Rays lead draft

By Paul Pickering
TAC Cup programs are measured against the twin pillars of team success and draft-day representation. The two don’t necessarily go hand-in-hand, but 2009 runner-up Dandenong looks set to cap another boom year at next Thursday night’s AFL draft.
The Stingrays contingent will almost certainly be led by 2009 co-captains Tom Scully and Ryan Bastinac; good friends and junior team-mates at Narre Warren before they teamed up at Shepley Oval.
The two midfield maestros, whose fathers were team-mates during the old Dandenong VFA days, won’t have to wait too long to hear their names called in the AFL’s first prime-time draft.
The draft order is famously difficult to predict, but Scully is regarded as a cast-iron certainty to go to Melbourne with either pick one or two.
The 18-year-old midfielder, who captained Vic Metro and secured his second All-Australian berth this year, has probably been the most-talked-about TAC Cup player in the competition’s 18-year history. That says as much about the growing interest in the elite junior competition as it does about his undoubted ability. The Berwick teenager’s season was cut short when he sustained a cracked kneecap in the preliminary final, forcing him to miss the decider and AFL draft camp in Canberaa.
In contrast, Bastinac’s season finished with a near best-on-ground performance in Dandenong’s grand final loss to Calder.
That, plus top-two finishes in the endurance tests at the draft camp, has seen the silky-skilled midfielder’s stocks soar on the eve of the D-day.
Team-mate Dylan Roberton returned similarly impressive results at the camp and, at 190cm, will certainly grab the attention of clubs that are searching for a rebounding defender.
Roberton racked up possessions across half back and rarely wasted the ball by hand or foot. Despite his wiry frame, he seems to be a ready-made modern footballer.
Rays spearheads Levi Casboult and Myles Pitt could have slightly more anxious waits, but still look to be better than 50-50 prospects.
Casboult, a mature-age player at 19, has made the most of his extra year at Shepley Oval, developing into one of the most dominant contested marks in the competition.
The mobile ruck/forward has also improved his goal-kicking accuracy, eliminating one of the key criticisms of his game.
Pitt had an extremely consistent year as a lead-up option and could benefit from the lack of genuine key forwards in this 2009 draft crop, while cannon-booted defender Jarryd Amalfi has also drawn plenty of interest. Fellow Rays James Hallahan and Rohan Kerr also tested at the Victorian state screening session and will come under consideration from several clubs.
The draft will be held on Thursday, 26 November, beginning at 6.30pm.