ST KILDA
7. Darcy Fogarty
8. Aaron Naughton
34. Cassidy Parish
45. Nathan Kreuger
Darcy Fogarty, if he slips this far would be a great pick for the Saints. With Riewoldt now in retirement some more firepower needs to be injected into the forward line and Fogarty could be anything. By his own standards he's had a shizen year, particularly given many had him in the equation as a potential number one but a lot of that form loss could be attributed to meniscus issues which have hampered him all year. One plus that's emerged is Fogarty is now 193cm which places him alongside Wooller & McCartin as an undersized key position prospect. When stacked up against those two I think he's a far more exciting package, his agility makes him dangerous at ground level and he's not afraid to have a gallop if the moment arises. Whilst his tank is still a work in progress he possesses good speed for his size and his core body strength makes him very difficult to tackle. His marking is also exceptional & he often uses his leap to counter taller defenders. If I were to come up with a comparison I'd say Jake Stringer but it wouldn't be out of the question for him to add 10kg to his frame and nail down a Tex Walker type role.
At pick 8 I think the Sainters have reached and would have been better targeting a midfielder here. I can see why people like Naughton, he's tall, athletic and possesses good closing speed which is a prerequisite for key defenders. In my opinion he's an athlete wanting to become a footballer and with that comes significant risk. First of all the mechanics of his kicking action are really frustrating to watch and it will take some serious remedial work to achieve any fluency, the end result is usually a loopy kick which creates unnecessary pressure downfield. This may not have been so pronounced at junior level due to the anti-density rule but it won't be so easy to avoid once he steps up to AFL. I get the fact he's played ok in the SANFL seniors but poor kicks usually get found out at the highest level.
Cassidy Parish comes in at 34 but for me he's a late to rookie pick. Just looking at the fact Oscar Clavarino went the pick after I really feel as though the Saints could have left the key position defender requirements to this pick, as opposed to pick 8. A combination of Bonar & Clavarino seems much better than Naughton & Parish, this I believe will be entirely feasible in the real deal. At 48 Nathan Kreuger is a nice speculative pick with some good upisde, this is about the time one can look at bringing in the tall athletic types who need to bring in some consistency to their game. Whilst I don't believe Kreuger will ever make it as a key position player he may well find a role as a third tall swingman.
Grade: B-