Darren Pfeiffer
Club: Port Adelaide
Position: MID/FWD
Price: $117,800 DT, $126,700 SC

Darren Pfeiffer isn’t a complete stranger to the AFL system. He was drafted by the Adelaide Crows in the first round of the 2005 National Draft. Things didn’t work out for him there, due to a combination on injuries and a lack of dedication. After two years he was delisted, but then picked up by Carlton in the PSD prior to the 2008 season.

He managed seven games for the Blues in 2008, six of them in the first nine weeks. After that season he was delisted again and re-rookied by the Blues. He never really got going in 2009 due to injury and played the end of the year with their VFL affiliate the Northern Bullants. He was delisted again and played in Queensland in 2010, where he ran second in the competitions B&F. He returned to his home club of Norwood in the SANFL for 2011, where he had a good enough year to get a chance at a third AFL club.

Pfeiffer was rookie listed by Port Adelaide this year, but it’s important to note that Dom Cassissi is their only veteran listed player, so it gives them space on the list to upgrade a rookie prior to Round 1. From what I can see, Pfeiffer would clearly be the top candidate for a pre-Round 1 upgrade with Tom Jonas the only other realistic option, in my view.

Pfeiffer has a tremendous attack on the footy and despite being named as a MID/FWD for fantasy I prefer him as a midfielder who can roll behind the ball across half back.

His kicking and decision making is probably the thing that holds him back. He’s quite sharp in congested situations when he’s handballing, but he lacks the vision to make good decisions up the ground – which is where his kicking can sometimes lack.

Since he first entered the AFL system back in 2006 up until now he has improved this area of his game so it’s not a weakness. I’d say he’s starting to know his limitations when it comes to his kicking, more than anything (similar to someone like Nick Lower). He used to have far too high of a K:H ratio, but he has learnt to handball a lot more, which is a positive for his disposal efficiency. By way of example, back in the 2005 U/18 National Championships he had 43 kicks and 7 handballs in three games for SA.

He had a great year, averaging 22.6 possessions for Norwood (however, he had an injury affected game where he got four touches – if you take that out he averaged 23.6). He was named in the best nine times out of 18 games. I was over in Adelaide one weekend and caught a Norwood game away to North Adelaide. He was dominant around the stoppages that day and picked up 28 touches, but he was a little over aggressive in his attack on the contest and gave away six free kicks (doesn’t seem like a habit, as his next highest total for FA in 2011 was two).

There’s an opening on Port’s main list for him to be upgraded and it looks as though he’s been drafted to have an immediate impact. It’s not exactly the hardest midfield in the league to break into, so Pfeiffer is one I expect to get early games and score pretty handily.

2011: Norwood (SANFL) 80.8 DT in 18 games…but if you take out a game where he scored 9 and was injured early he averaged 85.0 in 17 games.