#38 Josaia Delana (Cat B selection, 2024 Rookie Draft)

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Welcome to another GWS Academy graduate, this time from Western Sydney ...



Josaia Delana​

GWS Academy / Allies
Height: 176cm
D.O.B: 01-07-2006
Leagues: AFL U18 Championships, Coates Talent League Boys

STRENGTHS:

  • Agility
  • Defensive pressure
  • Ground balls
  • Run-and-carry

IMPROVEMENTS:

  • Production
  • Size

Giants Academy captain Josaia Delana is a prospect for Greater Western Sydney to consider as a club-tied talent. The diminutive midfielder-forward injects great energy to every passage he is involved in, boasting a wicked turn of speed and noted attacking instincts.

As expected of a 176cm player, he is effective at ground level with his ability to swoop on loose balls and make things happen inside 50. He also applies himself defensively and showed as much with a whopping 12 tackles against Western Australia at the Under 18 National Championships.

Delana's size is the obvious drawback on paper, though he held his own throughout eight VFL appearances this season, having debuted in 2023. He even kicked the winning goal against Casey in Round 18 and proved his value as a pressure forward.
 
Small, lots of tackles, run and carry... Is this Toby Bedford 2.0?
 

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www.afl.com.au

Homegrown Giants rookie inspired by Folau experiment

Growing up in rugby league heartland, Greater Western Sydney rookie Josaia Delana remembers discovering the game through code-hopper Israel Folau
www.afl.com.au www.afl.com.au

ASK AFL rookie Josaia Delana how his journey with Greater Western Sydney started and he'll tell you it began with rugby league player Israel Folau. In 2012, a six-year-old Delana growing up in a Fijian family in Western Sydney, witnessed NRL star Folau playing Australian rules football. The Giants, then a fledgling AFL club, had embarked on the giant task of winning over fans in rugby league heartland and resorted to unorthodox methods.

"When GWS first started out I had known them because of Israel Folau going from rugby league to AFL. I was like, 'Why would he do that sort of thing? Like, he doesn't even know how to play AFL. What a weird sport.' It was never big anywhere. None of my friends at school, none of my family, no one in the neighbourhood, in the community, no one watched or played AFL. Even now to put footy on at home on a Friday night, I'd get in early so I could watch at least the first quarter and then it would be overruled by league."

"It's a real surreal feeling from being just some kid that was just kicking the ball at the park to now an AFL-listed player," Delana told AAP.
 

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#38 Josaia Delana (Cat B selection, 2024 Rookie Draft)

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