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My chat with the draftees: part one

Roar Guru
18th January, 2013
2

The AFLPA President Luke Ball, in his address to the induction camp for new draftees last week, made the observation that each year he turned up for pre season training he felt like he was shrinking because each year’s batch of new recruits always seem taller than the previous one.

There have been other noticeable changes too. The time when young players responded to questions with coy shoulder shrugs, grunts and single word answers (a long-haired 15-year-old from Dimboola called Tim Watson comes to mind) is long gone.

This new breed are articulate and confident, as I found out after chatting with some of them during the induction camp. They are honest about their own weaknesses and understand what is required to make it at the elite level.

I also realised that the relationships coaches have with their young players are more thoughtful, varied and civilised than in the past. When I asked Bomber draftee Dylan Van Unen about his discussions with James Hird he said they talked about civil engineering!

An exciting development too, is the emergence of mature age recruits.

Lachie Whitfield doesn’t really look like a number one draft pick. The tall slightly built midfielder is so … well, delicate.

AS: Lachie, which player do you aspire to be like?

LW: We all say Gary Ablett or Chris Judd but I really like Steele Sidebottom. There are so many great players at Collingwood but he is just so consistent each week and I feel he is similar to me in the way he moves around and the role he plays at the Pies.

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I really like how Ablett and Scott Pendlebury move around at stoppages. Even though they are a lot stronger than me they’re not the big brutes like Josh Kennedy who get the ball and put their head down. They manoeuvre their way around at pace and use angles.

AS: How have you found training?

LW: Training five times a week was tough for the first two weeks. But I’m starting to settle in both mentally and physically and I feel my body is becoming more accustomed to training every day at a higher intensity.

AS: What are your strengths and weaknesses?

LW: My weakness would be my inside game. I’ve put a lot of emphasis on improving that over the past two years because I’ve copped a bit of flak for being only an outside player. I’ve improved a little but I have a long way to go if I’m going to be able to compete at AFL level. My strengths would be my kicking depth and clever kicking at angles to open up play, reading the play, and endurance running.

AS: From the TAC Cup footage I have seen, you appear to be an excellent overhead mark for your size.

LW: I did play a fair bit down forward over the past two years. I did a bit of work with contested marking but I struggled because I’m not great at one-on-one body work so I just try to leap and take speccies, I guess.

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AS: Who are the leaders of such a young team on the track?

LW: I’ve found that there are two types of leaders. There are older ones like [the 22-year-old co-captains] Callum Ward and Phil Davis, and there are the younger modern type of leaders such as second-year players Taylor Adams, Devon Smith and Steve Coniglio who despite having only played one year are very vocal and are leading the way.

AS: What is Kevin Sheedy like as a coach? Is he as eccentric as he appears and have you had many one-on-one discussions with him?

LW: Yes, he is quite eccentric. He’s just so different to every other coach I’ve had. Everything he says is so clever and different; he makes you think. I’ve had a few chats one-on-one and he’s given me some guidelines as to what I can expect from the year.

He’s been involved in almost 1000 games so I’ve got the utmost respect for him.

AS: Would you rather have gone to a traditional club with a long history or do you prefer being part of a club whose history has just begun?

LW: There is always that lust for playing for one of the big four from Melbourne who have that huge history and massive fan-base, and you’re in Melbourne so I would have got to stay at home with family.

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But seriously, I’ve been asked this question a few times, and I still say GWS because they’re full of 18 to 21-year-olds so I already knew 70% of the team before I got up there.

I love Sydney as a city and you don’t get much better coaches than Kevin Sheedy and Leon Cameron. I’m absolutely rapt to be at the Giants and hopefully that’s where I’ll play my whole career, if I can have a long career.

The other standout at the National Draft was Essendon’s father-son selection Joe Daniher, a 201cm ruckman-forward who, like Lachie Whitfield, appears to be a gentle soul. It’s difficult to imagine him wanting to beat anyone on a football field.

AS: Joe, Essendon is well known for its father-son players. There is Dustin Fletcher, of course, who is on the verge of holding the club’s games record, and his dad Ken, and more recently Merv and Jay Neagle, and Tim and Jobe Watson.

Your father Anthony played for the club as did your three uncles. Is that family connection important to you?

JD: For me it’s probably not such a massive deal but for my family and grandparents it’s probably more exciting to keep the family in the same spot and have a really good feel for the club.

The club is a family club and it’s great they can do this, and run the James Hird Academy that looks after all father-sons from ages eight right through to twenty so hopefully we can have more come through in the future and like myself get a great opportunity to play for the Essendon Football Club.

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AS: I saw an interview recently with your older brother Darcy who was a father-son selection in the 2007 Draft. He injured his shoulder early on and then developed severe osteo-pubis.

He talked of his frustration with having to do rehabilitation, and losing his love for the game. It got to the stage where he wanted to avoid the club at all costs and tried to blank out the fact that he was playing the game. That’s a sad story. How is he going now?

JD: Yes, he had a tough run. He had four years at Essendon and played six senior games and not too many VFL games and spent a lot of time in rehab. His leg never came good and still hasn’t.

That happens to a lot of people, he’s not the only one. I suppose it was good that it happened early in his career so he could get on with uni and get on with his life. I think he’s happier with his life now than he was two or three years ago.

AS: You had minor knee surgery recently. How did that go?

JD: It has gone really well actually. Before the Christmas break I had a bit of a sore knee and got a scan and the surgeon said it would be easier to fix now and he cleaned it out. I had my first run last week and it’s all fine. It was nice to tick that off before January.

AS: Where do you see yourself fitting in at the Bombers?

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JD: It’s an interesting one. I’m probably a long way from being able to compete with the other tall players at the club. Obviously being eighteen it’s going to be some time before I get a body capable of competing at AFL level.

In the future I hope to be able play in the ruck and also as a forward. It’s going to take time but the club have been really patient with me so far and I expect them to be patient in the future. Hopefully I’ll get there one day and hopefully it’s not too far away.

Stay tuned tomorrow when I catch up with two more of the AFL’s new bunch.

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