Turner confident about new TAC Cup crop

GEELONG Falcons talent manager Mick Turner says it is up to next year’s crop of TAC Cup players to step up and put themselves into draft calculations.

Turner’s football factory churned out six more AFL products at last week’s drafts, with Sam Walsh (Carlton), Ned McHenry (Adelaide), Connor Idun (GWS Giants), Oscar Brownless (Geelong), Brayden Ham (Essendon) and Blake Schlensog (Geelong) all finding homes.

That was after five players were picked up in the national and rookie drafts in 2017, equalling a total of 11 in two seasons.

While Turner said making predictions on the 2019 draft was tough, Cooper Stephens (Colac) and Jesse Clark (St Joseph’s) were among the players capable of making a push towards the draft.

“We’re probably a little bit thin, but we thought that when we won the premiership, and they came out of the woodwork that year,” Turner said.

“There’s Cooper Stephens and Jesse Clark and a few other boys and we’ve just got to develop them along.

“We’ve got the girls squad training and our under-16s and under-18s are all training at the moment, so we’ve got 200 kids and 60 staff on the go at the moment, but we’re hoping to develop another good crop of players and there’s no reason why we can’t.”

Lachie Smith, Jay Dahlhaus, Keidan Rayner, Charlie Sprague and Charlie Harris are among some of the other names that will get every opportunity to thrive at top-age level.

Sprague was seen as a draft chance this year but missed the bulk of the season with a serious finger injury.

Stephens looks highly likely to find an AFL home next year — some pundits even believe Stephens could be the best junior prospect to come out of Colac since Luke Hodge.

“He plays a bit like Patrick Cripps — he’s an inside midfielder so he’s a big kid and he plays very much like Patrick Cripps,” Turner said.

“He was in the AFL Academy and he played national championships and at the end of the year when he matured and grew a little bit, he was playing in the midfield with Walsh and McHenry and the rest of them.”

It is understood the Falcons are very excited about their bottom-age crop for next season, with a number of players tracking to get drafted in 2020.