AFL draft prospect Ollie Greeves has revealed the brutal toll of the illness that cost him a national combine appearance, losing “five or six kilos” before running a personal-best time in a highly-anticipated make-up time trial.
Greeves has split AFL clubs ahead of Wednesday night’s first round, but he’s considered a top-10 pure midfielder in this year’s class after a highly consistent year.
The Caulfield Grammar product also has an elite basketball background and is confident his “game sense” and “spatial awareness” translate to the footy field.
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Unfortunately, a ghastly bout of influenza cost Greeves a Combine appearance, but he has entered the pre-draft block in promising fashion after a 6:47 make-up 2km time trial result last Thursday.
Defensive transition has been one of the question marks on Greeves’ top-level prospects, but an encouraging outcome at Olympic Park has gone some way to dispel that.
The pleasing result has given the young onballer more confidence going into Wednesday night, when he’ll be surrounded by family and friends as he hopes to have his name called out.
“Missing the Combine was disappointing — it’s something you circle on your calendar as a kid, especially following the draft very closely. I wanted to go there and put my best foot forward,” he told Foxfooty.com.au on Monday.
“Getting influenza wasn’t fun, and I definitely wish I was at the Combine instead. I lost about five or six kilos of weight in about three days … I was pretty sick, and it sort of hung around for a couple of weeks.
“Then I had the opportunity come up to run my 2km. I put a pretty good block of training together — probably four weeks — and to run a personal best and run a pretty good time for the short amount of training that I’d had, I was pretty happy.
“It was good to finally get out there and show people and put my best foot forward.”
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The 191-centimetre ball-getter shapes as a late-first-rounder at the earliest but is every chance of sliding into the second round on Thursday night as clubs remain split on his range.
Hawthorn has been linked to Greeves after it sought to gain priority access to him via its Next Generation Academy, with the youngster “super grateful” for the time he spent at the club earlier this year via the AFL Academy.
And while their NGA application failed, it’s understood the Hawks remain a potential landing spot for Greeves with their late-first-round choice — which sits at 22nd overall — while Geelong at no.19 is also considered a possibility.
Ollie Greeves’ draft range has been hard to narrow, with the belief that he could have his name called on either night. Photo: Asanka Ratnayake via Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
Greeves was Victoria Metro’s Most Valuable Player this year, averaging 25.0 disposals, 5.3 marks and 2.8 tackles per game.
He was also a consistent standout for Eastern Ranges for averages of 26.2 possessions, 6.6 marks and 1.1 goals per game across nine contests.
The 18-year-old’s Coates Talent League campaign was headlined by an eye-catching 35-disposal, four-goal dazzler in the Ranges’ preliminary final win.
“From an individual perspective, I was pretty happy with my year,” he said upon reflection of his year.
“I felt like I remained consistent, even though I played in four or five different teams. I was pretty happy to remain consistent across that and to perform on the biggest stages, perform for Vic Metro and perform for the AFL Academy the way I wanted to, I was very happy with.
“I saw it as very consistent and I was able to put my best foot forward as many times as I had the opportunity to.”
Greeves, who played his way to deserved Talent League team of the year honours, has been described by Fox Footy’s draft expert Ben Waterworth as: “A standout at the coalface with his footy smarts, clean hands and toughness in congestion”.
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His smarts and cleanliness could be drawn back to his decorated junior basketball career, having represented Victoria Metro at the under-18 level and quelled the likes of NBA-bound Aussie talent Dash Daniels.
“I played basketball all throughout (my juniors). I played in the Vic Metro team when I was in under-18s and was part of the championship-winning team there, which I was very fortunate to be a part of,” he said.
“I played with and against boys like Dash Daniels and was lucky enough to share the court with some of them. It was very exciting, and basketball (has been) an amazing part of my journey.
“I’ve had some pretty good opportunities … there (were) a few hard decisions, but I’ve always loved playing footy, and it’s always been my thing, and ever since my great-uncle (Edward ‘Carji’ Greeves) won the first Brownlow (in 1924), I think ever since I was born, I wanted to play AFL as much as I can.”
Greeves says he admires the likes of Christian Petracca and Scott Pendlebury, who were also plenty capable on the hardwood.
“Watching those guys who played basketball all the way through like Christian Petracca and Scott Pendlebury (were) probably my biggest idols growing up as a kid, and Christian’s someone I model my game off very closely,” he said.
“I like to try and take my reading of the game and my game sense probably mostly comes from basketball, and that spatial awareness.”
Of the Daniels anecdote, Greeves said: “It’s actually funny, I laugh to my family because I played on Dash when we were about 16 and held him to zero points.
“So, I think when he ends up in the NBA, I might keep that claim around — it was pretty amazing.”
Greeves’ 191-centimetre, big-bodied frame gives him a clear advantage at the contest. (Photo by Albert Perez/AFL Photos via Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
Greeves prides himself on his power in the contest and believes it is the “biggest thing that stands out” in his game as a ball-winner with a bigger frame.
“Obviously, being a bigger mid — 191, 192 centimetres — pretty unique (but) it’s becoming more common for those guys to come around,” he began.
“But my power in and out of stoppage and extract the ball from the contest and give my teammates the best opportunity around me.
“And in the back end of the Eastern season, going forward and continuing to show my power in one-on-one contests and marking and kicking goals.”
Greeves has very little gauge of which clubs have most interest in drafting him, but he acknowledged it’s an “exciting part” of the experience.
“As the night comes closer, little things come out,” he said.
“(I’m) obviously speaking to my manager … but definitely so clueless going in. I don’t really know much about what’s going to happen.
“Got my fingers crossed — it could be the first night, could be the second night — but I’m hoping that it just comes and hopefully my name gets called out.
“I don’t have too much idea, and I guess that might be the exciting part of the surprise.”