With his apparent attractive footy traits, you are left wondering what the knocks were that saw him go almost undrafted.
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Well, I had him mid tier so I can’t really speak to why he slid down that far.
I’ll try and give you some reasons from my perspective as to why he wasn’t a first round pick. I did have him in the first round mix at times early in the season.
He played his bottom age year as a flanker and winger and was exciting, able to find plenty of the footy and be high impact with it. Like many talented kids that are flankers the anticipation was that he would get time playing on ball in his top age year, and that was the case early in the season… but he wasn’t committed enough to the contest to hold his place in there. Wasn’t consistently winning the hard ball or committing to defensive acts. He started playing more and more in the forward line, and then eventually was moved back into a floating/intercepting defender role. He played his best footy as a defender, but also would be thrown forward at times, sort of like an old school utility, and he was able to be dangerous as a forward taking marks and hitting the scoreboard.
So ultimately, it was the seeming failure as a mid that started the slide, and then when he settled as a defender for me there were question marks about what kind of role he would play back there at AFL level if that was to be his future. He played as a third tall mostly, reading the play and intercepting, but he’s probably not really tall enough to play that role at AFL level.
The other factor to remember is how deep the draft pool was last year. Him sliding out of the middle rounds is likely to have been a combination of the teams picking not looking for his type at that spot or favouring kids with fewer question marks or less perceived risk.
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decent amount of academy and FS picks taken in the second half too, clubs probably had other priorities
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That’s a fantastic post - tells those of us who are wondering about him, what his past has been.
Great detail and insights. 
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Its funny as a draft watcher, some kids you feel like very quickly you’ve seen enough to know their game and the second half of their top age season is just more of what you already know. But with some kids like Zak it almost feels as though the season doesn’t go on for long enough, like there was more there to explore or understand about his game but it took him too long to settle and find his form, and you wish you had another month or more of games of his to watch.
Also worth remembering that he’s a december birthday. He was a year behind Caddy and Kako at Parade. So he’s probably just scratching the surface.
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Whats his best position? Half-back? Which player in the AFL would you say he resembles? @noobermensch
Maybe. As I mentioned he was really exciting as a winger in his bottom age year so that’s also a possibility. He’s got lovely skills and movement, and strong overhead for his height.
Comp wise its difficult, I’m not very good with comparisons. As a junior in the talent league and Champs games that I watched (I didn’t watch him at Parade), he was best on the spread where he was evasive and able to damage by foot. He’s rangy and strong in the air.
I wanted to say he’s like a taller Ramanauskas but that’s just putting way too much on his head. If he’s half as good as Rama he’ll be a gun. Maybe just think of Rama as an archetype of the way he plays when he’s at his best. Rama was also excellent overhead for his size.
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Best Johnson since Lachlan
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One more for people that want to go deeper. This is Zak playing mostly on the wing as a bottom ager and having a pretty huge game. Remember that he’s only 16 at this point. You’ll also spot Caddy a few times in there wearing the number 2.
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Time the VFL team started playing practice matches at Garvey Oval Parade College.
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how do we get parade in our academy zone
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Parade Footy Factory !
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Now we wait for the AFL to ban us from taking anyone out of Parade College
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Thanks Noober, outstanding context as always- we are very lucky to have you share your depth of knowledge on these young footballers.
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I think the AFL program has Digby Morell and Ricky Dyson helping out. Dyson’s laser passes in the VFL were beautiful to watch.
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8 months
Welcome back 
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He actually reminds me a bit of Massimo in this clip
Steal of the draft. Kids a gun…wait till his team mates understand he will be there following up every possession he gets.
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My son is getting a guernsey with his number. He’s always liked to pick a more fringe player as his favourite. Snelling was his last, and Gleeson before that (when he was still number 35).
Zak is also his best mate’s cousin, so he was hoping we’d draft him, and was very happy when we did.
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