By ZAC MILBANK<\/p>\n
AAMI SA U18 coach Tony Bamford remains hopeful highly-rated utility Dougie Cochrane could make an appearance at the 2026 Marsh AFL National Championships.<\/p>\n
Cochrane, widely-regarded as one of the nations most talented juniors, has been an active member of the Croweaters camp, appointed as one of four joint vice-captains for the Carnival.<\/p>\n
But whether the Port Adelaide NGA prospect \u2013 who has been overcoming a knee injury \u2013 dons the cherished red guernsey for SA\u2019s title defence will be at the discretion of Power officials.<\/p>\n
\u201dObviously we hope he gets to a position where he is available for selection,\u201d AAMI SA U18 coach Tony Bamford told the Checkside Chats podcast.<\/p>\n
\u201dA lot of water has to go under the bridge as he\u2019s had a significant injury. He\u2019s got a lot on his plate and Port Adelaide is doing a great job in managing his rehabilitation and return to play timeline, so we will do whatever is best for Dougie.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking in-depth on the Checkside Chats podcast about the 195cm versatile athlete, Bamford said the son of former Power and North Melbourne utility Stuart has remained in good spirits around the playing group.<\/p>\n
\u2018He\u2019s a really unique athlete and human being, Dougie,\u201d Bamford said.<\/p>\n
\u201dHe has shown real maturity and emotional intelligence. He\u2019s great at picking up how people are feeling which makes him such a great leader and a great teammate. He brings a great positive vibe to our program on a Tuesday when he comes to us,\u00a0 he\u2019s always interactive with his teammates and coaches.<\/p>\n
\u201dAs a coach, I have lent on Dougie a few times during and after games to get his opinion on what\u2019s working and what\u2019s not working so well for our forward six. In our game reviews, he has quite a bit to say about what we\u2019re doing well and what we can do better, so he\u2019s an invaluable part of our program even if he\u2019s not playing.<\/p>\n
\u201dWe just keep our fingers crossed that his rehab keeps on going well and he stays healthy and happy and he tracks towards a return to play somewhere in the middle of July.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a wide-ranging interview on Checkside Chats, Bamford also provided updates on Port Adelaide\u2019s other two NGA-aligned talents \u2013 South Adelaide\u2019s Zemes Pilot and North Adelaide\u2019s Zacky Young, likening the latter to 2004 Norm Smith Medallist Byron Pickett.<\/p>\n
\u201dZacky has been in and around the NGA program at Port for a few years now so they\u2019re certainly well aware of what he can do as a footballer and where his growth opportunities are,\u201d Bamford said.<\/p>\n
\u201dHe\u2019s not the finished product but he\u2019s got some weapons that all AFL clubs are looking for \u2013 he\u2019s got speed and anticipation, his ability to read the opposition\u2019s ball movement pattern maybe one or two seconds before his opponent makes him a really good intercept defender.<\/p>\n
\u201dAnd he\u2019s got a bit of Byron Pickett about him, he likes to hit blokes and knock them over. He\u2019s got exceptional timing when it comes to striking the opposition at the right time so he\u2019s got plenty to offer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pilot, who is eligible for the 2027 AFL Draft, has undergone knee surgery and has been ruled out of this year\u2019s AFL National Championships as he focuses on his recovery.<\/p>\n
\u201dWe spoke internally about what\u2019s best for Zemes and we all agreed it was best for him to now focus on his schooling and rehabilitation program under the eyes South Adelaide and Port Adelaide,\u201d Bamford said.<\/p>\n
\u201dHopefully he can get his knee right, come back and play some football for South later in the year and be ready for next year when he\u2019s a top-ager.<\/p>\n
\u201d(As a player) he\u2019s just so unpredictable which makes him so dangerous. He\u2019s one of those guys that no matter what he does, he\u2019s good at.<\/p>\n
\u201dBasketball, dancing \u2013 you should see him dance, he can really cut some moves. He\u2019s just going through a rough trot at the moment so we send him our best wishes and hope he can have a run around later in the year.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By ZAC MILBANK AAMI SA U18 coach Tony Bamford remains hopeful highly-rated utility Dougie Cochrane could make an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":727562,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-727561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=727561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727561\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/727562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=727561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=727561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=727561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}