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

Jun 7, 2019
5,129
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AFL Club
North Melbourne

The ‘Kanga-Blues’ ran out as 65-point winners on the day, with Leigh Adams saying Edwards was impressive in his first game of senior football.

“Jacob played about 50 per cent of the game, he looked OK and did some nice things. He’s very raw but he didn’t look out of place,” Adams told North Media.

“He’s got a good footy brain on him and with a bit more conditioning and strength behind him he looks like he could be a good player.

“We exclusively played him forward this week just to keep him out of the centre bounces. It’s the first time he’s played against men, so we wanted to let him find his feet a little bit more as a forward.

“He did some forward 50 rucking, but he predominantly played as a tall forward.”
these big fellas take time .... I dunno, I read it somewhere, might be true, who knows
 

BlueandWhiteinmyBlood

Club Legend
May 27, 2019
1,041
3,880
AFL Club
North Melbourne

The ‘Kanga-Blues’ ran out as 65-point winners on the day, with Leigh Adams saying Edwards was impressive in his first game of senior football.

“Jacob played about 50 per cent of the game, he looked OK and did some nice things. He’s very raw but he didn’t look out of place,” Adams told North Media.

“He’s got a good footy brain on him and with a bit more conditioning and strength behind him he looks like he could be a good player.

“We exclusively played him forward this week just to keep him out of the centre bounces. It’s the first time he’s played against men, so we wanted to let him find his feet a little bit more as a forward.

“He did some forward 50 rucking, but he predominantly played as a tall forward.”

In other words, did bugger all.
 

Le Grille

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Feb 14, 2005
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Jun 9, 2001
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Three games and two of them finals for Geister wasn’t it?

Pretty sure that was right. Without looking it up think he debuted last round against Fitzroy and looked good enough to keep his spot into the finals against Richmond and West Coast.

Can remember him intercepting and booming out a kick from defence in one of the games and Bruce exclaiming something like "ooh he's got some power". Looked like we had our new CHB for the next decade.

Think he played a total of 1 more game for the club (maybe none actually) then was traded to the start-up Port side giving us access to Kent Kingsley (and his brother) in return.

Clearly Kent had seen Geister's 1st game and thought "if you really want to see a debut game that has no resemblance to the career that follows it - hold my beer".
 

Passmore

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May 22, 2001
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Pretty sure that was right. Without looking it up think he debuted last round against Fitzroy and looked good enough to keep his spot into the finals against Richmond and West Coast.

Can remember him intercepting and booming out a kick from defence in one of the games and Bruce exclaiming something like "ooh he's got some power". Looked like we had our new CHB for the next decade.

Think he played a total of 1 more game for the club (maybe none actually) then was traded to the start-up Port side giving us access to Kent Kingsley (and his brother) in return.

Clearly Kent had seen Geister's 1st game and thought "if you really want to see a debut game that has no resemblance to the career that follows it - hold my beer".
I thought he looked good. Denis clearly didn't share my enthusiasm.


Sent from my SM-A908B using Tapatalk
 

Souup

Norm Smith Medallist
May 8, 2005
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So I've watched his school footy games from earlier this year. No better description then him being a men amongst boys.

Things that stood out that I didn't get a good perspective of in his NAB League games:
- Consistently worked hard to get back and position defensively to take intercept marks and make spoils (having the opportunity to play full games in the ruck allowed him to show this off)
- Deftness of touch with his hands in the ruck was very good
- So. bloody. agile. Follow-up work after ruck contests and ability to be clean and quick picking up the ball was something I knew he had, but he showed this off to another level.
- Tackles and generally applies defensive pressure with real intent and aggression.

Someone asked me the other day where I would place Edwards in my rankings for this year's draft right now and I said late teens. After watching these 3 games I'd say he would be in my top 10 and closer to 5 than 10. This isn't me getting carried away by watching him against a lower level of competition either. It was things like his athleticism being better than my initial impression and footy nous that really stood out rather than his ability to monster the opposition in the ruck, in marking contests or dominating physically.

Kid's going to be a serious player if we can be patient and develop him properly. If anyone's watched Carlton this year then he's basically Tom De Koning.

Stats comparison between the two leagues he's played in this year:

NAB league averages ~50/50 forward/ruck split (3 games): 12 touches, 4 marks, 1.5 clearances, 2.5 tackles, 1.7 goals ~ 107 ranking point average

School footy averages ~mostly ruck (3 games): 26 touches, 9 marks (5 contested), 6 clearances, 3 tackles, 1.3 goals - ~190 ranking point average
 
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Passmore

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May 22, 2001
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So I've watched his school footy games from earlier this year. No better description then him being a men amongst boys.

