Jed Hagan ready for fresh draft tilt as he starts life at Port Adleaide

Jed Hagan has settled into life at Port Adelaide as he looks forward to a fresh start and another crack at the AFL draft. The Geraldton product was unlucky to be overlooked at the AFL National Draft in November despite his decision-making, ball use and ability to play across the ground seeing him being tipped to go as high as round two in the draft. An injury that kept him out of the draft combine and WAFL preliminary final hurt his chances. While he was disappointed with the snub, Hagan refocused quickly ,signing for Port Adelaide’s SANFL side in December. The 18-year-old has been training with Port Adelaide’s AFL side over the last week and, speaking with Port Adelaide media, was confident his move to Alberton would improve him as a person and player, ultimately giving him a second chance at his AFL dream. “I knew I had to come over here to put my best foot forward,” Hagan said of his decision to come to the club. “The opportunity to train at Port Adelaide, the exposure to AFL life and the coaches, for me it is about improving and getting better and this environment will help with that. “A few opportunities came up but it was a no-brainer to take this one and come over and give it a good crack. “Hopefully at the end of it I can get drafted, because that’s the main goal.” Port Adelaide SANFL and Next Generation Academy manager Shane Grimm was excited for what Hagan could bring to the table. “While he is still young, he already has experience playing league football, and his versatility and skill-set will make him a valuable addition to our SANFL set-up,” he said. Hagan has hit the ground running and is looking forward to pulling on the prison bar guernsey. “It’s everything I expected,” the 175cm talent explained. “I was able to train for a week with Freo last year so I got a bit of an insight into what it was like and I knew it would be this full-on. “It has been hard but I’m loving it so far and I thrive on this kind of stuff so I can’t wait for more.” Hagan’s move makes it a trio of Mid West talents at Alberton Oval with Northampton cousins Brynn and Julia Teakle in the respective men’s and women’s league sides.