Footyology’s draft rankings – No. 17: Charlie Constable

Charlie Constable, playing for Vic Metro, looks to handball in the Under 18 Championship game against Vic Country last June. Photo: GETTY IMAGES

Footyology’s draft rankings – No. 17: Charlie Constable

No. 17 – CHARLIE CONSTABLE
Victoria (Sandringham Dragons)
Midfielder

Born: 18/05/1999
Height: 190cm
Weight: 83kg
TAC CUP STATS
Disposals: 20.9
Kicks: 9.8
Handballs: 11.1
Kicking efficiency: 68%
Handball efficiency: 77%
Tackles: 2.4
Marks: 5.4
Goals: 1.0
One elite attribute: Clearances. Tall, classy ball winner who is great at extracting the ball from stoppages but gets burned on the outside with his lack of pace.
Best-case comparison: Jack Macrae

WHAT HE’S GOT

Height: Racks up contested possessions all day and his height allows him to see outside runners smaller players can’t. Very good at handballing over defenders and rarely gets caught with the ball.

Wingspan: Uses his long arms to quickly grab the ball off the deck, mark balls over smaller midfielders and get fists to balls if he’s got a job in defence.

Endurance: Much like Marcus Bontempelli, he just cruises at a steady pace throughout the whole game and never lets up.

Versatility: Can definitely play a traditional lead-up forward role. Might be a little slow against the really dynamic forwards in defence but his clean disposal off half-back would be very valuable.

WHAT HE LACKS

Dare: Constable doesn’t take chances like a Jaidyn Stephenson, Cam Rayner or Paddy Dow would. He’s probably not the player you can expect to break a game apart.
Speed: Constable moves well, but he’s just not capable of big runs through the guts and may even struggle with the speed of opposition midfielders
Leap: The Sandringham Dragon is strong in one-on-one contests but any sort of pack situation is a big ask.

BEDE BRISCOMB CHATS WITH CHARLIE CONSTABLE

Charlie Constable is a modern day midfielder in every sense of the word; he’s tall, can run all day and has tremendous class and precision with his disposals.
Footyology had a quick chat with the first-round prospect about his player comparisons, who he thinks is the best player from this year’s group and much more.

The biggest thing I’d say you’ve demonstrated this year is that you’re a ball magnet. What specific things do you need to do to make that translate in the AFL?

I think I need to get my body physically prepared for the bigger bodies at the next level so I’m able to consistently win the ball on the inside.

What AFL player do you look at now and say: “That’s the player I want to be at my absolute best.”

Patrick Cripps. He is someone I try and watch closely. I think we play a similar role and I think we can all see how valuable he is to the Carlton Football Club.

What’s one thing you think you’re elite at?

I’m a clean player. I pride myself on being one-touch.

Do you have a number in mind in terms of where you want to be drafted? If you slip below that number how will you react?

I’m not focused on a number. I guess it would be nice going in the first round, but just to be drafted would be great so not fussed.

Would you prefer to be drafted by an AFL team that is a good chance to make finals or a team that is near the bottom and might have a bit more opportunity?

Going to a club where you can have lots of opportunities would be great for my development, but in saying that being in a culture where finals are played would be amazing, so I’d adapt to whatever my situation.

What’s the one criticism about your game that you personally don’t agree with?

A few people have knocked my kicking early in the year. I think I’m a pretty good kick, so I can’t say I fully agree with that criticism.

Say you have a bad game and you hear someone at the MCG taunting you, or you get social media trolls berating you on Facebook or Twitter, how would you react to that?

I’d like to think I’m pretty strong mentally and that sort of stuff wouldn’t affect me a whole lot, but if it did I wouldn’t hesitate to talk to people around the club and get advice.

Conversely, say you have a few seasons like Clayton Oliver just had and everyone in the media starts to say you’re worth a million dollars a year etc. How would you react to that?

I think it’s really important to control what you can control and that’s playing footy so I’d just stick to that and let the outside world say what they like and not get ahead of myself.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve had this year – and who was it from?

Matty Lloyd told me in pre-season just to back in my ability and focus on the areas that you want to be a point of difference, and that’s stuck with me all year.

Do you think you could contribute in an AFL grand final as the player you are today?

It’s very hard to say having never played at the level, but what I do know is I’d just go out there and give it a crack and play my role to the best of my ability.

Who do you personally think is the best player in this year’s draft (allowed to say yourself)?

There’s a lot of great players, but one that sticks out to me is Luke Davies-Uniacke. I think he is extremely skilful and can turn games in minutes and I think as he keeps developing he’ll be a great player.