It’s rare for a player to come straight out of the draft and perform to the level Tom Powell has.
North Melbourne’s 13th selection in the 2020 NAB AFL Draft, Powell has impressed with his ability to not only find the football, but use it effectively.
Kangaroos’ development coach and AFL games record holder, Brent Harvey, has worked closely with the six-gamer and says fans have reason to be excited about Powell’s potential.
“His hands are as good as I’ve seen for a first-year player, and I’m talking about everybody who has come through the system,” Harvey said.
“His decision-making is first-class, he’s an accumulator that wins a lot of the football. He’s a very smart footballer and rarely wastes a possession.
“Once he realises his capability, he has the potential to be a very good player for us for a very long time.”
An inside-midfielder by trade, Powell has been spending time forward and on the wing while he adapts to the more physical aspect of AFL football.
“When he jumped into the gym at the start, he would do his three sets of eight at however many kilos and then just rack it up and finish it off,” Harvey said.
“He’s learning to push himself. Now he grabs me for weights because he wants extra sessions and push that work-rate and up his professionalism.”
Powell’s 25-disposal performance against Fremantle was another example of his rapid progression and will no doubt see the spotlight placed on him.
“Tom isn’t the type to read his own publicity and get ahead of himself,” Harvey said confidently.
“I think he’ll just brush it off.”
Over the course of AFL history North has possessed some of the generational midfielders, with the likes of Anthony Stevens, forging successful careers at Arden Street in recent times.
At 19, Powell is averaging more disposals (19), marks (5) and tackles (3) than the likes of Anthony Stevens, Andrew Swallow and Ben Cunnington at the same age, but Harvey cautions against making comparisons too early.
“You have to be careful. Stevo racked up possessions when the team would only get 320 touches, now it can be more than 450 in a game because they chip it around more,” he said.
“Stevo had the best work-rate I’ve ever seen at training, but even training is different now. We train all day with one day off, there’s more meetings and more to think about. In saying that, if Tom keeps training hard and working the way he does, I’ve got no doubt he could be a great player for our club over a long period of time.”
