Toast Andrew Gaff (Pick 4, 2010 National Draft) - Thanks for the 1000 Cuts, Enjoy Retirement

[happy_eagle]

Re: Pick 4 Welcome Andrew Gaff

see about 7-9 potential superstars. that's scary.

We are still the 16th side

 

[richy4]

Re: Pick 4 Welcome Andrew Gaff

We are still the 16th side

No doubt about that. Just saying we are capable of challenging in a few years time..

 

[bodazoka]

Re: Pick 4 Welcome Andrew Gaff

Naitinui Shuey Swift Masten Stevens Gaff Ebert SSelwood Sheppard Smith + potentially Hurn Lecras Strijk

Who will be our Superstars?

At this stage (IMO obviously based on glimpses of potential):

Naita
Shuey
LeCras (as a midfielder)

*GAP*

Sheppard
Hurn

 

[Prem87]

Re: Pick 4 Welcome Andrew Gaff

Swift has the ability to go into that top group, Masten (needs to stay on the park) & Ebert (needs to tidy up kicking and decision making) in that rung below with Shepp & Hurn.

A solid midfield group in the making.

 

[mehow2g]

Re: Pick 4 Welcome Andrew Gaff

Now we dont have to worry about Masten becoming elite or not he will be a handy player but hopefully he will come good.

 

[bigburger]

Re: Pick 4 Welcome Andrew Gaff

see about 7-9 potential superstars. that's scary.

Steady on turbs.

 

[Makka]

So, I suppose the next question is, when do people see him debuting? Not NAB cup, but regular home & away?

 

[Pat_Footy]

He want's to debut round 1. If WC lose early games expect him to make an appearance otherwise I think he will nut away in the WAFL till he looks competent. Could be the week before our first bye.

 

[Kaboodleer]

Here's him talking about aiming to play round 1: http://www.sportal.com.au/afl-news-display/eagle-gaff-aims-high-102497

I like the determination. If he does play round 1 he will have seriously been tearing up the preseason.

 

[paran]

Welcome to the Eagles "D.I.L.L.I." Gaff!

 

[The Falcon Strike]

Because it's late - but Gaff's mum

I probably would - just putting it out there!!

 

[DrTomSwift]

 

[WCE_phil]

Because it's late - but Gaff's mum

I probably would - just putting it out there!!

I definitely would

 

[DrTomSwift]

Re: Gaff!!!!!!!!!

Here are some profiles.

ANDREW GAFF
18, 182cm, 78kg
From: the Oakleigh Chargers. An AIS-AFL Academy graduate and an All-Australian playing for Vic Metro this year.


The lowdown: A tireless, diligent, will-work-as-hard-as-my-team-needs-me-to-for-as-long-as-it-needs-me-to player, Gaff has insisted on being one of the best prospects in this year's draft. Accumulates a lot of the ball without necessarily doing it in an eye-catching way, although when you look back at him on tape, his anticipation around the packs is excellent. He does his best work without giving you much time to notice. He's a player who perhaps doesn't have one in-your-face, standout quality, but does everything to a very high level and will be as good as he can be. He's a first round pick, anywhere from No. 4 (West Coast) down.
RUNNING AND JUMPING
Gaff did a 3.07 second 20-metre sprint and his repeat sprint (6x30m) time of 24.7 seconds put him in the top third of players tested. His jumping results were mid-to-low for the group (50cm for his standing jump, 71cm for his running right foot jump and 57cm for his left foot jump) as was his agility (8.68 seconds) but his engine is his No. 1 strength and he showed it off. He ran a level 15.3 beep test, which put him top three, and 10 minutes flat for the 3km time trial, the best at the combine.

4. WEST COAST - Andrew Gaff
Height: 182cm
Weight: 78kg
DOB: 16/06/92
Club: Oakleigh Chargers (Vic)
Draft range: 4-5
Gaff is not so much an excitement machine as he is an accumulator who finds and distributes the ball from the first minute to the last. He won the three-kilometre race at the draft combine in 10 minutes and finished equal second in the beep test with 15.3. He's not flashy; he's just effective. You see 200, or even 300 no-fuss games written all over him.

