THIS week we look at Jamie Bennell, pick 35 from the 2008 draft.
As we move through the draft needs become more of a consideration. The talent difference as you move into the third round is less obvious from player to player. You are likely to rate more players on a similar level as a result.
Given that we had addressed a speed and kicking issue to some degree with our first three picks we had a leaning to inside ball winner with this pick.
We rated Jamie on a similar level to Jack Redden and if Jack was there we would have taken him. Also there was an assumption that Jamie is more likely to be there with our next selection given we knew of Brisbane’s interest in Jack.
In hindsight, Jamie was never going to get through with West Coast ready to take him at 36 and at least three other clubs “waiting” for him in the third round.
In the drafting process there is always the smokey. Not that I would consider Jamie completely in this category, but his lack of exposure would have meant a huge variety of opinions on him between clubs.
In understanding the drafting of Jamie we need to understand his background. He is from Bunbury and played senior footy for Carey Park in 2008. He also represented the West Australian Country Senior team in the National Country Championships that year.
When he could fit it in he would come up the highway two hours to play for Swan Districts. In fact he only played 13 games for Swans that year, which included three finals.
We became aware of Jamie and his talent through one of “our sources”. We were aware he was being strongly monitored by one of the West Australian clubs. However it was hard to get a handle on him.
He had a couple of good games when he came up the highway but his form was clouded by his preparation for the game and was he doubling up that weekend with Carey Park in Bunbury.
All that needs to be coupled with the fact that he didn’t play many WAFL games. And as it is for every club, that there was plenty of other talent to assess and monitor at the time, particularly at Swan Districts.
Jamie’s talent was clearly on display in the WAFL Colts Grand Final. He played off half back, which he generally did, and was clearly best on ground in the first half which set up the win.
He had 14 possessions and his run and rebound was outstanding. He could take players on with his speed and lateral movement and made good decisions to set up scoring.
He was stiff not to win the medal but in the end a bloke by the name of Neville Jetta also dominated the game to be a deserved winner.
After collecting that premiership medal he then went back to Bunbury to collect another with Carey Park being a key player in their senior premiership win. It’s an impressive achievement but his ability to juggle these commitments was more so.
John Turnbull and I made the trek to Bunbury to meet Jamie at season’s end. We went to his house and were immediately struck by an image of Andrew Mcleod on the computer screen saver and framed photo of Jamie standing on an opponents shoulders taking a “speccy” in the Country Championships.
It was then we learned of his cricket talent playing district firsts in Perth and representing a National Indigenous team, with photos of himself and Ricky Ponting. In fact he had trained with the Australian Test team.
What clearly struck us was his mature level headed approach, his ability to be very measured about his elite achievements and his desire to play AFL football over his obvious elite cricket talent.
As we got in the car to leave John said what we were both thinking “that boy’s going to play AFL football”.
Upon drafting Jamie and Neville, I returned to Bunbury the Tuesday after the draft to take their families out - lunch for the Jettas and dinner for the Bennells.
At the time we didn’t have a player welfare manager and it was important to try to get to our interstate draftees as soon as possible. In meeting Jamie’s family it was almost overwhelming how happy they were to be drafted by Melbourne, given Jamie was leaving his family and girlfriend, who continue the difficulty of being on different sides of the continent.
His best mate, who was a Collingwood supporter, had already turned up in a Melbourne jumper.
It was on this trek that I fielded a phone call from an irate supporter complaining about “midgets” when we needed talls and why we didn’t draft Ben Cousins.
I remember thinking it may take a while for that one to play out given Jamie’s size and shape. But attitude and belief play an incredibly strong hand in our game and John Turnbull was right. He would play AFL football. Round one, 2009.
What did we see in Jamie Bennell? His elite talent: speed, lateral movement, clean hands, ability to win the ball and take the game on. He also had solid kicking and an ability to see things in the game before others, especially under pressure situations. His athletic qualities more related to speed but he had a very good work rate and tested well for endurance. He was versatile and while his run off half-back was very appealing to our list, he could win the ball at stoppages and go forward to kick goals. He had X-factor, that great ability to do the unpredictable. He had great leadership potential and had a very measured approach to life and his football. When I asked him about his batting in cricket I expected to hear of a “dasher” but he quickly informed of his intention to always build an innings.
What did we expect in Jamie Bennell? We didn’t expect him to play straight up that’s for sure. We expected him to take time to build his body and get a good apprenticeship, as he became accustomed to bigger bodies and the physicality of football at this level. We expected a hard running defender who could take the smalls. We expect a leader of our football club, especially amongst our indigenous group. We expected him to add speed and versatility to our list and to enhance our focus on speed and kicking in this draft.
What are we getting from Jamie Bennell? He is a player showing great versatility, despite being in the early phase of his development and career. He has shown the ability to play at half-back and is still coming to terms with the recent challenges that developing rebounders’ face and at times the physicality of the game. Most notably and in his case, he is playing on quick small forwards while trying to give his obvious rebound talents. He has also gone forward and shown his capability to pressure and kick goals. He has put his X-factor on display, as not many second year players would have goal and mark of the week in the same game in their cabinet especially on Friday night. His ability to ignite the team with blistering runs - think early Sydney game 2010 and also late in the third quarter this year. He has played 40 games almost split between back and forward, so he has been on a great learning curve in his first three years.
Finally, the drafting of Jamie Bennell is a bit like Greg Chappell playing his way out of form. He has all the shots but he knows to get back on track he has to play between the “V” early in his innings. In Jamie’s case he has all the shots and while he looks like a bit of a “dasher” he is patiently building a career. He knows his talent is strong but his desire to use it for the long-term is stronger.
