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Past #3 Dylan Stephens

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Dylan Stephens
The Sydney Swans used their first pick five since Jarrad McVeigh in 2002 to lock in a talented midfielder from South Australian club Norwood at the 2019 AFL Draft. Dylan Stephens is a prolific ball-winner and creative user of the footy by hand and foot. He played predominantly on a wing in the early matches of the 2019 AFL Under-18 Championships before starring on the inside in the final match, gathering 33 disposals in a best-on-ground performance. A penetrating left-footer, he averaged 23.8 disposals and 4.8 tackles across the 2019 AFL Under-18 Championships and was rewarded with All Australian honours. He also played some excellent football at senior level with Norwood, averaging 18.2 disposals and 4.6 tackles in 12 matches. Stephens enjoyed a breakout season for the Bloods in 2020 with a memorable AFL debut in Round 6 against Richmond alongside fellow debutant, Chad Warner. Stephens finished the campaign with eight appearances, averaging 12.5 disposals and 3.4 marks per game, while also kicking two goals.

Dylan Stephens
DOB: 08 January 2001
DEBUT: 2020
DRAFT: #5, 2019 National Draft
RECRUITED FROM: Red Cliffs (Vic)/Walkerville (SA)/St Peter's College (SA)/Norwood (SANFL)

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Tesla Tenet said:
Again picking stats that help your argument. So can I.

Jarrad McVeigh

Whole year in reserves 2003

2nd year - 20 games at AFL level (2004)
Disp Avg: Drum Roll tadadada (7.25)
Goal Avg: 0.3
Tack Avg: 1.3

3rd year 2005 13 games
Disp Avg: Drum Roll tadadada (9.2)
Goal Avg: 0.3
Tack Avg: 2.2

4th year 2006 25 games
Disp Avg: Drum Roll tadadada (10.1)
Goal Avg: 0.8
Tack Avg: 2.8

Why wasn't McVeigh a star, why didnt we dump him, we just waited for him to develop

Stephens started with limited training, 3x3 etc, no reserves or NEAFL and gets 10 games

1st year 2020 10 games
Disp Avg: 12.5
Goal Avg: 0.3
Tack Avg: 3.3

2nd year 2021 3 games (1 as a late sub so .2 of a game)
Disp Avg: 11.4
Goal Avg: 0.5
Tack Avg: 2.3

Clearly Stephens is going fine and most can't remember Mc Veigh starting.

Nic Fosdicke started the same way, so did Jude Bolton, so let it go until the facts showed he hasnt improved or the club don't think so.


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I didn’t pick those stats or players.

I responded to another poster who selected those two players.
 
Punts said:
Serong in hindsight
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I wanted Serong over Stephens before the draft (though it wasn't a consensus view among draft analysts), but I also seem to be one of the key defenders of Stephens on here. Way too early to consign him to the dustbin, he's not even tracking poorly. As an aside, draft position isn't the indicator of success that people hope it to be, often a mix of early development (dominating vs other teenagers) and post draft injuries can affect (Ling, Hayward etc). For every high pick that turns out well, you can find several examples that don't and some late picks that have done just as well. Sure, we'd love every high pick to dominate from their 1st year, but that happens for 0 out of 18 clubs, and I don't think it's reasonable to expect that we should somehow be immune to things that affect every other club.
 

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Blacky said:
I didn’t pick those stats or players.

I responded to another poster who selected those two players.
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I made the comparison to Gaff and Sidebottom because they're the type of players that Stephens will ideally (hopefully) become.

And I stand by those comparisons - he's a young bloke going well in a middle-of-the-road (but improving) team.

Always harder for a youngster to develop quickly in a team that isn't at the peak of its powers (see Will Phillips at Norf if you need proof).
 
Dubai Quacker said:
I made the comparison to Gaff and Sidebottom because they're the type of players that Stephens will ideally (hopefully) become.

And I stand by those comparisons - he's a young bloke going well in a middle-of-the-road (but improving) team.

