Aaron Francis
192cm 90kg West Adelaide
defender/utility
192cm 90kg West Adelaide
defender/utility
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Draft Profile Aaron Francis
- Thread starter Ben Drever
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Can play on both tall and small
Elite by kick
Elite aerial marking defending skills
Great agilty very versatile
Kicked 4.5 for S.A against W.A in a second straight week best on performance
22touches 8marks after starting in the midfield bursting through the stoppages!!
http://www.afl.com.au/news/2015-06-06/u18s-francis-leads-sa-to-big-win-over-wa
Elite by kick
Elite aerial marking defending skills
Great agilty very versatile
Kicked 4.5 for S.A against W.A in a second straight week best on performance
22touches 8marks after starting in the midfield bursting through the stoppages!!
http://www.afl.com.au/news/2015-06-06/u18s-francis-leads-sa-to-big-win-over-wa
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Diehardbomber
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Looking forward to seeing him play against some quality VC kids on Sunday
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He looks like he might have some swagger so i would expect that he is also loking forward to it. Should be a good game. If Vic C win then they are pretty well much locked in to win it all so there is a lot riding on it.
Diehardbomber
Debutant
He's definitely got some swagger and extremely confident in his ability to dominate a game, named in the middle so expect some big clashes early. 100% correct if VC win on Sunday then that's pretty much it. Weather doesn't look good expecting showers so it could be a brute of a game.......cant wait.
PS- Looking forward to seeing all these gun VC players we've been hearing so much about.
Aed0s
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Anyone else see similarities between Francis and Matthew Scharenberg's draft highlights?
3rd tall in defence, elite skills, great intercept mark. Will go high in the draft, dependent on team's needs and best available I would assume.
3rd tall in defence, elite skills, great intercept mark. Will go high in the draft, dependent on team's needs and best available I would assume.
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Will be number 1 if clubs think hes capable as a midfielder
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Bontempelli is marginally slower than Patrick Cripps.
http://www.sanfl.com.au/news/sanfl_news/2837/
West Adelaide U18’s set new records
SA’s top AFL draft prospect Aaron Francis is driven to succeed by memory of his brother Hayden
Do not want...
http://www.sanfl.com.au/news/sanfl_news/2837/
http://www.sanfl.com.au/news/sanfl_news/2837/
West Adelaide U18’s set new records
West Adelaide U18’s set new records
SA’s top AFL draft prospect Aaron Francis is driven to succeed by memory of his brother Hayden
SA’s top AFL draft prospect Aaron Francis is driven to succeed by memory of his brother Hayden
Do not want...
At this point of time the lad would be a biggest draft climber. He has done everything that has been asked of him. I don't think many people would have had him in their top 5 a little more than a month ago. I think he will be a fair few top 5's now. And on his performances he deserves to be.
I'll be very interested to see how he goes in the athletic testing at the Draft Camp. Nor do I think that I will be alone.
I'll be very interested to see how he goes in the athletic testing at the Draft Camp. Nor do I think that I will be alone.
Still very little comment about the good kids coming through. Far too 'discussion' about the Trade Wars, with not much imagination and a lot of guff.
I'd much rather discuss someone like Francis. With the SANFL finals going on he looks a good chance to play in West Adelaide's GF side. Not standing out as much as others have in the past, but he has still done enough to keep his spot and contribute.
At the moment he is still ranked as #3 behind Schache and Weitering. I have not reason to suggest that shouldn't be the case.
I'd much rather discuss someone like Francis. With the SANFL finals going on he looks a good chance to play in West Adelaide's GF side. Not standing out as much as others have in the past, but he has still done enough to keep his spot and contribute.
At the moment he is still ranked as #3 behind Schache and Weitering. I have not reason to suggest that shouldn't be the case.
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Whats his position?
Not another Grant, Watts, Plowman who cant find a position and are mediocre at all of them?
Not another Grant, Watts, Plowman who cant find a position and are mediocre at all of them?
Good question. There have been comments to the effect that they expect Francis to end up as a Bontempelli type midfielder. I am not sure I agree with that. He has not done much work in that area and probably doesn't have the tank for that as yet.
I see him as the type of 3rd defender, attacking defender type who can move forward sometimes. He can play on anyone but the gorillas and the supertalls.
At 192cm and 90kg, Francis is the prototype build of many champions of the game. Gun 200cm KPF's and KPD's are largely a myth.
With his inate natural footy ability, power and kicking skills...Francis has the full package.
If he interviews well and has the "drive", IMHO he is the 2nd best prospect in the draft, just behind Weitering.
Weitering
Francis
Mills
Hopper
Curnow
Schache
Parish
Weideman
Ah Chee
The rest
With his inate natural footy ability, power and kicking skills...Francis has the full package.
If he interviews well and has the "drive", IMHO he is the 2nd best prospect in the draft, just behind Weitering.
