Article courtesy of Fremantle Football Club.Yesterday's NAB AFL Draft saw Fremantle use its first three picks to secure an exciting trio of WA-bred products.
The club's first-round pick (4) secured Peel Thunder product, Anthony Morabito, followed by Claremont's Nathan Fyfe with its second-round pick (20) and the club also picked up Perth's Joel Houghton with its third-round pick (36).
Fremantle's next three picks saw the club secure Jesse Crichton from North Launceston (third-round 48), followed by the Dandenong Stingrays Dylan Roberton (third-round 49), with the club's final pick in the draft used to recruit South Adelaide's Justin Bollenhagen (fourth-round 52).
Morabito is ready-made for AFL Football. He is quick, versatile and a super athletic winger who starred at the NAB AFL U18 Championships, receiving WA's MVP award and All-Australian honours. His pace, kicking and marking are all key strengths to his game.
Fyfe is a smart forward who reads the game extremely well and has good goal sense. He kicked four goals for WA against Vic Metro in the NAB AFL U18 Championships. His spring and endurance was in the top 15 per cent with the 75cm running vertical jump and he also attained a beep test of 14.7 at Draft Camp.
Houghton is tall forward with a tremendous set shot for goal. He has outstanding endurance and agility for a player of his size. His marking on the lead and his ability to present up to the kicker are assets. He was a WA U18 representative in 2009 and his level 15.1 beep test at WA screening was outstanding.
Crichton is a creative playmaker who has instinctive ability to find space in traffic. He is ultra-competitive with exceptional vision and awareness. He wins his own footy in the air and at ground level. He was a Tasmania U18 representative in 2008/09 and an AIS-AFL Academy graduate.Roberton is a rebounding defender with good skills by both hand and foot. His decision making when in possession is a highlight of his game. He has outstanding endurance, shown by his 14.6 beep test at Draft Camp which he backed up with 10.13 mins for 3km (top 10 per cent).
Bollenhagen is a highly-skilled left footer who reads the play well. He has a strong overhead for his size with clean hands and good awareness in traffic. He was a SA U18 representative in 2009. He also tested soundly at Draft Camp with 3.01secs for 20m and tested a 13.6 in the beep test.
Fremantle passed in pick 68 and used pick 79 to upgrade Greg Broughton from the Rookie List.
