AFL
1 year ago
The delisted first-round draft pick who should be in the frame for another shot in 2025
By Nic Negrepontis
Paul Hasleby believes West Coast should be the team that gives Denver Grainger-Barras a shot to earn an AFL lifeline.
The Fremantle great admits it is rare for someone with such high draft pedigree to be delisted after just four years in the system. The key defender was the sixth pick in the 2020 National Draft.
Grainger-Barras played just the 28 career games for the Hawks. None in 2024, even as the Hawks dealt with depth issues in both key positional groups.
They addressed that in the trade period, adding Tom Barrass from West Coast and Josh Battle from St Kilda, likely leading to the call to cut the 22-year-old.
With Barrass gone from the Eagles and their sudden depth issues, Hasleby sees the West Australian as someone they should bring in with an eye to rostering him via the supplemental selection period.
“His delisting wasn’t a surprise because I think under Sam Mitchell, he just hasn’t valued what he brings, and that’s fair enough, that’s the prerogative of Sam Mitchell,” Hasleby told SEN WA’s The Run Home.
“There might be other coaches out there who rate him a bit differently. He’s been tried in a few different spots, he was sent forward, he struggled a little bit.
“He was pick six, but he was pick six in that COVID-year draft. If you reflect on that draft, it was pretty hard. A lot of those kids didn’t play much footy. The recruiters were looking in the dark to see what they could find.
“I think what I said before with Sam Mitchell, that took away his confidence. Rarely do you see top picks like that out of the system in four seasons.
“We just saw (on Friday) that Essendon delisted Sam Weideman, he was a former pick nine – he was in the system for nine years. There’s a good example because he never really made it in those nine years, but because everybody saw the talent he got the opportunity at a second club.
“I think Grainger-Barras is another one of those players who is a candidate for what I’ve just spoken about.
“He’ll probably trains on with a club and is a candidate for the supplemental selection period and if you get him right and you get his confidence up, you’ve got yourself a plug-and-play full back that can fit into that position.
“Particularly for West Coast when you lose Tom Barrass, it looks like an easy selection for me to give him a chance, let him train with the group and if he looks good up against Harry Edwards and others and you can compare across the pre-season, then absolutely you give him a chance.
“But you don’t have to rush and make the decision. You can have him train with you.”
Grainger-Barras has reportedly met with Carlton about potentially training with them over summer.
