norm Smith Medallist
Jun 25, 2013
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Hannebry was a young pick. I don't mind this pick. Could end up 2-3 cm taller, and looked okay in the vids. Another gem from the 30's?
Pretty sure Sam Reid was the youngest in his draft this might be a bit of a pattern by the Swans
 

Tedeski

Brownlow Medallist
Oct 2, 2006
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A very similar pickup to when we took Hanners.

Perhaps overlooked early because of his age & fear of home sickness. We have the best player welfare system in the land.
 

Sydswans0512

Norm Smith Medallist
Jun 25, 2013
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Definitely didn't get much love from Swans supportes going into the draft but looks to have really good skills, nice pick up
 

Wolftone

Cancelled
Feb 1, 2012
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I like this kid too. He has the look of a good and skilled player. His delivery is beautiful. His handball is very slick.
 

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