Season over for Falcons, but draft may still spell success
GEELONG Falcons coach Daniel O’Keefe says the success of his team’s 2018 season will depend on how well the club fares in November’s AFL draft.
The 2017 premier had its season ended in Saturday’s elimination final, going down to Gippsland Power by 35 points.
But O’Keefe is confident the Falcons can match or even better last year’s draft result which saw four players snared by AFL clubs.
Midfield sensational Sam Walsh is one of the country’s top prospects, while Oscar Brownless is likely to be selected by Geelong under the father-son rule.
O’Keefe said he was fairly confident at least another two young guns would be picked up at the draft on November 22 and 23.
“At the end of the day too, we will be judged a fair bit on how November turns out,” O’Keefe said.
“Finishing 10th this year and finishing first last year, I honestly believe we could have a similar draft if not potentially and hopefully a better draft this year.
“If that happens then it’s a great success and we will look back on all the challenges we have had this year and think that we have come through with a fantastic result.”
The Falcons were within eight points of the Power at three-quarter-time in Saturday’s loss, but were blown away in the final term.
O’Keefe lamented his team’s ball use after Gippsland made them pay for their mistakes.
“We were probably always in the game. We felt like we were playing as good, if not better than the opposition,” O’Keefe said.
“We had the same amount of scoring shots, we had more stats where it counted. We just couldn’t use the ball well.
“At one stage they had kicked eight goals and six of them were directly from our turnovers and that hurts you.
“It was really basic, it was fundamental in regards to our ill-use of skills compared to Gippsland.”
Oscar Brownless played one of his best games for the season, while Cooper Stephens and Blake Schlensog also stood out. Connor Idun and Brayden Ham were Geelong’s only multiple goal kickers with two each.