WAFL draft watch: Tom Lee
Delisted by Adelaide at the end of the 2009 season, it seemed as if Tom Lee's only shot at the AFL had passed him by.
Taken by the Crows at pick 60 in the 2008 draft, Lee struggled to make his mark at the South Australian club.
After getting the call-up in a pre-season exhibition match it seemed the Crows were immediately impressed with the Claremont colt, but it soon became clear that the key-position prospect would need some serious time put into his young physique before he could press for a starting spot.
His struggles against the bigger bodies in the senior ranks became evident in SANFL, where the young forward failed to crack a league game, instead playing out the season in the reserves.
At the end of the year the club cut him loose, paying out the final year of the standard two-year draftee contract.
Returning to Perth in 2010, Lee suited up for the Tigers in the WAFL, but again he failed to break into what was a very successful senior team. He managed only four senior WAFL games, but won a reserves premiership as consolation.
As with any young key-position player, there comes a point when their body begins to catch up to their football ability.
For Tom Lee, 2011 is that year.
Playing 19 league games for Claremont - as well as three Foxtel Cup fixtures - Lee has cemented his place in the senior WAFL side as a ruckman / forward. Recent experiments by the coach have even seen him play down back.
No longer pigeonholed as a forward, Lee is proving himself to be one of the competition's best tall utility players, a role he continues to grow into.
At 20, Lee's potential for development is still enormous, a trait which becomes all the more evident when looking at his statistics over the past month. In the last three rounds, Lee has taken his game to another level, averaging 23 disposals in a number of roles across the ground as the Tigers surged back to top spot on the ladder.
His season has certainly caught the eye the Claremont faithful but it has also raised the attention of AFL recruiters who had all but forgotten about the athletic Dowerin junior.
Another of the mature-aged WAFL players invited to the 2011 WA draft screening, Lee's path back to the AFL has been smoothed by the introduction of the substitute rule.
No longer able to carry two ruckmen in the same side, AFL clubs are looking to tall utility players who can assist in the ruck but still hold their own playing forward or back.
Several clubs have already expressed interest in using the Tiger in a role similar to that of West Coast's Nic Naitanui or Fremantle's Zac Clarke.
With age and size on his side, Lee already has a proven ability to play wherever he is needed, a trait that may prove irresistible in what is shaping to be a shallow, GWS-dominated 2011 draft.
Would you like to see Tom Lee in your club's colours in 2012? Have your say below.
