A 22-year-old key-position player from Western Australia is tracking to become the AFL’s next mid-season draft success story.
Jack Buller was taken by the Sydney Swans with pick 13 in the AFL’s most recent draft and – after just two training sessions – he has already received a contract extension.
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Mid-season draft selections are signed as rookies and typically receive a short-term contract that expires at the end of the current AFL season.
Often the players who enter the draft are mature-aged and have been overlooked in the national draft. Former AFL players who have been delisted sometimes try to get back on an AFL list via this draft as well as team’s look at replacing injured stars.
But it is rare (not impossible) for players who are drafted this way to survive long term on an AFL list.
But Buller may just be one of those exceptions and it’s not surprising he’s at Sydney given that club has an astonishing habit of finding diamonds in the rough.
“Buller has also had his original six-month contract extended … Swans moved to lock him in after just two training sessions,” 7NEWS AFL reporter Ryan Daniels revealed on Twitter.
“Really impressive start at his new club.”
Daniels also said the Claremont Football Club product was “a strong chance” to make his AFL debut on Friday night when Sydney take on the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba.
“Kicked five goals in his VFL debut last week after being picked up in the mid-season draft,” Daniels said.
Buller is a 199cm and 99kg key forward who chops out in the ruck.
He was selected to help Sydney out amid a year from hell in which their key-position players have been wiped out by injury.
The Swans have already put tall forward Sam Reid on their inactive list for the 2023 season and concussion victim Paddy McCartin (another a key-position player) also won’t play again in 2023, if not at all.
Promising key forward Logan McDonald (who also hails from WA) will not be back for 3-5 weeks as he recovers from an ankle injury, while ruck-forward Peter Ladhams has also had an ankle injury and has struggled to return.
Sydney have a growing list of West Australians on their list and Buller caught their eye during some standout performances in the WAFL.
He represented WA in the WA v SA representative match this year and in 2018 he spent time at the AFL Academy.
The Swans said Buller came through the “WA pathway system” with young midfield star Chad Warner and McDonald. And the three of them played for the victorious Western Australian team in the National Under-18 Championships in 2019.
“Jack has always been around the scene being in the WAFL program and AFL Academy in 2018 but he has got himself really fit and taken his football to a higher level,” Sydney’s recruiting manager Kinnear Beatson said after the draft.
“Don Pyke (Sydney assistant coach) has strong connections in the WAFL and with Claremont and we heard he was in very good form.
“He can also go into the ruck, he competes really hard – that was one of the key things we liked about him as a key forward and a ruckman.”
The Swans may not have the greatest of records in national drafts, but their work in rookie drafts is quite staggering.
Co-captain Dane Rampe, dual best-and-fairest winner Jake Lloyd, and All-Australian small forward Tom Papley are just some of the impressive names the club has snapped up in the AFL’s end-of-year rookie draft.