Welcome Welcome National Draft Pick #82 - Ben Davis

Hamish Ogilvie says: "We debated whether we'd have the last pick. We thought we'd probably finish at four but we had Benny pretty high on our list so we made a quick decision our table let's keep going. Ben's had some really high-level performances this year with the Allies and New South Wales … we just thought he was too good not to keep going and use the extra pick."

 

Maroubra's Ben Davis takes to the skies with Flying Boomerangs to play footy in South Africa

The 15-year-old is a member of the Flying Boomerangs, a personal development and leadership program for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander players aged 14 to 15 years.

Selected from the 2012 AFL KickStart under-15 championships, the squad of 25 players flew to South Africa for two weeks to play two matches against teams there.

The Maroubra Saints youngster admitted this is the biggest achievement of his short sporting career and he was over the moon to be a part of it.

"To make this team is even better. It's one of the best things to ever happen to me in my footy career. To be selected for a team like this means my training and skills are being rewarded."

Davis dreams of becoming a professional AFL player and has been working towards that goal as a member of the Sydney Swans Academy, an elite AFL development program for the past three years.

 

I find it interesting the draft central compared Ben to Mitch McGovern and Poholke to Dougsie.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Abe's a big unit

 

How's Abe's contested marking?

 

What's the knock on this lad? He's quick, agile, skilful, appears to be composed, good height. Struggling to pick what's not to like about him that would make him slide to pick 82... not complaining though!

 

any relation to Nick Davis?...

 

No. His brother Abe played for Sydney, but he was delisted at the end of this year without having played a game for them.

Since he's from the Swans academy I wonder if O'Keefe had any contacts back in Sydney that would have given us a bit more info about the kid which led to us picking him?

 

Lot of really good players totally missed out. Just a very even draft with great depth. Has some foot injuries which may have worried some clubs.

 

Looks to have a few trick and some natural talent

 

Anybody have any of his highlights?

 

Mel too - and the height and composure probably puts him ahead of Milera and maybe Cameron at the same stage. So I'm not getting it either. Welcome Ben and really looking forward to your debut in a few years time.

 

http://www.afc.com.au/news/2016-11-26/swan-spread-wings-at-crows

 

Thanks Bicks - thats a good read. Particularly like:

Suggests he has a good head on his shoulders and should hopefully cope with living away from home - possibly for the fist time?

 

I thought Ben did some good things playing for Team O'Loughlin in the AFL U18 All Stars game and so I was happy to see we selected him.

Welcome aboard Ben.

 

What is the rationale for this? I can see the merit of leaving one spot open, and having the nominated rookie, etc. But two spots? I wasn't even aware you were allowed to.

Or perhaps our plan was always to use a PSD selection?

 

Do people think his brother abe will get rookied somewhere?

 

You mean the one on the Swans list?

 

Swans delisted him last month

 

Welcome, Benny Boy.

 

Its better than Smith

 

This kid looks like a real smooth mover. Great pickup.

 

Was just thinking that, very balanced.

Played well in the All-Star game.

 

I was wondering the same thing. I can understand the rationale for going one-short - most of the clubs have gone that way this year. Four clubs have gone two short, mostly due to salary cap pressure - Port, GWS, Sydney. I think Freo did it because they had so many list positions to fill, and they just didn't see anyone worth filling them at the very end of the draft. I have no idea why Adelaide would have been considering it.