Subiaco's Talent Pathway Shines in 2017 AFL Draft
Friday, November 24, 2017 - 10:50 AM
Subiaco Football Club’s recent decision to invest heavily in its talent pathway has paid handsome rewards at the 2017 AFL Draft with four players recruited into the AFL system.
Liam Ryan and Brayden Ainsworth were second round selections by the West Coast Eagles while Kyron Hayden and Ben Miller were selected back to back in the fourth round of the AFL Draft.
Significantly for the Subiaco Football Club, all four of these draftees had different experiences with the Subiaco talent pathway, but all benefitted from their involvement in that pathway.
Miller and Ainsworth benefitted from Subiaco’s commitment to its regional zone, as Miller from Kalgoorlie and Ainsworth from Esperance each developed strongly across the past two seasons. Miller and Ainsworth had been highly regarded at their respective towns, having played senior football as teenagers and each collecting a number of local awards.
Hayden was a product of Subiaco’s metro system, spending his recent seasons playing school footy with Hale before becoming a mainstay of the Subiaco colts and premiership winning reserves team in 2017.
Meanwhile for Ryan, his selection continues to enhance Subiaco’s reputation of being able to offer overlooked players opportunities that can lead to an AFL opportunity. Subiaco and Ryan worked together over the past two seasons with Subiaco assisting Ryan with his ongoing transition in Perth to WAFL football and Ryan repaying Subiaco with two seasons of outstanding service capped off with the 2017 Bernie Naylor Medal.
It was Ryan that started the night for Subiaco, with West Coast selected the mercurial forward with selection 26. With West Coast’s next selection at 32, they again went to Subiaco, with Ainsworth added to the Eagles list.
For Hayden and Miller, the wait was longer as it took until the fourth round for their football fate to be decided. In the end, Hayden was selected with pick 62 going to North Melbourne and Miller going with pick 63 to the reigning premiers Richmond.
While these four will commence their transition to an AFL club as early as Sunday, attention for a couple of other Lions including Liam Baker will turn to Monday’s pre-season draft.
The Subiaco Football Club once again offers congratulations to Liam, Brayden, Kyron and Ben along with their families in making the next step in their quest to live their AFL dreams. We wish them all the very best in their AFL careers.
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