South Australian high performance manager Brenton Phillips sees strong similarities between Richmond’s second pick in the 2016 AFL National Draft Jack Graham and one of the greats of the game’s modern era.

Phillips, who coached the SA side in the 2016 under-18 national championships, where the big-bodied, young North Adelaide midfielder was a standout, winning the Larke Medal for being the best player at the carnival, and gaining All-Australian selection, likens him to Hawthorn’s four-time premiership champion Luke Hodge.

“He’s a Luke Hodge-type, a really hard, inside, contested-ball winner, who probably spreads a bit harder than Hodge,” Phillips said.

“He’s a terrific competitor who, once the ball is bounced, imposes himself on the contest and just finds a way to get the footy . . .

“Jack has outstanding work ethic and consistency, along with a good mix of contested ball and outside creativity.

“His general game sense and endurance are impressive.

“While his pace is okay, he compensates for any issues in this area with his ball-reading ability and leadership.”

Although Graham has encountered problems with a quad injury that forced him to miss the AFL draft combine at the end of the 2016 season, Phillips isn’t the slightest bit concerned about the 18-year-old’s future prospects at the game’s highest level with Richmond.

“Given he’s already got that big body, I guess some AFL clubs were uncertain how he would translate to the AFL,” Phillips said.

“But he’ll be fine. He’s a competitor, a great young man, and he’ll find a way to compete at that level, don’t worry about that.”