Andrew Gaff – Oakleigh / 183cm / 78kg

Profile : Wonderful player who played champs the last 2 years and performed exceptionally well as he did at the DC where his results were amongst the best in many categories. Racks up the possessions and tend to use it very well (champs efficiency was a whopping 79%) particularly off HB where he likes to set the play up. Also very adept at centre clearances and reminds of Power & Dal Santo in how he can hurt without a heap of touches. Super in traffic, great first step and happy knack of finding himself in space which allows him to use his left foot with good precision. Also good at the little things – chases / tackles etc so cant fault him on that and has obvious leadership qualities as well. If there is a knock on Gaff it is that there is a view he doesn’t hurt offensively. In saying that he shown in a number of games he is capable so maybe it’s just the role he plays and what he is asked to do.
Why Richmond: Yes he is very smilar to Cotchin but who cares. Super talent and will ensure a quality midfield for Richmond in 2-3 years time. Between Martin, Cotchin and Gaff Richmond’s ability to win ball from stoppages is going to be awesome. They only issue is that maybe an outside mid would be better or a ruckmen to ensure they get fed the ball as much as they deserve.
Similar to: Luke Power / Nick Dal Santo
Roughie: Polec / Heppell / Conca or real smokey Lynch
Draft Range: 4 – 10

#4 (West Coast) – Andrew Gaff (VIC)
Height: 183cm, Weight: 78kg, DOB: 16/06/1992
Recruited from: Oakleigh Chargers
Style: Bryce Gibbs/ Luke Power
Range: 4-6
Why: Absolutely outstanding prospect. His work ethic and application to his footy is second to none and as a player lock him in for a very long career with the way he goes about his footy. Has great versatility and can play midfield, up forward or down back comfortably. Also has a bit of an outside receiving feel. Is viewed by many as more of an outside player but I think his inside skills are very much under rated and I see them developing well with time so he could play either to a very high standard at AFL level. Really a very good all round player. One thing that stands out with Gaff is that he is a gut runner. Fantastic work rate and skills are very good. Future leadership material here. Some say Gaff lacks hurt factor which is a criticism of him and for an outside mid he certainly could do with a greater weapon, but this isn’t a huge weakness by any stretch. I’m very confident he can iron out all of his relative weaknesses and become a very good all rounder and a productive player for a very long time at AFL level. The main question with Gaff is his upside and whether he does have star potential.

Andrew Gaff
DOB 16/6/92 Ht 182 Wt 78

Gaff is a very special package and I consider him a virtual certainty to be at least a very good player in the AFL. There has been a fair bit of talking of him down in various BF circles and personally I am not seeing what the trouble is. Firstly what he is not – he is not a hard nosed inside ball winner. He is capable of winning his own ball when it is his turn but he is predominantly an outside receiver. He will shark packs and pick up balls that fall his way but mostly he will position himself to receive or use his endurance to create space. At the champs he often played as a link man between the defense and the midfield. He is a great safety valve who is always open and when he gets the ball he does good things with it. He has also shown himself to be a capable goal scoring half forward at TAC level but personally I think he has more value behind the ball where he can use his endurance to best effect.

His kicking is often criticised and I think this is way off base. The popular opinion is all he can do is chip it around and he can’t kick over a jam tin. This is not right. He actually has pretty good penetration on his kicking when he decides to use it. The thing is though that he rarely does. He likes to play within his limits and he excels at that. When he gets in a full time environment I am sure that you will start to see him kicking it a lot further because he will be more confident and the players he is playing with will be open and working further down the field. His short to mid range kicking is exceptional. He picks good targets and then hits them often with the running taking the ball in stride. When he goes with the shorter options he does tend to lean back on his kick which does rule out a change to a longer option but the lean does tend to give him excellent feel on his shorter kicks. He is a left footer and is pretty one sided. He occasionally uses his right but looks awkward doing it and occasionally gets into trouble trying to get onto the left rather than using his right. Although he plays more behind the ball than ahead of it he does occasionally get forward and is a pretty reasonable shot on goal. When he gets the ball in scoring distance his eyes tend to light up and he will lock on goal rather than opting to give off. Not selfish but sure in his ability to put it through given the chance.

He has excellent game sense and he reads the play exceptionally well. He runs to the right places, evaluates the situation quickly and will take the best option nine times out of ten. He does not rush his disposal under pressure and will take that extra second or two needed for his target to pop open. If there is a criticism I think he could do more of the little team things coaches love like shepherding. Tackling as well is not a strength of his and is something that will be worked on at the next level. He has elite endurance (he won the 3km in 10 mins flat and did a 15.3 in the beep test) and uses that well going forward where not only does he show good endurance but elite gut running ability. Quite simply there is no-on who can go with him at AFL level. He probably needs to use his running power a little more often when the ball is going the other way. His other tests were all pretty average (not bad just middle of the pack). He is not a hugely quick player and tends not to play with a whole lot of pace but you do not often see him caught and you do see him running away from his pursuers quite often. He is fairly thin at the moment but he does have reasonable legs and looks like he will bulk up fine as he gets older. He does need to work on his strength and his core strength in particular and he gets buffeted around in the air a bit. He is a reasonable mark but I would not say this was a strength of his. His character, dedication and intellect are exceptional and should stand him in good stead at the next level.

