West Coast and Fremantle-linked prospects star in early stages of AFL State draft combine

Some of Western Australia’s draft hopefuls who already have links to AFL clubs were among the strongest performers in the early stages of the State combine.

Next Generation Academy graduates Garrison Kenh (West Coast) and Fin Yeo (Fremantle) both produced efforts which would have impressed the roughly 20 recruiters for top-level clubs on hand on Sunday morning.

In the 20m sprint, Kenh produced a blistering unofficial time of 2.931sec, just beating out Yeo’s effort of 2.95sec.

And the potential Dockers hopeful followed up by producing a stunning 7.533 effort in the agility test, which was more than half a second clear of his nearest State competitor and also would have been the quickest time at last week’s national combine.

The pair were both among the leaders in the vertical jump, with dashing defender Kenh tying with Perth mature-age hopeful Kane Johnston on 82cm with dynamic utility Yeo only one behind.

WA Football’s State talent manager Adam Jones said both Kenh and Yeo had both produced some “fantastic times” and urged the AFL clubs they are linked to not to miss them.

“If we can keep our boys local, it’s fantastic,” Jones said.

“It’s a no-brainer, from our point of view.”

Harper Banfield — the son of two-time premiership player Drew who is eligible to be taken by the Eagles under the father-son rule and brother of Charlie, who the Eagles declined to match a bid from St Kilda from in last year’s draft — impressed in the agility test with time of 8.074.

Some AFLW hopefuls also completed tests, with Claremont’s India Bonadeo leading the way in the vertical jump at 61cm.

Later this afternoon, the players will head to WA Athletics Stadium to complete the dreaded time trials. The boys will run the traditional 2km, while the girls distance has been adjusted to 1.6km to more closely resemble AFLW running loads.

Representatives from at least nine AFL clubs were present at the University of Western Australia to get a glimpse at the prospects going through their paces.

West Coast’s contingent of four watchers included national recruiting manager Duane Massey, while former Eagle Fraser McInnes was there for Adelaide as part of his WA scouting role for the Crows.