Joe Daniher leads the way at Essendon pre-season training. Source: Getty Images
ESSENDON coach James Hird says father-son gun Joe Daniher is dominating at training and could play much sooner than originally planned.
Daniher, who turns 19 on the eve of the season, starred at under-18 level last season and could have rivalled Lachie Whitfield as the No.1 draft pick had the Bombers not been able to nab him under the father-son rule.
Hird said today he didn't want to rush the 201cm prodigy, but his form on the training track was quickly forcing a change of plans.
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"It's very hard with a player that age and a big tall player, they often take a long time to get ready for football," Hird said.
"In my mind when we drafted him I was thinking maybe he would play 4-5 games if he's lucky this year, but he keeps making me think he's going to play more.
"You can't see why he won't play a lot of football
"The way he moves on the track and dominates marking contests is quite remarkable for a boy his age - and he is only a boy.
"Certainly we don't want to ruin him but he's making us think about playing him a lot more than we were."
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Hird told SEN Daniher would start his career as a key forward who could pinch-hit in the ruck.
"He might develop into a dominant ruckman where that's his No.1 position but at the moment he's a very good forward, he takes a lot of marks and he's just a competitor - you rarely see that age someone who wants to compete so hard against more experienced players."
The Bombers coach played down a quad injury to forward David Zaharakis, who sent a scare through the camp when he suffered the injury at training.
"Last year he had a very bad tear of the central tendon in his quad which kept him out 12-14 weeks, which is a bad injury and takes a long time to recover. We did some scans yesterday on his leg and it was nowhere near that," Hird said.
"He's got a very slight strain a long way from that in his muscle and he'll be back running by Friday and should play the last two or three games in the NAB Cup."
Hird said the "hiccup" was one of the few injuries in a smooth pre-season - a big change from the past two summers at Windy Hill.
"Last year we had 18 operations which meant players came back very late in the pre-season, the year before was very similar
"This year 90 per cent of the squad has done 90 per cent of the training, which is an outstanding record so far."
James Hird keeps an eye on his players as they begin pre-season training. Picture: Wayne Ludbey Source: Herald Sun
And the Bombers coach backed the AFL to do the right thing by players, clubs and the game at today's drugs summit.
"There's a lot of hysteria around what's happening with players at the moment but AFL has always been at the forefront of drugs or racial issues and those people will sort it out," Hird said.
"There's an obligation on the players though to do the right thing and the clubs to look after their players.
"There's no excuse for players to take drugs, but we put them under very stressful situations."
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