{"id":295823,"date":"2023-11-01T01:09:23","date_gmt":"2023-11-01T01:09:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports-life-news.com\/?p=295823"},"modified":"2023-11-01T01:09:23","modified_gmt":"2023-11-01T01:09:23","slug":"meet-the-draft-prospect-tipped-to-kick-as-many-goals-as-betts-breust-and-co","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports-life-news.com\/rugby-league\/meet-the-draft-prospect-tipped-to-kick-as-many-goals-as-betts-breust-and-co\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the draft prospect tipped to kick as many goals as Betts, Breust and co."},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>Save articles for later<\/h3>\n<p>Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.<\/p>\n<h3>Key points<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Nick Watson is tipped to be a top-10 draft pick despite measuring short of 170 centimetres.<\/li>\n<li>Watson was the leading goalkicker at this year\u2019s AFL Under-18 Championships.<\/li>\n<li>The talented teenager is tipped to join small forward greats Eddie Betts, Luke Breust and co.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Nick Watson held out faint hope until recently of a late growth spurt that would remove the novelty of his height from any discussion about him.<\/p>\n<p>For everything Watson does well \u2013 and the list is long for the silky-skilled teenager dubbed \u201cthe Wizard\u201d for his outrageous bag of tricks \u2013 the \u201cbut\u201d about his height is never far away.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/static.ffx.io\/images\/$zoom_0.721%2C$multiply_0.5855%2C$ratio_1.776846%2C$width_1059%2C$x_0%2C$y_57\/t_crop_custom\/q_86%2Cf_auto\/5295c47d3de32d1fd9805739ba719055ffd63505\" height=\"349\" width=\"620\"><\/p>\n<p><span>Nick Watson is one of the best prospects in this year\u2019s AFL draft crop.<\/span><cite class=\"ojLwA\"><span>Credit: <\/span>AFL Photos<\/cite><\/p>\n<p>The Eastern Ranges forward measured in just shy of 170 centimetres at the AFL draft combine. That is enough, in his own words, to tower over his mum, Lori, but his dad, David, is almost 20 centimetres taller.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wouldn\u2019t know the measurements, but Mum\u2019s like five-foot-two, five-foot-three, so I\u2019ve definitely got her genes,\u201d Watson told this masthead.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI had a bit of hope because of Dad\u2019s height, but sort of always knew I was going to be small, so I prepared for it the best way possible. There\u2019s been heaps of, \u2018He\u2019s too small\u2019 and this and that, but I let my footy do the talking, and, hopefully, I can change their minds. But it doesn\u2019t really bother me either way.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen it comes to game day, I think my height\u2019s pretty irrelevant.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Recruiters tend to agree. There may be as few as four players called out before Watson on November 20, with Hawthorn one possible destination for him. If not the Hawks, the Western Bulldogs pick next, and are a decent chance to select him.<\/p>\n<p>Even those who rate Watson a little lower still have him inside the top 10.<\/p>\n<p>But he will almost certainly have to give up his Collingwood fandom, given the premiers probably won\u2019t make their first selection until more than 20 have already been made, with club academy and father-son bids pushing them back.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI haven\u2019t spoken to the Pies, which I\u2019m spewing about,\u201d Watson said.<\/p>\n<p>He is stuck wearing a moon boot for the short term after suffering an ankle injury in the first half of Eastern\u2019s grand final that was later diagnosed as bone ligament stress.<\/p>\n<p>But in a sign of Watson\u2019s competitiveness, and not wanting to let his teammates down, he kept his injury quiet and played the rest of the decider with his balky ankle.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI knew if I told someone, I could have been gone, so I just didn\u2019t say anything,\u201d Watson said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNext minute, the coaches go, \u2018We\u2019re going to play you in the midfield in the second half\u2019 and I was like, \u2018shit\u2019, but I just pushed through it. I was pretty cooked at the end of the day, but it wasn\u2019t too bad, and they didn\u2019t give me a spray or anything [for not mentioning the injury], which is good.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Watson finished with 20 disposals, 12 contested possessions, seven clearances \u2013 five of them out of the centre \u2013 and six score involvements, including a goal of his own. No wonder no one could tell he was sore.<\/p>\n<p>It was his 24th match of the season across the Talent League, private school, the AFL under-18 championships, and the AFL Academy\u2019s two clashes with Carlton and Port Adelaide\u2019s VFL sides.<\/p>\n<p>Watson projects as a small forward capable of centre-bounce cameos at the highest level but played all over the ground this year, in an attempt to illustrate he could be something more.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/static.ffx.io\/images\/$zoom_0.347%2C$multiply_0.7487%2C$ratio_0.666667%2C$width_378%2C$x_76%2C$y_32\/t_crop_custom\/q_86%2Cf_auto\/619d80c4d17185d8029158a327cc5dcfc21a0be4\" height=\"425\" width=\"283\"><\/p>\n<p><span>Watson studies star Demon Kysaiah Pickett.<\/span><cite class=\"ojLwA\"><span>Credit: <\/span>AFL Photos<\/cite><\/p>\n<p>His 14 goals for Victoria Metro from four championships matches were more than anyone else, with three bags of at least four. But he had to endure two grand final defeats, firstly for Caulfield Grammar against Haileybury, then another to Sandringham in the Talent League.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s been a long year. My body was slowly tiring at the end of the year, and obviously, I did this [injury] as well in the granny, so my body was just cooked,\u201d Watson said. \u201cTowards the end of the year, that final series, I was just struggling to get up for games. I felt like I put my best performances through that middle of the year, when my body was at 100 per cent.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There are some grand predictions about how Watson\u2019s career could pan out, before he is even drafted.<\/p>\n<p>Some talent scouts believe he is capable of kicking 500-plus goals in the AFL, which would place him in the company of small forward greats such as Eddie Betts, Stephen Milne, Luke Breust and Brent Harvey.<\/p>\n<p>Watson is flattered with those comparisons \u2013 although the player he watches most is Demon Kysaiah Pickett, who happens to be 171 centimetres tall \u2013 but has stopped thinking about what could be, including the number he might be drafted at.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf I\u2019m being honest, about six months ago, I was a bit like that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wanted to be as high as possible [in the draft]. Right now, I\u2019m not too fussed. I just feel like I\u2019ve matured. I just want to have an impact on AFL level as soon as possible. That\u2019s my main goal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><b><i>Keep up to date with the best AFL coverage in the country. <\/i><\/b><b><i>Sign up for the Real Footy newsletter<\/i><\/b><b><i>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<h2>Most Viewed in Sport<\/h2>\n<h3>From our partners<\/h3>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theage.com.au\/sport\/afl\/meet-the-draft-prospect-tipped-to-kick-as-many-goals-as-betts-breust-and-co-20231030-p5eg6h.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Key points Nick Watson is tipped to be a top-10 draft pick despite measuring short of 170 centimetres. Watson was the leading goalkicker at this&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":295822,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Meet the draft prospect tipped to kick as many goals as Betts, Breust and co. - Sports-Life-News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sports-life-news.com\/rugby-league\/meet-the-draft-prospect-tipped-to-kick-as-many-goals-as-betts-breust-and-co\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Meet the draft prospect tipped to kick as many goals as Betts, Breust and co. - Sports-Life-News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. 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