As we move through the draft needs become more of a consideration. The talent difference as you move into the third round is less obvious from player to player. You are likely to rate more players on a similar level as a result.
Given that we had addressed a speed and kicking issue to some degree with our first three picks we had a leaning to inside ball winner with this pick.
We rated Jamie on a similar level to Jack Redden and if Jack was there we would have taken him. Also there was an assumption that Jamie is more likely to be there with our next selection given we knew of Brisbane’s interest in Jack.
In hindsight, Jamie was never going to get through with West Coast ready to take him at 36 and at least three other clubs “waiting” for him in the third round.
In the drafting process there is always the smokey. Not that I would consider Jamie completely in this category, but his lack of exposure would have meant a huge variety of opinions on him between clubs.
In understanding the drafting of Jamie we need to understand his background. He is from Bunbury and played senior footy for Carey Park in 2008. He also represented the West Australian Country Senior team in the National Country Championships that year.
When he could fit it in he would come up the highway two hours to play for Swan Districts. In fact he only played 13 games for Swans that year, which included three finals.
We became aware of Jamie and his talent through one of “our sources”. We were aware he was being strongly monitored by one of the West Australian clubs. However it was hard to get a handle on him.
He had a couple of good games when he came up the highway but his form was clouded by his preparation for the game and was he doubling up that weekend with Carey Park in Bunbury.
All that needs to be coupled with the fact that he didn’t play many WAFL games. And as it is for every club, that there was plenty of other talent to assess and monitor at the time, particularly at Swan Districts.
Jamie’s talent was clearly on display in the WAFL Colts Grand Final. He played off half back, which he generally did, and was clearly best on ground in the first half which set up the win.
He had 14 possessions and his run and rebound was outstanding. He could take players on with his speed and lateral movement and made good decisions to set up scoring.
He was stiff not to win the medal but in the end a bloke by the name of Neville Jetta also dominated the game to be a deserved winner.
After collecting that premiership medal he then went back to Bunbury to collect another with Carey Park being a key player in their senior premiership win. It’s an impressive achievement but his ability to juggle these commitments was more so.
John Turnbull and I made the trek to Bunbury to meet Jamie at season’s end. We went to his house and were immediately struck by an image of Andrew Mcleod on the computer screen saver and framed photo of Jamie standing on an opponents shoulders taking a “speccy” in the Country Championships.
It was then we learned of his cricket talent playing district firsts in Perth and representing a National Indigenous team, with photos of himself and Ricky Ponting. In fact he had trained with the Australian Test team.
What clearly struck us was his mature level headed approach, his ability to be very measured about his elite achievements and his desire to play AFL football over his obvious elite cricket talent.
As we got in the car to leave John said what we were both thinking “that boy’s going to play AFL football”.
Upon drafting Jamie and Neville, I returned to Bunbury the Tuesday after the draft to take their families out - lunch for the Jettas and dinner for the Bennells.
At the time we didn’t have a player welfare manager and it was important to try to get to our interstate draftees as soon as possible. In meeting Jamie’s family it was almost overwhelming how happy they were to be drafted by Melbourne, given Jamie was leaving his family and girlfriend, who continue the difficulty of being on different sides of the continent.
His best mate, who was a Collingwood supporter, had already turned up in a Melbourne jumper.
It was on this trek that I fielded a phone call from an irate supporter complaining about “midgets” when we needed talls and why we didn’t draft Ben Cousins.
I remember thinking it may take a while for that one to play out given Jamie’s size and shape. But attitude and belief play an incredibly strong hand in our game and John Turnbull was right. He would play AFL football. Round one, 2009.
What did we see in Jamie Bennell? His elite talent: speed, lateral movement, clean hands, ability to win the ball and take the game on. He also had solid kicking and an ability to see things in the game before others, especially under pressure situations. His athletic qualities more related to speed but he had a very good work rate and tested well for endurance. He was versatile and while his run off half-back was very appealing to our list, he could win the ball at stoppages and go forward to kick goals. He had X-factor, that great ability to do the unpredictable. He had great leadership potential and had a very measured approach to life and his football. When I asked him about his batting in cricket I expected to hear of a “dasher” but he quickly informed of his intention to always build an innings.
What did we expect in Jamie Bennell? We didn’t expect him to play straight up that’s for sure. We expected him to take time to build his body and get a good apprenticeship, as he became accustomed to bigger bodies and the physicality of football at this level. We expected a hard running defender who could take the smalls. We expect a leader of our football club, especially amongst our indigenous group. We expected him to add speed and versatility to our list and to enhance our focus on speed and kicking in this draft.
What are we getting from Jamie Bennell? He is a player showing great versatility, despite being in the early phase of his development and career. He has shown the ability to play at half-back and is still coming to terms with the recent challenges that developing rebounders’ face and at times the physicality of the game. Most notably and in his case, he is playing on quick small forwards while trying to give his obvious rebound talents. He has also gone forward and shown his capability to pressure and kick goals. He has put his X-factor on display, as not many second year players would have goal and mark of the week in the same game in their cabinet especially on Friday night. His ability to ignite the team with blistering runs - think early Sydney game 2010 and also late in the third quarter this year. He has played 40 games almost split between back and forward, so he has been on a great learning curve in his first three years.
Finally, the drafting of Jamie Bennell is a bit like Greg Chappell playing his way out of form. He has all the shots but he knows to get back on track he has to play between the “V” early in his innings. In Jamie’s case he has all the shots and while he looks like a bit of a “dasher” he is patiently building a career. He knows his talent is strong but his desire to use it for the long-term is stronger.