Things that stood out that I didn't get a good perspective of in his NAB League games:
- Consistently worked hard to get back and position defensively to take intercept marks and make spoils (having the opportunity to play full games in the ruck allowed him to show this off)
- Deftness of touch with his hands in the ruck was very good
- So. bloody. agile. Follow-up work after ruck contests and ability to be clean and quick picking up the ball was something I knew he had, but he showed this off to another level.
- Tackles and generally applies defensive pressure with real intent and aggression.

Someone asked me the other day where I would place Edwards in my rankings for this year's draft right now and I said late teens. After watching these 3 games I'd say he would be in my top 10 and closer to 5 than 10. This isn't me getting carried away by watching him against a lower level of competition either. It was things like his athleticism being better than my initial impression and footy nous that really stood out rather than his ability to monster the opposition in the ruck, in marking contests or dominating physically.

Kid's going to be a serious player if we can be patient and develop him properly. If anyone's watched Carlton this year then he's basically Sam De Koning.

Stats comparison between the two leagues he's played in this year:

NAB league averages ~50/50 forward/ruck split (3 games): 12 touches, 4 marks, 1.5 clearances, 2.5 tackles, 1.7 goals ~ 107 ranking point average

School footy averages ~mostly ruck (3 games): 26 touches, 9 marks (5 contested), 6 clearances, 3 tackles, 1.3 goals - ~190 ranking point average

So we've basically stumbled into a potential top 10 talent by virtue of a global pandemic and being on the bottom at the right time.
 

7577969923

Norm Smith Medallist
Sep 20, 2018
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So I've watched his school footy games from earlier this year. No better description then him being a men amongst boys.

Things that stood out that I didn't get a good perspective of in his NAB League games:
- Consistently worked hard to get back and position defensively to take intercept marks and make spoils (having the opportunity to play full games in the ruck allowed him to show this off)
- Deftness of touch with his hands in the ruck was very good
- So. bloody. agile. Follow-up work after ruck contests and ability to be clean and quick picking up the ball was something I knew he had, but he showed this off to another level.
- Tackles and generally applies defensive pressure with real intent and aggression.

Someone asked me the other day where I would place Edwards in my rankings for this year's draft right now and I said late teens. After watching these 3 games I'd say he would be in my top 10 and closer to 5 than 10. This isn't me getting carried away by watching him against a lower level of competition either. It was things like his athleticism being better than my initial impression and footy nous that really stood out rather than his ability to monster the opposition in the ruck, in marking contests or dominating physically.

Kid's going to be a serious player if we can be patient and develop him properly. If anyone's watched Carlton this year then he's basically Sam De Koning.

Stats comparison between the two leagues he's played in this year:

NAB league averages ~50/50 forward/ruck split (3 games): 12 touches, 4 marks, 1.5 clearances, 2.5 tackles, 1.7 goals ~ 107 ranking point average

School footy averages ~mostly ruck (3 games): 26 touches, 9 marks (5 contested), 6 clearances, 3 tackles, 1.3 goals - ~190 ranking point average

Great overview. Thanks Souup!

We have some exciting prospects coming through.
 

RossHenshaw

Club Legend
Sep 12, 2020
2,783
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AFL Club
North Melbourne
So I've watched his school footy games from earlier this year. No better description then him being a men amongst boys.

Things that stood out that I didn't get a good perspective of in his NAB League games:
- Consistently worked hard to get back and position defensively to take intercept marks and make spoils (having the opportunity to play full games in the ruck allowed him to show this off)
- Deftness of touch with his hands in the ruck was very good
- So. bloody. agile. Follow-up work after ruck contests and ability to be clean and quick picking up the ball was something I knew he had, but he showed this off to another level.
- Tackles and generally applies defensive pressure with real intent and aggression.

Someone asked me the other day where I would place Edwards in my rankings for this year's draft right now and I said late teens. After watching these 3 games I'd say he would be in my top 10 and closer to 5 than 10. This isn't me getting carried away by watching him against a lower level of competition either. It was things like his athleticism being better than my initial impression and footy nous that really stood out rather than his ability to monster the opposition in the ruck, in marking contests or dominating physically.

Kid's going to be a serious player if we can be patient and develop him properly. If anyone's watched Carlton this year then he's basically Sam De Koning.

Stats comparison between the two leagues he's played in this year:

NAB league averages ~50/50 forward/ruck split (3 games): 12 touches, 4 marks, 1.5 clearances, 2.5 tackles, 1.7 goals ~ 107 ranking point average

School footy averages ~mostly ruck (3 games): 26 touches, 9 marks (5 contested), 6 clearances, 3 tackles, 1.3 goals - ~190 ranking point average
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