CONNOR ROZEE’S performance in Round 3 against Brisbane earned him a rising star nomination but it also earned him high praise from the boys on Fox Footy’s On the Couch.
Speaking during their weekly show, Garry Lyon and Jonathan Brown described Rozee’s game as one of the best they had seen from a first-year player.
While former Sydney and Melbourne coach Paul Roos said it was “so exciting” to see it live.
“I was there live. What a great game and the thing about him was it was in big moments in the game where he got vertical,” Roos said.
“He was playing a half forward role - and we’ve seen Sam Walsh get up and down on a wing which is a little bit easier - but to see a kid kick five and really rip a game apart was so exciting.
“And to be there live - it was a super, super game.”
Five goals, 21 possessions and seven marks against the Lions from last year’s number five draft pick was enough to convince Brownlow Medallist Gerard Healy that Port made the right decision on draft night.
“Port debated long and hard as to whether they would take Connor Rozee (at pick five),” Healy said.
“Well they found out they got it exactly right, absolutely right on the weekend.
“He put in a blinder. The youngest Port Adelaide player ever to kick five (goals).”
The 2018 draft crop was widely considered a very strong and talented group of players and it has now drawn comparisons to the 2001 draft according to the On the Couch group.
“Isn’t it great to have another crop of outstanding players,” Healy said of the 2018 draftees.
“We talk about the super draft with Hodge and Ball etcetera and Judd, but this group has the potential to be mentioned in the same breath.”
Rozee is Port’s first NAB AFL Rising Star nominee since Riley Bonner’s Round 1 nomination against Fremantle at Adelaide Oval last season.