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Young Lion Jaspa Fletcher is the Round 19 Rising Star nominee after another encouraging performance in Brisbane’s win over the Cats on Saturday evening.
The son of football journeyman Adrian, Fletcher was selected with pick 12 in the 2022 draft when the Lions matched a bid from the Bulldogs for the young midfielder.
Whilst the focus has been on his more heralded fellow first round father/son selection Will Ashcroft, Fletcher slowly built fitness after recovering from his foot injury, which meant he didn’t join in full training until after the Christmas break, with the Lions more than happy to give him plenty of time to build up to senior footy.
He ended up biding his time with 10 matches of VFL football as he showed some of his talents through the midfield, wing and across half forward – highlighted by best on ground showings in three of the four matches he played prior to being promoted for his debut against Sydney in Round 14.
On debut he managed 13 touches and a cracking goal on the run that showed the speed, balance and confidence that have quickly become hallmarks of his game.
In the five matches since he hasn’t dominated or put together a big four quarter performance, but each match he has shown more than one instance that suggests his high draft pick will be worthwhile – he looks every inch the 200 gamer.
Firstly, whilst still quite slight, he is comfortable enough in contested situations, whilst his very sure hands allow a quick release to teammates. Additionally, he appears to have rare balance and the ability to turn on a dime – this was shown on the weekend against Geelong when he turned his opponent inside out to avoid a crunching tackle, but more prominently against Melbourne with his Goal of the Year nominated play.
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He used his pace and leap to spoil a certain Lachie Hunter mark, and then collected the ball cleanly and showed his older opponents a clean set of heels before taking a bounce and kicking truly from 40m.
This showed a great ability to read the play and then plenty of verve in backing his pace to get away from the chasing Hunter (no pun intended). And of course, a lovely kick for goal – he has a very sound and reliable kicking action.
With only a handful of matches before finals, it looks like Fletcher will be featuring in what the Lions hope to be a deep September run, especially given the season ending injury to Will Ashcroft. As mentioned earlier, Fletcher is still light and is clearly still on somewhat limited game time, but his run and carry and ability to hit the scoreboard suggest that he could be a valuable weapon come finals time.
Chances of winning the Rising Star
No one being nominated now is going to win, but I love how he plays. That goal against Melbourne really sticks in my mind – 19-year old kids shouldn’t be doing that!
Jaspa Fletcher. (Photo by Russell Freeman/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
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If he looks over to the opposite wing on occasion, Hugh McCluggage is as good a comparison as any. Great runner, really good kick, excellent goal sense.
Ceiling
Players who can see the clear air in front of them and are willing to take the game on are only becoming more important as the chaos ball started by Richmond becomes a permanent feature of our game.
He will need to win more of the ball if he is going to become a permanent midfielder, especially in the deep and powerful Lions line up, but I feel like his ceiling is really high and that 232 games is a reasonable aim for him – maybe across less than four clubs like his dad needed to, though!
