Tim Watson was a 15-year-old when he played the first of his 307 VFL/AFL matches for Essendon, although I saw him play two years before that.

Watson was from Dimboola in Victoria's western wheat belt and I lived in neighbouring Warracknabeal. Both towns fielded teams in the strong Wimmera League.

For many years I had vague recollections of watching a powerfully built young midfielder playing for Dimboola in the under-16s before he was taken by the Bombers — who had recruiting rights in the district — and given his incredibly early debut.

It was only upon returning to Warracknabeal four decades later that my story was corrected. It turned out Watson, 13, was playing in the seniors when I saw him perform in a league then replete with ex-VFL journeymen and hefty country lads.

As local legend has it, Watson kicked goals with his first two kicks, before the Warracknabeal midfielders rather reluctantly flexed their farm-built muscles and let the kid know "he'd have to earn it the hard way".

The story came to mind this week as the AFL paraded its young flesh before the cameras in the now elongated and obsessively observed national draft.

Watson would have had to wait another three years before playing his first match under the current system, removing the romance from what remains one of Australian rules football's most remarkable entries.

Yet so much has changed that the anomaly in the AFL draft is no longer the complaint commonly made upon its inception — younger players such as Watson, with unusually well-developed physiques or preternatural skills, would now be deprived of an early debut.

Loading

Instead, the greater fear is that players are being recruited too young and exposed to a potentially harmful environment before they have the skills to cope.

Retired Western Bulldogs premiership player Liam Picken tweeted what I suspect many others were thinking, as a succession of young players were sent straight from the classroom to the hard knocks life of the AFL on Wednesday and Thursday.

"The Afl draft age is way too young. Should be at least 19," Picken tweeted.

"The benefits of raising the age far outweigh the short term pain. Players will have had more life experiences, started an education/trade or worked. Players will be in a better physically and mentally position to perform."

Picken's observation was timely, given the discussions taking place across various sports about the emotional toll on young athletes thrust into full-time training and — particularly — placed under the searing social media spotlight.

It was once assumed young footballers educated on the impending demands of their sport through sophisticated pathways and academies would be less vulnerable than a country kid such as Watson was 42 years ago.

The top-two draft picks, Matthew Rowell (left) and Noah Anderson, join the Suns as 18-year-olds. ( AAP: Scott Barbour )

But even allowing for the vast differences in the physical and emotional development of individuals, it is increasingly obvious the potential impact on young players entering professional sport is such that a cautious approach is desirable even if it means delaying the development of the most robust.

And if you are not convinced raising the AFL's draft age is justified by the increased (reported) incidence of mental health problems, consider the obvious benefit for clubs who are currently drafting half-formed talents.

Because the AFL draft targets 18-year-olds, rather than college graduates like the American football system upon which it is based, it is far less likely to identify the best talent beyond the obvious stand-outs.

At the same time, it makes the talent pool more shallow by forcing some late developers out of the system too soon.

Some think good enough is old enough

Coincidentally, 18-year-old American LaMelo Ball is currently using a gap year in the NBL to create a highlights tape that will further his case to be picked at number one in the NBA draft.

Ball's precocious talent might be cited by those who believe athletes should be permitted to enter elite competition when they are ready, rather than at an arbitrary date determined by the league.

The NBA is considering lowering its draft age from a minimum 19 to 18, partly in response to the farcical "one and done" college careers of players such as last season's number-one pick Zion Williamson.

This will lengthen the NBA career of the rarest talents by a season or two. But it could also see teams, who don't win the draft lottery, plucking youngsters on dubious high school form and heaping expectation on some who have not developed the resilience to withstand NBA-level pressure.

US teenager LaMelo Ball is playing in the NBL ahead of making himself available for the NBA draft. ( AAP: Brendon Thorne )

The obvious problem for Australian sport in withholding talent is we don't have anything like the American college system that operates as a quasi-professional league where athletes can mature.

If the AFL was to raise the draft age it would have to extend its pathways beyond the under-18 competitions and private schools that nurture talented players until they are selected.

Although you suspect the greatest deterrent to increasing the draft age is the fearsome competition for first-choice athletes in a country with so many competing leagues.

No sport wants to give another a head start in offering a talented young athlete a chance to earn a lucrative living, even if some of the teenagers banking those cheques are not quite ready for the work, sacrifices and pressure that job entails.

Meanwhile, in every generation and every sport, there will be those exceptions like Watson and Ball, who would walk into the biggest leagues well before their birth certificate now allows.

Sports have to ask if it is too much to delay the careers of the talented few for the greater good of the more vulnerable many?