Past #32: Jacob Edwards - drafted w/ #1 in '20 MSD - delisted end '23 w/ 0 NM games & 0 NM goals

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Northwards said:
I get the feeling he’s right where he should be.

Late developer, wasn’t in elite pathways long before drafted. Has had half a pre-season in 18 months. Played ruck and forward in an absolute basket case and undersized vfl side where he was basically thrown to the wolves given his physical stature at this point in development.

As people have rightly pointed out, big blokes take time and I guarantee he will look so much better this year with a proper, grown man ruck division around him in the VFL. Expect him to kick his fair share of goals this year with better service to mids, as he’s shown decent forward nous in the games I’ve seen.

Very exciting that now our young kids and development projects have an environment to develop in the VFL instead of it looking like the local reserves side bringing up the under 16s to fill a side

Got faith in this kidYep agree and also aligns with @roos_fanatic08 post in the trade/draft thread....
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Yep, and also aligns with what roos_fanatic08 said in the draft/trade thread

roos_fanatic08 said:
A lot of the 195+cm kids that don’t get drafted don’t really get the chance to physically mature in the state leagues. Many of them can’t compete physically at state league level as 19 year olds.
They end up playing a few games, but for the vast majority then end up playing local footy or reserves if they are based in SA or WA.

Sam Paea is a good example, was on the fringe of getting drafted last year, signed at Werribee but didn’t get much of a chance in the seniors because he lacking 5-8kg to really be a force. Ended up playing most of his footy this year in the EDFL for Aberfeldie. You aren’t getting drafted from there.

Josh Rentsch is another one. He was on the fringe to get drafted last year, ended up going over to Sturt in the SANFL. Played mostly reserves, managed a few senior games but avg’d less then 10 disposals and a goal per game because he is playing on a lot of ex AFL listed 26+ y.o key defenders.

Then the lure of $$$ from country and metro footy usually means a lot of them walk away from state leagues before they reach their potential.
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He needs to be persisted with provided he is willing to commit himself and do the work. From a needs POV he has the potential to address a number of important areas for us. Upside. He may not be able to "really" physically compete for another 2 to 3 years.
 
joegreen said:
He needs to be persisted with provided he is willing to commit himself and do the work. From a needs POV he has the potential to address a number of important areas for us. Upside. He may not be able to "really" physically compete for another 2 to 3 years.
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this
 

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Heaps of fun said:
It isn't easy to do both as a giant like him, must be working his arse off.
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100%. I don't believe he went on an end of season trip this year, decided to stay home and hit the gym. He isn't lean at the moment, but a dirty bulk is probably what he needed to get the weight on.
 
roos_fanatic08 said:
100%. I don't believe he went on an end of season trip this year, decided to stay home and hit the gym. He isn't lean at the moment, but a dirty bulk is probably what he needed to get the weight on.
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Absolutely, particularly if his running capacity has improved.

He was training with Cory Hargrave during the off-season.
 
roos_fanatic08 said:
100%. I don't believe he went on an end of season trip this year, decided to stay home and hit the gym. He isn't lean at the moment, but a dirty bulk is probably what he needed to get the weight on.
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It would take him ten years to put the weight on while staying lean. If he's improving his running while carrying the extra fat then that's not a worry at all.
 

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roos_fanatic08 said:
Making big inroads from what I've been told. 70-30 split between Forward and ruck is the goal with him this year.

Improved running capacity, added 5-6kg.
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This is good news. Jacob is the antidote to the CCJ-Xerri-Free Heimi triple-act.

Has a bit of natural agility and x-factor. Imagine Edwards and Comben playing the Carey-Longmire key pairing and Larkey at 198cm floating around like Roberts.

(May be getting a wee bit ahead of myself)
 
King Corey said:
This is good news. Jacob is the antidote to the CCJ-Xerri-Free Heimi triple-act.

Has a bit of natural agility and x-factor. Imagine Edwards and Comben playing the Carey-Longmire key pairing and Larkey at 198cm floating around like Roberts.

(May be getting a wee bit ahead of myself)
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Just a tad.
 
King Corey said:
This is good news. Jacob is the antidote to the CCJ-Xerri-Free Heimi triple-act.

Has a bit of natural agility and x-factor. Imagine Edwards and Comben playing the Carey-Longmire key pairing and Larkey at 198cm floating around like Roberts.

(May be getting a wee bit ahead of myself)
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He is still raw and a lonnnng way off.

But as his highlights show below, there is still a stack of potential, particularly with his overhead marking and agility. His movement is so much better than CCJ or Xerri it's not even a competition. If he could end up as a 2nd ruck forward it would it would go a long way to fixing the Xerri/CCJ conundrum, because I don't think either of those blokes should be anywhere near the forward line unless it's for a few minutes per quarter.



I don't think Edwards will ever be a full time ruck, but as a forward/part time ruck I'm bullish about his upcoming couple of years.
 
Do we think this guy is genuinely going to make it or still a 50/50 proposition?

We don’t need him to be tearing it apart right now, but it would be nice if he was coming on when the side was starting to get to that stage of reaching for the top 8.
 
Roosurgence said:
Do we think this guy is genuinely going to make it or still a 50/50 proposition?
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Very difficult to know at this stage. These raw project types take time, a lot of time when they are bean poles. This forum wanted us to take another raw young KPF this draft (which we didn't). Doing so requires a lot of patience. By the sounds of things, Jacob has taken some nice steps forward this preseason - he will need another 2 or 3 before we think about him at AFL level IMO.
 
Roosurgence said:
Do we think this guy is genuinely going to make it or still a 50/50 proposition?

We don’t need him to be tearing it apart right now, but it would be nice if he was coming on when the side was starting to get to that stage of reaching for the top 8.
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I reckon we'll have a good gauge of where he is at by the time the half way point of the season rolls around. If he still isn't having much of an impact at VFL level, then it will be really disappointing.
 
This is great news. I always thought this board has been too harsh on Edwards.

He was drafted in June 2021, but between school commitments and COVID he was hardly at the club until the start of 2022. From memory, I believe the club set him up with a fitness program to be done essentially at home/locally. Something like that is never going to compare to an actual elite sporting environment.

I think for that reason, any expectation of him that treats 2023 as a third year needs to be reassessed. The five month head start that he had on the 2021 draft class is negligible given the circumstance.
 
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