Sam Reid – Zillmere/Queensland
Ht: 185 cm Wt: 75 kg
Junior position – HBF / HFF
AFL position – HBF / midfield
Reid is an AIS Academy player with a big reputation who hurt his draft stock with a below par performance at the championships. He is a ball winner who reads play well and is good off either foot. He has good height and pace and seems to have that bit of class that sets him apart from others. He is light on his feet, seems good in traffic and takes a good mark for his size. He is considered by many as the most talented of the Qld prospects this year. A medial ligament tear toward the end of the season is not going to help his chances given that he has been on the sidelines for 10 weeks. The good news is though that it should not affect his preseason.
Strengths: Good skills (by foot especially), is good athletically and is courageous in the contest.
Weaknesses: Tends to go to ground too easily and needs to build up his lower half. He has obviously done a lot of work on his upper body but he is a bit unbalanced at the moment. He also struggles to break a tag and his endurance needs work. When playing forward he also does not seem to have good goal sense
Question marks: Given his poor performance at the Championships will he struggle with the step up in class to the AFL? He has not performed as well as some of the other prospects in the AFLQ this year.
Draft Prediction: 20-40
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