Shaun Mannagh's career-best game on Thursday night against reigning premier Brisbane was a fitting advertisement of the benefit of recruiting mature-aged talent.
Brought in by Geelong as a 26-year-old, Mannagh played in an AFL grand final in his second season, seamlessly integrating into the Cats line-up given his long apprenticeship at VFL level.
On Thursday night, he played one of the games of the season, kicking five goals and finishing with 14 score involvements from 30 disposals.
"He's such an energy-giver. He's someone who's tried and tried again to get drafted. He's loving every minute he's at the club and he's so good to be around," Cats assistant coach James Rahilly said of him on SEN.
The game came less than two weeks out from a Mid-Season Draft, an intake where the pendulum appears to be swinging towards more experienced VFL players over youngsters overlooked as 18-year-olds in recent drafts.
An average of 3.8 Talent League teenagers have been selected since the return of the Mid-Season intake of 2019, a number that almost certainly won't be met this year.
Zac Mainwaring, Marcus Herbert, Mitch Podhajski, Jackson Voss and Harrison Coe are all aged 24 or more and have had their names bandied around as prospects to be selected at the intake on May 26.
Previously their papers would have been rubber-stamped: too old, no chance.
The success of 25-year-old Milan Murdock at West Coast this season and 25-year-old Eagle Tom McCarthy at last year's Mid-Season Draft, and to a lesser degree tall Essendon utility Lachie Blakiston, aged 27, has highlighted the benefit of experience and perspective.
Collingwood mature-ager Angus Anderson, North Melbourne 23-year-old Tom Blamires, Melbourne's Paddy Cross are other examples of successful mature-aged pickups.
Collingwood is a club which has expressed interest in looking towards the state leagues for talent given its quickly ageing list.
The Tigers are another club which could benefit from mature-agers to complement their emerging talent.
While the Tigers are not a significant outlier in terms of the number of 23-28-year-olds on their list, the output from that cohort of 13, outside of potential future captain Jack Ross, is limited in comparison to other clubs.
Speaking on Friday, Richmond coach Adem Yze expressed pride in the club's VFL program, which has become a breeding ground for AFL talent, with defender Mutaz El Nour and forward Sam Toner on the radar this year.
“We're proud of the fact we run a terrific VFL program and we get highly talented kids who want to come and train here and play and be part of our club,” Yze said.
“If they get rewarded by being on an AFL list and seeing those guys run around – Sam Davidson, Sam Durham, Tom McCarthy – is impressive.
“We'd love it if they're wearing our jumpers but for them to go and start their careers here at VFL level then get on an AFL list and fulfil a boyhood dream, we're proud of that and hopefully there are a couple more this year that get the chance to do it again.”
The Tigers are widely expected to select Jaxon Artemis with their first pick – he has been rested this week by Tasmania, a strong hint he has been told to sit out rather than risking injury – but there is a belief from some that the Tigers will look internal if they use a second selection.
Asked if he'd like to see a VFL player make the graduation onto the club's AFL list, Yze said: “Yeah hopefully. We'll look at all that in the next couple of weeks.”
David Dunbar, who has been involved in several state league programs as a head and assistant coach for much of the past two decades, last month gave Zero Hanger an insight into the benefits that AFL clubs gain by bringing in older talent.
“They understand their bodies a little bit more, and have had more coaching, training, game development and skill development to round themselves off,” Dunbar said.
“Some kids at 18 from a maturity point of view can't handle it, whereas 23 year olds have had to fight and scrap and wake up early to go work and will really appreciate becoming a full-time footballer.”