Overall he is a the lowest risk prospect in this draft. At worst you are going to get a very good player. His ceiling is very underrated and I think there are few who have more upside potential.

 

[sydney eagle]

Expected reallt. Everyone was saying that the Eagles would pick Gaff from a long way out. It looks to me as if we have another strong, inside midfielder with great endurance but not a speedster. I hope that he can deliver the ball well as this has been one of our greatest problems in the last year or so ! That 3.07 twenty metre sprint time means that he is outside the top 9 in this years draft; probably more like 11-13 for that test !

 

[dajesmac]

Expected reallt. Everyone was saying that the Eagles would pick Gaff from a long way out. It looks to me as if we have another strong, inside midfielder with great endurance but not a speedster. I hope that he can deliver the ball well as this has been one of our greatest problems in the last year or so ! That 3.07 twenty metre sprint time means that he is outside the top 9 in this years draft; probably more like 11-13 for that test !

Gaff is very much an outside mid.

Though is capable of winning his own ball.

 

[Shazzman]

Gaff is very much an outside mid.

Though is capable of winning his own ball.

he just doesn't listen

 

[sydney eagle]

he just doesn't listen

Are you refering to me sir ? If he is an "outside" player that is all very well, but the descriptions that I have read, and the fact that he is not among the fastest players available (but DOES have excellent endurance), seem to imply that he is more an "inside" ball winning type who can go forward and kick goals. Actually he sounds, from the various descriptions quoted, as a "Ben Cousins" type of player; runs all day and just accumulates possessions. That's great (especially if he can be anything like as good as Cousins) but it sounds very similar to the descriptions we had of Masten before he was drafted, and he hasn't quite come on as quickly as many Eagles fans had hoped that he would. Here's hoping that Gaff can be eveything that his biggest supporters think he will.

 

[dajesmac]

Re: Pick 4 Welcome Andrew Gaff

Naitinui Shuey Swift Masten Stevens Gaff Ebert SSelwood Sheppard Smith + potentially Hurn Lecras Strijk

Who will be our Superstars?

Guns: Naitanui, Shuey, Swift, Sheppard, Gaff, SSelwood + LeCras, Hurn, Strijk

Good to solid - Smith, Ebert, Stevens, Masten + Lycett, Darling, Wilson, Hams.

 

[dajesmac]

Hahah, nicely done. Looks extremely skinny though. Might be a 2009 photo.

 

[dajesmac]

There is no way Gaff is 182cm and 78kg.

I'm 16, 186cm and 72kg and I look considerably bulkier than he does in photos of today.

 

[Double the Fist]

Taken from WCE website.

Quote "Selection No.4: Andrew Gaff (Oakleigh Chargers)
Player profile
"His form last year was great in the under-18s and there was a game for Oakleigh that I saw early this year in which he was terrific. He got tagged later in the season in a game down at Geelong and they tried about four blokes rotating off him. He got belted a bit and he just kept going. He might not look as flashy as some players, but as far as a footballer goes he doesn't do a lot wrong."
Good to see this club get themselves a footballer rather that an athlete first up.

 

[Prem87]

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=92302042921&v=wall

 

[daddy_4_eyes]

Taken from WCE website.

Quote "Selection No.4: Andrew Gaff (Oakleigh Chargers)
Player profile
He might not look as flashy as some players, but as far as a footballer goes he doesn't do a lot wrong."

Cousins wasn't flashy either, but had an ability to take games apart in between his consistent 4 quarter efforts. Only won a brownlow medal and about 42 B&F's.

Kemp wasn't flashy either and he's arguably in our 5 best midfielders ever.

Very happy with Gaff.

 

[Jimmy_the_Gent]

When you have a high draft pick, in very general terms, only 4 things can stop him making it.

1. Bad attitude
2. Bad development
3. Injury
4. Bad draft pick (no talent)

When you read how Gaff speaks you realise that attitude isn't even close to being a problem and therefore the risk of him not making it is greatly reduced.