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North Melbourne’s Eddie Ford is the Round 24 Rising Star nominee after an excellent three-goal performance in the Kangas’ win on Saturday. It also served as Ford’s first-ever victory, coming in his 22nd outing.
As a bottom ager in 2019 Ford just missed out on selection in the Vic Metro team for the National Championships, so when he wasn’t selected until the fourth round of the 2020 draft he was viewed as being a bit of a slider.
Given his height – 189 centimetres – and no real exposed form in the midfield due to playing almost exclusively across half forward in 2019, it was perhaps not surprising that he may be viewed as a bit of a ‘tweener’ and would therefore generate some question marks on where he would fit as an AFL player.
Another in the long line of players whose draft stocks possibly suffered because of COVID, and the lack of matches played as a result.
Ford was drafted via the Western Jets, making his name for trying to sit on opposition heads whilst also pushing up to the wing playing the hit up forward role. As well as an excellent vertical leap, Ford has very good hands whether on the lead or when floating across in front of a pack and is also very adept at collecting the ball in traffic and using his agility and his hands to get the ball to outside runners.
He was quite aggressive when tackling in his junior football and whilst that hasn’t been a feature of his AFL play, Kangaroos supporters have it to look forward to as he continues to develop.
In his first season – 2021 – Ford featured in the final four matches of the season where he played forward of centre and impressed with his composure but didn’t quite shoot the lights out, sometimes struggling to get involved in general play, rather relying on his marking to collect possessions.
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His 2022 did not begin in the seniors, and despite breaking into the team in Round 3 he was bounced for Round 4, back in Round 5, the unused medical sub in Round 6 and then injured at training during the following week. Whilst he was back on deck five weeks later, he didn’t return to the senior team and played out the season in the VFL where he never did enough to demand a promotion back to the senior side.
Whilst it was in the VFL, Ford started the 2023 season quite well and was eventually rewarded with senior selection after a dominant 23-touch, three-goal game against Sandringham in Round 7. In his first game back, he kicked a goal and had 21 stats in only 64 per cent game time and since then he hasn’t looked back, playing 14 games in a row post-promotion.
In that time, he has only had fewer than 10 touches once, whilst also hitting the scoreboard in more than half his matches.
(Photo by Steve Bell/Getty Images)
One unique stat, especially for a forward who loves a goal as much as Ford does, is that he generally handballs more often than he kicks (when he kicked three goals against Melbourne in Round 21 they were his only three kicks for the whole match) and whilst some of this is due to his ability to find the ball in close, it is something he will look to reverse due to his very good field kicking.
We haven’t quite seen the theatrics at AFL level that he was famous for as a younger teenager playing underage football, but he has impressed with his composure, his willingness to compete, and goal sense. He is also happy to get up and down the ground, displaying versatility that he will be important as a more permanent role is found for him in the coming years.
He is historically a forward but has spent plenty of time on a wing this season and with his athletic attributes he may find himself even pushing back in the future, especially with Alastair Clarkson being a known admirer of intercept defenders who can then distribute the ball efficiently and effectively.
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It’s also worth noting that Ford is a hype guy. His teammates love him. The fans love him. And even his opponents – James Sicily, mainly – seem to begrudgingly love him too. He’s energetic, he’s a little loose at times, but he just seems so damn happy to be out there and that’s hard not to admire.
Chances of winning the Rising Star
This question will not be asked after the bye rounds next season!
Plays like…
It’s a bit of a hard one, but a Blake Acres type possibly? Some Kangaroos fans may bristle at that, but 150-plus games from a guy taken with a draft pick in the 50s would be a great result.
Ceiling
Whilst he’s 189cm tall, I don’t really see him as a Sicily or Jeremy Howe type who can all but play key position despite not being 195cm-plus, so he will need to build up his endurance running power to ensure he can cover the ground whether in the midfield, on a wing, or from half forward.
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If he can become a 20 possession and 1.5 goal per game player then he will be very valuable for the Kangas, and anything beyond those stat lines starts puts him into elite territory.
