Draft Profile Jackson Press - 2014 Draft Prospect

[Chris25]

Jackson Press
Height: 181cm
Weight: 77kg
From: Woodville West Torrens, South Australia
Position: Forward​

Heading back to South Australia, it's time to look at another one of the lesser known fringe players of the U18 squad. And that comes in the form of the overage, medium forward Jackson Press. Some may recall me talking about him as a possible rookie draft pick last year, I thought he showed enough in the U18s but ultimately he missed out on selection. This year however, a strong start to the SANFL season saw him selected as one of the 19 year olds in the South Australian squad - something he wasn't able to manage in his draft year. And we saw last year with overage squad member Sean Lemmens being drafted quite high, that anything is possible when it comes to these players. After all the reason he and Tom Langdon were selected is because of the development and improvement they showed after going undrafted, and I feel Press has done similar this year.

So starting with the 2013 season, Jackson Press spent the entire season in the SANFL U18 competition and was leading the goal kicking all season until being overtaken by 16 year old full forward Ben Beioley during the finals campaign. Ultimately, Press finished with 47 goals from his 16 games for Woodville West Torrens - including hauls of 6, 3, 6, 3, 4, 4 and 8 to finish the season off in style. And this season, he has stepped up to be a regular in the Woodville reserves side and has continued with his goal scoring form to post one 4 goal game and three games of 3 goals each - and it was this reserves form which saw him selected for South Australia in the U18 Championships, where he kicked 5 goals from 3 games including a haul of 3 goals and 2 behinds against WA in Round 3.

In terms of playing style, Press is more that Paul Medhurst/Brad Johnson type small/medium forward than an out and out crumber. He tends to play a little taller than his 181cm frame would suggest, and I know a lot of people are surprised when they watch him for the first time and then find out his height afterwards. He is a decent mark for his size, which does allow him to play that non-traditional small forward role. But, he shouldn't be earmarked as an old fashioned player by any means because he does still have a bit of the Jamie Elliot's about him, and should test quite well come the end of the season. If I remember correctly, his 20m sprint time was top 2 or 3 for the entire SANFL U18 competition and his running vertical jump was in the top 1% too.

But there are two main areas in which I think he needs to continue to improve if he is to get drafted this time around - his kicking and his tackling pressure. And it's these two areas of his game which I believe is the reason he was dropped for the final two games of the U18 Championships. The official statistics credited Press with only the 1 tackle across his three matches for South Australia, and that's probably not too far off as it matches some of his games for Woodville West Torrens. He's active in the forward line, always on the move and he does chase but for whatever reason doesn't always seem to finish the job. Having said that, it's not uncommon for young players to have similar weaknesses but step up at AFL level - defensive pressure would be 50% of his job as a small forward, so you learn pretty quickly. And it's his kicking, particularly on goal which needs sharpening - his first game for SA for example, he kicked 1 goal and 3 behinds. I don't think it's necessarily a technique issue, but more that he always seem to be a little rushed. You see similar with Hayden Ballantyne sometimes, he tries to do a little too much and doesn't slow down and balance himself before kicking.

Hopefully now that the Championships are done, Press can start pressing for senior selection in the SANFL and show that he is ready for the top level. He has shown more than enough to suggest he could play a role for an AFL side, and his pure goal scoring ability is something that can't be taught. Absolute top of his range would be the third round, because even though he has played through the midfield in the SANFL, he'd likely be limited to the forward line in the AFL. But if he were available as a rookie again this year, I'd be looking at him as a relatively low risk option.