The challenges facing the 32 youngsters who are already contracted with fledgling AFL club Greater Western Sydney are varied and plentiful, but coach Kevin Sheedy says his inexperienced charges are handling them all with aplomb.
Aside from rugby league convert Israel Folau, 28 teenagers, a 20-year-old and a pair of 23-year-olds have all started the transition from AFL hopefuls to AFL footballers under Sheedy.
It can be a difficult journey at the best of times, let alone when you have the added pressure of playing in a club’s maiden season without any form of on-field veterans.
Having watched the likes of Mark Thompson, Mark Harvey, James Hird and countless others make the transformation from raw talent to seasoned professional at Essendon, Sheedy knows the process all too well.
It’s just a little bit different when the entire team is making those steps at the same time,” Sheedy told AAP.
“In many ways it’s like coaching an Under-19 team. Some people in the press don’t understand that yet, and some people in the AFL probably don’t understand that.
“We really are a very young group of players, coached by extremely experienced men.
“So we make sure they are embracing what is a huge step in their life, not just their footy career, and I think we’re getting through that quite well.”
With the exception of Folau, who is based with his parents, the players live together in an apartment complex in the suburb of Breakfast Point.
The friendships currently being formed in the units could be crucial in a few seasons when the Giants’ young guns become trade targets.
“Some of them are off farms, some are from fishing villages in Western Australia and small country towns from across Australia,” he said.
“So we’ve got a lot of guys from different walks of life. It reminds me a little bit of when I was in national service, where you went and lived in a hut and had 20-year-old kids from all over Australia come together.
“You really wanted to talk about where you’re all from, what they do, how they live over there.
“This year’s been a real good connection, a lot of them are having their 18th birthdays and getting their car licences.”
It hasn’t been a wholly smooth process though.
“One or two want to go home, I normally let them go because there’s an urgency about it,” Sheedy said.
However the man who spent 27 years coaching the Bombers won’t be adopting Gold Coast’s policy, in-which the Suns allow and encourage their players to spend extra time away from the club.
“Other than that (those suffering from homesickness), you don’t need to be running home all the time.
“We give them breaks, obviously there was Easter and there’s a long weekend coming up soon. There’ll be a couple of byes so that’ll be good for them.”
The Cattery
Roar Guru
That footage is from the previous week's game, looks like he has done even better against Queanbeyan this weekend. Some observations from the clip: 1. he's led and taken the short ball out from a kick out, shows that he is building up his confidence to do that, it's not the sort of area where you want to make an error, full back honoured the lead, so team mates are starting to show some confidence in him as well. 2. he's good at the quick give, almost like a rugby offload, in fact, perversely, he is better with the quick give while getting tackled than he is with the handball when running in space, especially if he has to put a bit of distance on the handball, all of a sudden it starts to look a little forced (which is natural enough) 3. he's relatively comfortable with the unrushed kick, but otherwise, he's looking a little uncomfortable with his kicking action. He'll have to work at eliminating some of those up and under kicks and that little rugby hop that newcomers often bring with them to aussie rules. 4. he gets both hands to the ball when it's there, either in the air or on the ground, it doesn't sound like a big deal, but for someone coming into the game for the first time, that is the single most important thing I am seeing him do right now - both hands to the footy. 5. He is 12 months behind Hunt in his development, but it is obvious already that Izzy will be a natural winning the ball in the air (and Hunt will never be that). However, he'll need a full year in match conditions against blokes who are good in the air to reach a decent AFL standard in this area. He will notice the difference going from NEAFL to the AFL pretty much in the first minute of play.
Ian Whitchurch
Guest
"Folau had an impressive 14 touches for the match, including seven kicks, six marks, four of which were contest and managed to finish the day with four goals and one behind." Not a bad day at the office for a full forward. http://www.gwsgiants.com.au/folau-giant-day.html Theres some tape of him here http://www.gwsgiants.com.au/giants-vision-folau-match-vision.html&item_id=&album=gallery#/
The Cattery
Roar Guru
http://www.gwsgiants.com.au/folau-giant-day.html Six goal win against queanbeyan, good team in the Canberra comp. Giants played 4 16 yos and 3 17 yos, so that's a pretty good effort by them. Although it has to be said that Queanbeyan is sitll a couple of tiers below AFL level.
Toa
Guest
Confidence is everything, I'm interested in a balance review of his performance thoughts anyone?. Is there a link where I could view this game?
The Cattery
Roar Guru
He never looked comfortable as a defender, good on him, another confidence booster.
TW
Guest
Izzy kicked 4 goals something today in their win. Footage of the match will be up on the website soon according to GWS Twitter. Apparently he is looking more comfortable in match play. I think he will stick out the 4 year contract.
The Cattery
Roar Guru
Looks like a good day at the office for GWS and Izzy. Tweet from the Giants: "GIANTS win at home 19.15.129 to 13.10.88, great day for Izzy & the GIANTS! #neafl #fb"
The Cattery
Roar Guru
It's fascinating watching a club being built from scratch. Doesn't matter what you think about the sport or the club or the coaching personnel, it's still fascinating watching it all unfold.