Ele's Exceptional Eagles Write-ups - Koby Stevens

[elephants]

Hey lads,

Name:                     Koby Stevens
Age:                        20
2012 Price:             $104,200
Position:                 Midfielder
Games:                   9
Goals:                     2



Koby is one of the players on the Eagles list in which I am not overly familiar. Taken at pick 22 in the 2009 AFL draft his story is apparently quite comparable with Luke Shuey's. Serious injuries (in particular his knees) have slowed the start of the promising young midfielder's career. He is predominantly an inside midfielder who can play Half Forward Flank. Stevens was named on the wing of the TAC Cup Team of the Year in 2009.

Pros
Price - He is rookie priced. This is great for a player who has had a couple of years in the system. He will cost you very little at the end of the day and has the potential to increase seriously in value over the first 10 rounds.

Team - I am not going to bang on a whole paragraph about Eagle success but it will help that he plays for a top 4/5 team.

Scoring - In his debut year last year he averaged a solid 61. Last year he played two games for a measly sub affected average of 18. He has shown in the nab cup that finding the pill isn't a problem with 14 possesions in one of the games BUT he needs to put in on the boot more with a 1:7 Kick:Handball ratio...

PreSeason - Absolutely killed it (who hasn't?). But has led the team in running while also putting on a few kgs of muscle. Look for him to really compete at AFL level following his strong pre-season.

Cons
Injuries - He has had some pretty severe knee injuries in the past and what's to say they want return? I am confident the conditioning staff have got him right BUT there is an element of risk here that is not evident in the other rookies.

Job Security - Woosha has said that Masten, Swift and Stevens are all competing for the one spot. That spot is the one vacated by Brad Ebert. Masten killed the nab games so he is in pole position you'd think despite Stevens awesome pre-season...

Conclusion
For me, if he is named round 1 he is in contention for my team. He has the ever-present danger of copping a vest and the worry of injuries is still around. Also with Magner, Gibson and Couch performing recently and being 20k cheaper and GWS players Miles, Shiel and McDonald at his price seeming to escape the vests mor eoften than not is Kobes worth the risk?
I would need to see a bit more in the nab to jump on.

Ele's predicted average for 2012 - 73

[Justin Bieber]

Sitting on the bench for me. I would take 73 average.

[mezzoculo]

With the performance of Old MacDonald, Gibson and Magnar I'm having difficulty fitting in ANY $104k priced MID rookies.
At this stage Koby will only get a run if one of the two rookie-listed cheapies don't get upgraded.

[SydneyRox]

if he is competing against swift and masten, then he probably wont play round 1. Masten will grab that spot, however Masten has yet to prove himself, so Stevens may get a chance after 3-4 rounds.
Hopefully will end up a good downgrade target.

[Jukes]

Stevens hasn't got much JS and his scoring was not that brilliant either; two things guys like Shiel, Neale and Clifton can do. Stevens is about 6 or 7 back for rookie midfielders, just too much competition there.

[elephants]

Tend to agree with the general consensus. Unless he shows a bit more to cement himself into the team he could be a great downgrade target.

Stevens hasn't got much JS and his scoring was not that brilliant either; two things guys like Shiel, Neale and Clifton can do. Stevens is about 6 or 7 back for rookie midfielders, just too much competition there.

Agree with this 100%.

[Justin Bieber]

Surprised no one is keen with him. Although, reading your write-up saying he's battling a spot with Masten then i'ts unlikely he will get chosen, just like Gaff last year.

[elephants]

I have no doubts he will be a future gun!!! But maybe not this year..... Monitor his nab.

[sledgey7]

BIG tank from all reports. could lead to some seagull points.
should be a good downgrade target for the early cash cow harvest but i will def jump on if named rnd 1 as whoosha always gives hids lads at least 3 games to find their feet.

[elephants]

BIG tank from all reports. could lead to some seagull points.
should be a good downgrade target for the early cash cow harvest but i will def jump on if named rnd 1 as whoosha always gives hids lads at least 3 games to find their feet.

You mean JUNK TIME points?

[The F.A.R.K.]

Yeah gets some junk in the trunk tempted

[pavs nose]

With lecras gone there is another spot.

[elephants]

Wouldn't class Stevens as a small forward though. Lecras would have Hams and Weedon and at a stretch Strijk competing for his spot while Ebert has Masten, Swift and Stevens imo.

[D.Zanetti]

Swift's never really been an AFL grade player.. Masten may just come through for the team that payed a #3 draft pick for him & Stevens could pull a Shuey, so unless there's a serious injury to one of the first pick midfielders its hard to see Koby & Masten stringing together too many games in a row.. unless there's some new rotation policy of the mids this year which could be just as bad for us DT'ers

[elephants]

I had Masten in my team at one point. By god he better repay us for that #3 pick. We could have had... umm... Pretty average draft really. I would only relly take McEvoy, Rioli or Dangerfield over Masten :P