COMPETITIVENESS and confidence were the question marks attached to key forward Jobe Shanahan as a draft prospect, with West Coast rewarded this season for dismissing those concerns and seeing something special in the contested marking prodigy. 

Shanahan has shot to prominence in the past two weeks, earning a Telstra AFL Rising Star nomination for his two goals against North Melbourne in round two before taking a phenomenal game-saving mark in defence against Port Adelaide last Sunday. 

The 195cm forward has been crucial in back-to-back wins and one of the key young players that has changed the perception and outlook for Andrew McQualter's rapidly emerging team.  

The question now being asked is how did the 19-year-old from Moama in the Murray region of NSW slide to pick No.30 in a 2024 Telstra AFL Draft, with six key-position players selected ahead of him?

Every club except Collingwood, Geelong and Hawthorn had a selection before pick 30 at the draft, with even the Eagles themselves selecting Bo Allan (pick 16) ahead of the young tall.

Recruiters this week highlighted Shanahan's competitiveness as an area for improvement back then, with his laconic nature seen as a potential issue if it translated on-field at AFL level. 

It's a concern that West Coast did not hold, however, ranking Shanahan inside its top 15 prospects and banking on the right-footer to play with the required intensity at AFL level.

"The two question marks for Jobe were competitiveness and confidence, but he's done a lot of work in those areas," Shanahan's manager Dylan Hodge from TGI Sport told AFL.com.au.

"Sometimes he would play like he's the best player on the ground and just mark everything like he did in the last quarter on the weekend, and then there would be quarters where he looked like he didn't believe he was up to it. 

"So there was the consistency of competitiveness, but then also the confidence in his game to know that he can be the best player on the ground. 

"The best thing for Jobe now is playing alongside a guy like Jake Waterman, who is probably as competitive a forward as there is in the game.

"He sees what teams value week to week, and it's not about taking nice marks or kicking goals. It's about crashing packs and being competitive."

Shanahan has adjusted well to life in Perth, living with girlfriend Sarah, who relocated across the country, and teammate Lucca Grego. He is loving the coastal lifestyle and signed a contract extension through to the end of 2028 after an impressive end to last season. 

The athletic tall has earned comparisons to fellow Bendigo Pioneers product Josh Treacy, who grew up a 45-minute drive away in Cohuna, with the pair linking up for off-season training sessions when at home with fellow Moama product Lachie Schultz, Echuca's Noah Long, and Tongala-bred star Harley Reid. 

Shanahan sought out Treacy after a recent pre-season match simulation against the Dockers and was given some training ideas from the Freo star, who instigated his team's early-morning marking group, known internally as the Pat Voss Academy. 

Shanahan, meanwhile, has put in a power of work with the Eagles' own aerial club, run by Geelong dual premiership star Harry Taylor and development coach Jacob Brennan.

The connection between the two No.35s runs back to 2023 when Treacy returned home and spoke to that year's Bendigo Pioneers team at their awards night, which saw Shanahan recognised as a runner-up in the best and fairest as a bottom-age player. 

"We love connecting our ex-players to our playing group and that was a great example. Their two great stories from our region," Pioneers coach Danny O'Bree told AFL.com.au. 

"It's good when they follow each other's journey and I love seeing them connect after a game."

Shanahan's pack mark against the Power last Sunday at Adelaide Oval brought back memories for O'Bree, who saw the young key-position player take similar grabs time and time again when playing in defence as a junior. 

Compared by recruiters to Fremantle defender Brennan Cox as he came through the ranks, Shanahan's ability to read the play and put himself in position to intercept was a coach's nightmare during training.  

"I actually messaged him after the game and said, 'That's what you used to do to all my drills, mate. You'd always stuff them up,'" O'Bree joked. 

"I used to call him a drill wrecker. He'd wreck our drills and we'd have to get him out of the way because he used to take those intercept marks. But he's always had that in his game.

"That (competitive side) is something a number of our coaches worked with him on, and we moved him around to make sure he was that long down the line option to give him the opportunity to work on his contest. 

"It's great to see that it's all coming together."

Shanahan's brilliant pack mark also gave Hodge flashbacks to when the young Eagle was first identified as an AFL prospect while playing as a third tall defender with Bendigo. 

While recruiters would soon encourage the Pioneers to expose Shanahan as a forward, his early football as a defender was elite. 

"The game when we first watched him was down at Shepley, and I think he took seven intercept marks and 11 for the game as a rebounding defender," Hodge said.

"So that mark gave me and Adam Ramanauskas flashbacks to when we first identified him as a 16-, 17-year-old.

"He was taking those grabs as a defender, so I wasn't too surprised when he did it (at AFL level)."

Shanahan has emerged as a leader among the young Eagles cohort, alongside star midfielder Reid and wingman Hamish Davis, influencing others in his own way by committing to doing extra craft work and speaking up at the right times. 

A quieter leader who connects well on a personal level with his teammates, Shanahan's coaches have identified his leadership qualities and the way he works proactively with his forward line teammates to make sure they are impacting as a collective. 

He is not necessarily the type of footballer to make note of clubs that overlooked him in the draft, with his personality more geared towards appreciation as he flourishes in the west. 

"I still remember walking back the night of the draft when he did miss out on night one and he said, 'I don't care who picks me now. I just want a chance'," Hodge said. 

"Going through that, I think he's just happy that someone read his name out. He's more appreciative than anything else."