Ashley Hockey – Murray Bushrangers
181cm, 78kgJunior position: Utility
Projected AFL position: Midfield/small forward

Utility Midfield/small forwardStrengths
Work rate
Courage
Strong body

Weaknesses
Contested ground ball
Consistency in disposal

Comments
Ashley Hockey is a strong bodied and versatile player. His junior career has seen him play all over the ground – he is an effective small forward, can play off the half back line and is good in the middle too. At AFL level he projects more as a small to medium forward, who can have a run in the midfield.

Work rate is a key feature to his game. He works very hard to make space for himself wherever he’s playing and this combines well with his ability to read the play well.

A natural right footer, Hockey is one of the few prospects in this draft who is genuinely dual sided with his kicking, using his left with some regularity quite comfortably. However, his disposal does need some cleaning up. He’s had some games in the TAC Cup this year where his disposal was fantastic and he barely missed a target, but he’s had some others where his ball use wasn’t too flash. He has the potential to be an excellent ball user, but he needs to get a lot more consistency. His best by foot is very good though. He is accurate in front of goals both in general play and set shots.

Hockey has a strong upper body and likes to run the lines. He is good at breaking tackles, and in turn is good at tackling. This all ties in with the general courage he possesses as a player. Not afraid to run with the flight of the ball and doesn’t mind getting his hands dirty at the bottom of a pack. However, where courage is concerned there is one area he needs to improve and that is in contested ground balls. He tends not to go as hard at contested ground balls as the rest of his game would lend itself to and occasionally just kicks it off the ground to get it loose and into space.

Essentially he is a very workmanlike player. He’s not especially outstanding in any area but he does get a tick in most boxes, so he’s what you would call a ‘vanilla’ player. The only exception would be that he has shown a bit of flair in the forward line at times.

Late third/early fourth.

Stats
2007 TAC Cup Season
14 games played
17.8
208 kicks (145 of them effective)
81 handballs (67 effective)
38 tackles
85 handball receives
9 contested marks
77 uncontested marks