Richmond’s pick in this week’s AFL rookie draft, exciting South Australian small forward Tyson Stengle, has nominated one of his famous football relatives as the player he wants to model his game on.

Adelaide’s superstar small forward Eddie Betts is that player, with Stengle striving to emulate his relative’s brilliant football deeds.

“I want to be like Eddie,” Stengle told the ‘Adelaide Advertiser’.

“My game is probably based around what he does because I’m the same height and I like to run, jump and tackle.

“I watch a lot of him play and try to take things from his game to put into mine.”

The 171cm, 18-year-old showcased silky skills, lightning speed, goalkicking nous, plus a penchant for tackling and applying fierce pressure in the forward half, throughout his time at SANFL club Woodville-West Torrens.

He booted 22 goals in 10 reserves matches for the SA Eagles last season and another 13 in nine games at under-18s level.

Stengle also is related to Sydney Swans great Michael O’Loughlin, former Adelaide Crow Ricky O’Loughlin and ex-St Kilda player Terry Milera.

“Watching them play, being around them, and having them offer me some advice, has really made me want to get the best out of myself,” he said.

SANFL high performance manager Brenton Phillips believes Stengle has plenty going for him in his quest to succeed at the game’s top level.

“Firstly, Tyson is a respectful young man,” Phillips said.

“Tyson has many of the traits of a complete small forward. He has exceptional skills and game sense.

“Calmness, being cool in the heat of battle, and controlled when he has the ball in hand, are among his strong traits.

“He’s got some genuine tricks, finishes for goal nicely, and is so evasive that he is hard to tackle, like Adelaide’s Eddie Betts and Charlie Cameron . . .

 “Tyson has a really nice feel for the game, which is something that is hard to teach.”