Dandenong Stingrays coach Nick Cox has said that likely mid-season draft top pick Jai Culley simply "wasn't good enough" to be drafted last year, but has backed the midfielder to fit at whichever club selects him in tonight's mid-season draft.
The 193cm inside midfielder looks set to be selected in the first couple of picks, with West Coast at pick 1 being constantly linked with the 19-year-old.
Culley's dramatic improvement has caught the eye of AFL clubs, with his ability to win the footy and hit the scoreboard leaving clubs with an early selection licking their lips.
Speaking to SEN WA Breakfast, Cox said that the inside midfielder had worked on the areas of his game that previously were not up to the level.
"He wasn't good enough. It's as simple as that," Cox said.
"I got straight to the point with Jai. It was his first year in an elite program across here so he was starting to understand what was required at the level, then we got locked down again.
"He went away at the back-end of last year and over pre-season and worked on all the traits that weren't at the level and to his credit he'd done a fair bit of work and every night he went out the back with his mum and did 100 ground balls.
"The extra stuff has helped him along the way."
Cox is confident that Culley will be able to fit into the AFL environment at any club without a hitch.
"I think with Jai, everyone asks 'who does he play like?', 'can he play AFL footy straight away?' and I think with Jai, he's 193cm, really powerful inside mid who can go forward and hit the scoreboard as well. He's got a really good balance of inside and outside," Cox said.
"I'm obviously quite biased to Jai, but I think the dramatic improvement over the last couple of years when we've been in lockdown over here (in Victoria) and the motivation he's shown to do a fair bit by himself which will give him a good opportunity if he gets to an AFL club.
"I think he'll fit anywhere that he goes. He's a pretty laid-back boy."
The Eagles have the top pick tonight and have been repeatedly linked to the 19-year-old, but Culley told media on Wednesday morning that he still isn't convinced he will be heading west.
“They didn’t really give me a bar to be honest, so I’m not expecting to go to West Coast,” he told SEN Breakfast.
“But if it does happen I’ll be bloody stoked.”
The AFL mid-season draft gets underway at 6:30 AEST on Wednesday, June 1.
