Luke Stanton – Northern Knights
Ht: 191 cm Wt: 79 kg
Junior position – Wing/ Utility
AFL position – Utility
Stanton is a superb athlete who looks like an AFL player. He has been an AIS scholarship holder and has been earmarked as a potential AFL player for the last 3 years. Cousin of Nick Dal Santo, though a completely different beast.
Strengths: Standout athlete. Tall who can run long, hard, fast and is pretty agile as well. Got enough of the footy for a bottom aged player and progressed sufficiently by the end of the year. His game against Calder in the Preliminary Final was his finest game at TAC and would have boosted his stocks considerably.
Weaknesses: Kicking! Clumsy technique and tends to give the ball too much air. Would like to see him kick through the ball and thus produce kicks which travel through the air much faster. Stanton isn’t the cleverest footballer going around. Often runs to silly positions on the field and can be exposed in situations where his athleticism cannot save him.
Question marks: Does he have the smarts?
Draft Prediction: 35-60. I think his stocks may rise during testing.
Stats: TAC 2007. Only played 8 games this year. Averaged 16 disposals per game. His kicking effectiveness is a worry with 2 out of 3 kicks being rated as effective. Took only 3 contested marks for the year which is disappointing for a player of his size who usually competes against shorter opponents.