As highlighted in The Herald Sun, Turner is second in the league for turnovers forced by pressure acts between Round 22 and the Semi Final.
Despite his light frame, the 18-year-old has registered 19 pressure acts per game in that period, 11.1 of which are considered physical (tackling) and closing (pressure at the ball carrier).
Remarkably, the youngest player in the AFL is also among its toughest statistically.
On Friday night, he laid nine tackles, and stood up when it counted most with a smother in the dying seconds.
His emergence has surprised many, even coach Brad Scott.
“My expectations were that we’d get him into the gym and to see the nutritionist,” he said on Fox Footy.
“Bryce Lewis our recruiting manager said ‘we really want to draft this kid, but I need you to meet him before we draft him, because if we draft him and he walks into the club on day one, you are going to have a heart attack, because he looks like a jockey’.”
But in this case, first impressions didn’t last.
"When I saw his vision and the way he plays, he’s fearless. He rises to the occasion. The bigger the stage the better, he just absolutely loves it. They are the players you want."
And when you consider 268-game veteran Drew Petrie called Turner “ruthless”, and renowned hard-nut Levi Greenwood declared him “undroppable”, he’s certainly impressed his team-mates too.
TURNOVERS FORCED BY PRESSURE ACTS (Rounds 22 – Semi Final)
15 — Joel Selwood (Geel)
14 — Kayne Turner (NM)
14 — Jordan Murdoch (Geel)
13 — Zach Merrett (Ess)
13 — Travis Varcoe (Geel)
YOUNGEST PLAYERS WITH 9+ TACKLES IN A FINAL (1999-2014)
18 — Steele Sidebottom (2009 SF)
18 — Kayne Turner (2014 SF) — Two days older than Sidebottom was
20 — Steele Sidebottom (2011 QF)
20 — Heritier Lumumba (2007 EF)
21 — Chris Judd (2004 EF)
Source: Champion Data
