Player 29- Ben Jacobs
Pictured: Ben Jacobs misunderstands a request for some "rimming"
Ben Jacobs is mostly a professional substitute who plays between 1 to 1.5 quarters every few weeks for the North Melbourne Football Club.
A former first round draft pick, Port decided that he would be better off playing in the VFL than in the SANFL. North wouldn't offer a decent pick for him and took him in the nation draft again at pick 37.
A Brighton grammar boy, his profile picture indicates he is the AFL player most likely to pronounce his home suburb as "Brah-tahn"
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Pictured: Remind you of anyone else wealthy and entitled?
Some have described Jacobs as a "natural inside midfielder" which, for most fringe mids, means slowish and not particularly skilled - although in fairness, most inside mids will manage more than the 1.4 tackles per game Ben did in 2014. He managed to play a final against Essendon, getting subbed off after 6 kicks. Given a week off, he played in a losing preliminary final like many champions of the game do, except he only had 6 touches in a performance described by SEN as "Not sure he’s up to it. Struggled to get involved and had zero impact".
Given North actually have decent inside midfielders on their list (well, the Pies have one of them now), Ben played elsewhere (mostly HBF) and showed he remains a "work in progress" much like the Myki system had "a few teething issues". Finding a spot on the ground for him will be an issue: North have even tried to turn him into a mascot, hoping he has some marketing attraction:
Pictured: Wooden and unconvincing, but he is only a cardboard cut-out. Jacobs could learn a thing or two.
In fairness to Jacobs, he did perform well at VFL level and is a possibility to climb off the Bottom 50 canvass and promote himself to the level of "not a completely wasted pick second time round".
In the meantime: welcome to the Bottom 50 Ben and make sure moomsie & dadsie pack the sunscreen for yachting this summer.