Weitering
Francis
Mills
Hopper
Curnow
Schache
Parish
Weideman
Ah Chee
The rest
Fair enough. Not sure I agree with your rankings, but I am impressed by Francis. He is the guy who likes a challenge.
Must admit I do like Curnow as well, but I want to see how he goes at the Draft Camp.
I don't think I've seen Weideman play.
Ah Chee has heaps of talent, but may have other issues. He reminds of Chris Yarran in his draft year.
What issues? Lots have issues. Yarran had "issues". But so did Cyril. So did Darling. So do many.
Toumpas had no issues. Either did Melksham or Lucas.
Ah Chee, to me, looks an outstanding AFL talent with the ability of an AFL "matchwinner". Very rare. Also his brother seems to have displayed the necessary application.
So,even though i don't know of the "issues" that you speak of, i'm not concerned.
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Francis reminds me a hell of alot of Brendan Goddard in just about every way.
Lots of people have issues. Yarran had them and still has them. As did the others. I agree. But I am not sure Ah Chee has the application and desire to make an AFL champion.
I do see that desire in Francis.
I may be wrong. I have seen the guys play but I do not know them. Unlike a professional, I am unlikely to meet them unless we draft them. I can only go on what I see. Feel free to disagree.
As for these others guys, I did not bring them up. My opinions, for what they are worth:
[1] Jimmy Toumpas: his issues are with his body. He struggles to get fit. He was injured in his draft year and he remains an injury issue.
He was a classy kid at U18 level. He looked to have a fair bit going for him. I haven't seen him play since. I would not be looking to trade for him.
[2] I was never that impressed by either Melksham or Lucas. Lucas' 1st year almost made me change my mind. However, he never showed as much heart or desire again. I consider recruiting him a huge error that altered our draft strategy negatively for at least 2 subsequent drafts. Had we selected Daniel Talia, as was mooted, we would have gone smaller the next year and not recruited the duds that we did. That next draft was excellent for small to mid sized players, but very few of the taller players from that cohort amounted to anything.
Melksham may be a nice guy, but I have never been that impressed by him. I am glad we do not appear interested in him now.
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Yeah , yours and mine, are only opinions. Like everyone, we'll be interested to see what the guys with ALL the info make of them.
But what we do know, is that the guys with ALL the info will make just as many mistakes as us lol.
Anyways, just for interest sake, and without risk of derailing what is of now a pretty stagnant thread, what would your Top bunch of picks be this year with similar style groupings as mine when you see a gap between players/groupings?
OldMatePales
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So today i hear that the saints want to do business with adelaide to get hold of our picks 9 and 13, with the crows getting pick 5. turns out the crows want this lad pretty bad, but will he still be available at 5? pick 9 and 13 for 5 is crap - they'd have to sweeten it slightly
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9 and 13 for 5 and a second rounder?
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Not crap really - 2 pretty low first rounders.
Sorry to take so long:
My humble opinions:
Top 6 Non Academy Players:
[1] Jacob Weitering
[2] Josh Schache
[3] Aaron Francis
[4] Darcy Parish
[5] Rhys Mathieson
[6] Charlie Curnow
Top Academy Picks:
[1] Callum Mills (Syd)
[2] Jacob Hopper (GWS)
[3] Matthew Kennedy (GWS)
[4] Ben Keays (Bris)
[5] Eric Hipworth (Bris)
The top 3 stick out to me. I am happy to be in position to get Weitering. I would love Francis. I love his competitiveness. After that it is pretty close. I went for Parish because I've seen him for 2 years. He is a class act.
I like Oliver and the McKay twins: they will go early. I like Snelling and Partington: I like the way they play.
Milera has got something special, but I haven't seen him against a close tag.
Ah Chee has as much natural talent as anyone I've seen in this year's cohort. But I am not so sure about his ability to produce consistently and I haven't seen him beat a close tag yet (although I haven't seen enough to him and I want to see more). He could be the either the biggest bargain or the biggest flop.
The pros probably have more idea, but that is the best I can do on seeing him a couple of times.
Feel free to disagree: recruiting is a very subjective art and I do not consider myself an expert.
I don't recall seeing Mills play this year, but I remember him from last year. He looked very good. Hopper has looked the goods as well, although I was disappointed with his performance in North Ballarat's final's demise. He was outplayed.
Getting back to Francis, I can understand why the Crows are interested. I guess it will depend on what teams want. I've hear rumours about some teams with good picks preferring mids: suggesting that Parish or Oliver or Mathieson might be in their sights. However, were it down to me, I would be picking Francis with the 3rd non academy pick. I don't know if he is likely to develop into a large mid: I've never seen him in a role where he needed to have a huge engine. However, he plays fine in defence and can swing forward and not only do a job in the air but follow it up with a decent kick.
After years of watching guys like Casboult miss shots that even I could kick, that sort of clutch skill impresses me.
If Adelaide are interested, I don't like their chances. They will probably just try to steal him back some time in the future.
