Gippsland Power head coach Rhett McLennan gives his thoughts on the club’s upcoming NAB League Boys season.

2018 FINISH: 3rd (13-3-2 record)

2018 BEST AND FAIREST: 1. Noah Gown / 2. Tye Hourigan / 3. Xavier Duursma

2018 TEAM OF THE YEAR SELECTIONS: Xavier Duursma, Kyle Reid

2018 AFL DRAFTEES: Xavier Duursma (Port Adelaide), Irving Mosquito (Essendon), Noah Gown (Essendon)

OTHER FORMER PLAYERS ON AFL LISTS:

• Selected in 2004: Jarryd Roughead (Hawthorn) 275 games
• 2005: Dale Thomas (Collingwood/Carlton) 157/81, Scott Pendlebury (Collingwood) 277
• 2006: Tyson Goldsack (Collingwood) 165
• 2009: Nathan Vardy (Geelong/West Coast) 25/32
• 2010: Dyson Heppell (Essendon) 151
• 2011: Sam Docherty (Brisbane/Carlton) 13/79
• 2012: Tim Membrey (Sydney/St Kilda) 1/69
• 2013: Jack Leslie (Gold Coast) 28
• 2014: Lukas Webb (Western Bulldogs) 24, Jordan Cunico (Geelong) 15
• 2015: Harry McKay (Carlton) 15, Ben McKay (North Melbourne) 1, Josh Dunkley (Western Bulldogs) 43, Sam Skinner (Brisbane) 1, Tom Papley* (Sydney) 60
• 2016: Ben Ainsworth (Gold Coast) 29
• 2017: Callum Porter (Western Bulldogs) 0, Changkuoth Jiath* (Hawthorn) 0

2019 AFL ACADEMY:

• Level 2 (18yo): Riley Baldi, Leo Connolly, Sam Flanders, Fraser Phillips, Caleb Serong, Brock Smith
• Level 1 (17yo): Zach Reid

2019 HEAD COACH: Rhett McLennan (first season)

2019 SEASON START: vs Murray Bushrangers @ Swinburne Centre, Saturday March 23 (CLICK HERE for full fixture)

TOP 2019 AFL DRAFT PROSPECTS

Caleb Serong (local club – Warragul): “Caleb is a disciplined, mature kid who’s doing everything he possibly can to be drafted. He has a great footy brain and we’ll probably play him a little bit in the midfield and a little bit in the forward line this year. He’s going to school at Geelong Grammar, so we’ll have him for a handful of games this season.”

Sam Flanders (Moe): “Sam is quite a powerful athlete with great goal sense and a very good leap. We’ll probably play him as a utility that can go through the midfield, up forward and even a little bit down back. He’s a tough match-up given his size – he’s about 183cm – and the fact he can play tall or small.”

Fraser Phillips (Warragul): “Fraser will play across half forward and provide some good link-up between the midfield and forward line this year. He’s very smooth-moving, has a nice left-foot kick and good goal sense and footy smarts. He hurt his knee in Round 15 last season but his rehab and recovery from that has been really good.”

Brock Smith (Moe): “Brock is another one who can play in all three areas of the ground, but he’ll probably play a bit more forward this year than he did last year. He’s a really good size to be so versatile – he’s about 188cm – and he’s very strong for his age. He’s explosive and hard at it.”

Riley Baldi (Moe): “Riley will play as a midfielder and a little bit up forward this year. He had a really good 2018 season as a bottom-ager where he was rated very highly in regards to his clearance work. He has very good midfield craft, good skills both in close and on the outside, and he’s a natural extractor of the footy.”

Leo Connolly (Moe): “The thing that really stands out when you see Leo on the field is his skill on both sides of the body; his kick on one foot is as good as on the other. He has speed to burn and will probably play on a wing or a flank at either end of the ground this year. He’s an exciting prospect.”

POTENTIAL DRAFT SURPRISE PACKETS

Charlie Comben (Sale): “Charlie has missed the majority of the last three seasons due to impact injuries to his jaw and collarbone (twice). He’s physically developed in that time to be a very impressive athlete at a ruck’s height. His pre-season has been super and he looks like being a great addition to our list as a ruck/forward.”

Tye Hourigan (Traralgon): “Tye was the runner-up in our best-and-fairest last year as a defender, but he’s a kid who just ticks the boxes no matter where he plays and what role he’s given. He’s a good size – he’d be 190cm-plus – and can play tall or small, and he’s a very good decision-maker.”

BOTTOM-AGER TO WATCH

Zach Reid (Leongatha): “Zach is already a genuine AFL ruckman’s height at around 200cm and has some time on his side to grow into his body. He’s all arms and legs at the moment, but he has some great skills for a big man. He’s also a fast learner, he’s really competitive and he’s shown he has some versatility in other positions.”

LEADERSHIP MATERIAL

“Brock Smith (see above) is someone who stands out as a really mature young man. He’s graduated from high school and shows really good leadership qualities. Ryan Sparkes (18yo in 2019, Inverloch-Kongwak) polled highly in our best-and-fairest last year and he’s a tall defender who’s really worked hard on the leadership side of his game. He’s someone who can show our bottom-agers what it takes to play at this level.”

FAMOUS FOOTBALL RELATIONS

Kyle Dunkley (19yo, Sale): Son of former AFL player Andrew Dunkley – 217 games for Sydney – and brother of current AFL player Josh Dunkley – 43 games for Western Bulldogs.

Will Papley (17yo, Bunyip): Brother of current AFL player Tom Papley – 60 games for Sydney.

Fraser Phillips (see above): Son of former AFL player Garry Phillips – three games for Geelong.

Zac Skinner (18yo, Moe): Brother of current AFL player Sam Skinner – one game for Brisbane.

Jake van der Pligt (18yo, Leongatha): Grandson of former AFL player Des Meagher – 198 games for Hawthorn.

TEAM STRENGTHS

“I think our strength will be the experience our boys got last year; we played a lot of bottom-agers and on average we had 12 in our side each week. A lot of those guys have played together at Gippsland since under-15s, so they know each other fairly well and we’re hoping that cohesiveness will roll into their top-age year.”