Always harder for a youngster to develop quickly in a team that isn't at the peak of its powers (see Will Phillips at Norf if you need proof).
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Yeah I hope he becomes them too. He is well behind their progress at the same stage though.

Not sure I can take the viewpoint seriously when you want to afford Stephens 2 seasons of leeway and then deride Will Phillips who has played a handful of games and is a rookie.
 
Blacky said:
Yeah I hope he becomes them too. He is well behind their progress at the same stage though.

Not sure I can take the viewpoint seriously when you want to afford Stephens 2 seasons of leeway and then deride Will Phillips who has played a handful of games and is a rookie.
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Fair enough, although Stephens' development last year was doubtless hampered by an absence of state league footy. As was the case with most 2020 rookies.

I reckon 2020 rookies almost need to be viewed as first year players this year.

He's going OK.
 
Punts said:
I myself haven’t rit him of , I’m more the he has been a disappointing top 5 pick to date which obviously happens

Beside running capabilities I just don’t see much more to game that’s going to be elite
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I just wanted Daniher so I'm clinging to it for some reason
 
Tbh, at this stage, I don't see it. Best I could hope for him is that he's a McVeigh type and will take a number of years to develop but will become an important player for us.

Tank aside, he's very vanilla imo. And something about his performances suggest he seems to lack that killer instinct or competitive edge.

He may come good I just can't help feeling that he's a tier below. He's a late first rounder, early second at best... I think he was a mistake at 5... But hopefully he can carve out a successful career at the swans.

At best an accumulator and solid contributor, at worst a total flop. I can't predict it, but the ceiling isn't all that high from what he's shown this far. And yes, I acknowledge it's very very early one.

Tl;Dr we got this pick serong
 

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Dubai Quacker said:
Can’t quite believe what I’m reading on this thread.

Dylan Stephens is going to be good. Really good.

He’s tracking very well for a lightly framed 2nd year mid.

He has composure, endurance, a decent kick and a good tank.

Players like Gaff and Sidebottom weren’t stars at 20 either.
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I think he will come good too. Confluence of things. Lots of young players vying for positions. Especially inside where he could get his hands on the ball a lot more. I think also his body needs a few kgs and another preseason.
 
CheapCharlie said:
Not sure what to make of Stephens after yesterday's performance.
He might have been worst on ground.
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He wasn’t great but worth noting there were some 19 players on the ground that had less of the ball than he did (13 of those were Carlton players).
 

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May as well get a solid block of games into him now. We're not a serious premiership threat this year (may not even play finals yet) so I'd prefer we play the likes of Stephens rather than players like Taylor, Gray, Clarke etc.

Find out what he's got right now and whether he's worth persisting with.
 
I don't think it was a great game. But I'm not going to go all jihad like onto a second year player who is still using the ball ok when he gets it and is clearly trying to get into the right spots for a game plan.

Give him some time either in the 1s or 2s with clear instructions. Like what I think they need to do with Blakey.
 
Punts said:
Vanilla as

What’s his standout attributes besides a half decent runner?

Not much I’m guessing
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why is that a disaster ? McInerney is basically the same. He's an upgrade on clarke if he gets it as a linking player and uses it better.

We are after runners and good ball users. He's both those things. He is a bit of a work in progress on getting up to the pace of the game and dealing with the physicality but in florent's first year he got done for HTB regularly and we never see that pretty much anymore. If he's on the same track you'd be pretty happy.
 
MF said:
May as well get a solid block of games into him now. We're not a serious premiership threat this year (may not even play finals yet) so I'd prefer we play the likes of Stephens rather than players like Taylor, Gray, Clarke etc.

Find out what he's got right now and whether he's worth persisting with.
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Don't agree.
Win against St Kilda and the hawks are the swans are solidly top 4.
Win well and they can cement that spot.
Melbourne coaching staff and players rated the swans as the best team they'd beaten this season.
 
He had a bad game, it happens... let's not crucify the kid and back him to improve.
 

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Past #3 Dylan Stephens

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