The best footballers are generally midfielders or special key forwards.  This is true in terms of ranking / voting at AFL level but also true in terms of the prospective U18 stars.  It makes sense because you want your best players involved as often as possible.

But as far as our team goes, we have plenty of talent in the midfield.  Some more pace and polish wouldn't go astray but we are largely the envy of the comp with the talent we have there.  So if we are not drafting tall (which we still might), to get the greatest level of improvement, it is going to come from players that play on flanks, pockets and maybe the wing (if Hunter, Howes etc are not the answer).

My query is:

Are the best flankers / pockets at AFL level midfielders at U18 level, or do they generally play those positions at junior level?

It's pretty rare that a pocket / flanker would be considered a top 10 pick.  Given we have pick 13, if we are not going for a key forward, maybe we're likely to find a decent player that fills a need in any case?

Obviously Daicos has been special this year (but presume he was a midfielder in juniors), Young (Freo) was a half back highly rated and Nick Vlaustin are others that comes to mind... but can't think of too many high picks that play exclusively on a flank or pocket (i.e. obviously the good ones that play HFF / mid are often highly rated).

If you look at Sydney, the majority of their backline is made up of players who started in other positions.

A lot of their recruiting ethos is around flexibility in position (lots of medium types) and winning your own ball. If you add ball use into the mix, then you can probably slot in almost anywhere.

4 minutes ago, ChaserJ said:

A lot of their recruiting ethos is around flexibility in position (lots of medium types) and winning your own ball. If you add ball use into the mix, then you can probably slot in almost anywhere.

so is ours, i would say

all of anb, spargo, sparrow, jordon were first-possession players at underage level,=