Harley Balic

Inside Football game ratings
One view of his WAFL games. Dominant, but only a handful this year. He missed most of last year with a wrist injury, which he had at draft time. The rumour was that he fell in the draft ratings due to the wrist injury and uncertainty over the impact on his future playing ability.

Some pre-draft comments on him from Big Footy:

Snoop Dog
Pick 13 Adelaide - Harley Balic (Sandringham Dragons / 186cm / 80kg)

Lovely looking player who just glides around the park and looks pretty effortless. Basketball background and has that spacial awareness, time and poise kids from that background often have. Does all things pretty well but its his work rate that I like. Clean at the stoppages and very sure with his hands. Ball use is good and he is very good in the air. Has played HF and HB as well but I think he will start more as a HF type who when they body is right will push up. His ability to do special things is evident and he could be attacking near goal.

Why: Be a nice addition to the Crows mids but you could realistically see so many kids in this spot. Burton could be but I think he will be there at the next. Bonner as well is a type they want but with Seedsman and Hampton they may be covered.

Knightmare
Pick 17. Harley Balic (VIC – MID/FWD)
Height: 186cm, Weight: 80kg, DOB: 05/01/1997
Recruited from: Sandringham Dragons
Reminds me of: Poor man’s Jackson Macrae
Brief bio: Balic has some tricks and plays with that basketballer several other recent draftees have. Balic stands out most with his decision making ability and vision with ball in hand. He consistently chooses the right option and often finds some really damaging targets. In terms of execution while he has the vision and decision making ability by hand and foot it can be a mixed bag as sometimes he will hit his targets, and other times miss. Similarly finishing from set shots and field kicks at goal further improvement is required as he lacks consistency in front of goal. He is also more of a short-medium distance kicker as someone with only average penetration. A further strength of Balic’s is his strength of marking overhead with his leaping ability making him a threat in the air which gives him potential to play forward of centre. Athletically Balic is good overall. He is not a linebreaking threat but moves well, has strong endurance and excellent leaping ability. As a contested ball winner Balic at this stage is not a factor as someone who is a receiver at this point.

Emma Quale
Pick 22 (Sandringham Dragons. 187cm. 82kg)
Smooth-moving midfielder who gets involved all over the ground.

The rationale: The Roos have a strong crew of inside midfielders. Balic would provide a point of difference. He can move through all three parts of the ground and slides easily through traffic.

Big Footy Phantom Draft (multiple respected posters, one for each team)
Pick 8 Gold Coast
At the moment Harley is a talented prospect who has a lot of upside. His performances have been good this year and he has really improved this year. You look at some of the good afl players and a lot of them have had draft years where they have really improved. I look at Harley and see a kid who has a ton of improvement left and has the potential to be a very good midfielder. His awareness is excellent, he has time with the ball, good vision and makes good decisions. He is an above average athlete yet not elite and he moves well. The upside is his disposal is improving and he is good above his head. He wins clearances yet not at a great level yet, he is not soft and is strong over the ball. He finds the ball well and his ball use improved. He is not an elite kick, they float a little and he is not proven as a mid so he is a risky pick. He does have the tools to be an A grade player. I was hoping Francis or Parish slid to this pick but alas it was not to be.

Lemming (I admit, no idea who he is but he wrote something on the players…)
Pick 8. Harley Balic - VM (186.0 cm, 80.0 kg - Midfielder)
Reminds me a little of a younger Mundy. Looks like he is only going at half pace and you want him to look more active. He has grown on me as a player. (He may get adjusted down in my rankings at some point)

Yabadoo (same issue)
Pick 18- st.kilda
The saints are crying out for midfielders, and I can see Balic developing into a smooth moving classy midfielder. Will start his career as a high half forward and build up his tank. Strong overhead.

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Docker requests trade back home to Victoria
Callum Twomey September 19, 2017 4:32 PM

FREMANTLE is open to trading youngster Harley Balic to a Victorian club after the midfielder requested a trade back to his home state.

Balic was granted an indefinite leave of absence from the Dockers on two occasions this year for personal reasons after a bright start to his AFL career.

The 20-year-old, who was drafted by the Dockers in 2015 with pick No.38 from the Sandringham Dragons, made his senior debut in round three this season and played three of the next four games.

But shortly after that he returned to Victoria for a break, before heading back to Fremantle where he performed well at WAFL level for Peel Thunder.

A hamstring injury then saw him request another stint of personal leave, and Dockers list manager Brad Lloyd confirmed the talented prospect was keen to head home permanently.

“We’ve worked with him and his manager Matt Bain. Harley really started his career with Freo pretty well, he played some good senior footy. And even at Peel he came back for a game recently and had 28 touches,” Lloyd told AFL.com.au’s Road to the Draft podcast.

"He’s shown some really good signs as a big bodied player who can go forward, and he’s got the wrist injury sorted out.

“He’s indicated he’d like to get back to Melbourne if he could and we’ll work with him and his manager. We’ll work through that in the trade period.”

The Demons have been linked as possible suitors for Balic, who overcame a serious wrist injury last year in his first season at the Dockers.

After trading in four players last year as it started its rebuild, Fremantle could also be busy at this year’s exchange period having been linked as a new home for Greater Western Sydney’s Nathan Wilson.

Lloyd was tight-lipped about the Dockers’ interest in Wilson, but said the club will continue to target West Australian players at rival clubs.

The Dockers hold pick No.5 at November’s NAB AFL Draft, and Lloyd said the club was pleased with the talent available at the top end of this year’s pool.

“We’ve got a group in there that we’re happy with. It’s a pretty even five or seven, so we’re really happy to sit in there at pick five,” he said.

“Some of the decision-making gets taken out of it by the clubs ahead of you so you take what comes through a little bit. We’re really happy with that group in there so I think we’re well placed in the draft in that position.”

Hopefully we’re interested as he should be gettable for peanuts.

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Is he any good at AFL level?

Smashed it in the WAFL and showed promise in his AFL games. Pretty early though

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Don’t know. But the real question is, is he better than a player drafted this year with a 4th/5th round pick? Because that should be all he’d cost. He was a #38 pick in 2015, has hardly played, and has had periods out of the team due to personal issues (rumoured to be about homesickness). Fremantle couldn’t expect anywhere near #38 on those grounds, so a 4th round pick should do it, or a 5th. He could even be a DFA.

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This is exactly the sort of deal we should be going after this offseason. Much better to have a few guys like this on the list then guys like Howlett, Bird and Jerrett

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Just bring him the fck in, I don’t want us flicking our nuts over trying to get Stringer (and fail) and then miss out on everyone else also.

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Myers. Howlett. Take your pick or have both!

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Take both and keep Balic.

Hawks Leading the Balic Race - for a third rounder this year or next years third.

I don’t know anything about him but just want him so we can get somebody

His draft year our docs ruled against taking him because his wrist was ■■■■■■! 1st year at Dockers he also had wrist surgery.

Any semi decent mids can come to Essendon.

Yeah… we don’t need semi-decent, I think we have a few of those who need to be pushed out of the best 22. We really desperately need one elite.

#EFC ONLY ELITE THANX.

Yeah I was being facetious, perhaps I should have added a /s.

He was considered a first round option if not for the injury, most draft reporters had concerns on it. But he seems to have come back fine from it.

Did he play midfield in the WAFL? Pre his drat draft the question was whether he played enough midfield, or was mainly a flanker from my memory. Always looked ok though.

Long term injuries? Flanker? Can push into the midfield?

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