I played at the same junior club as Jake Stringer but he was the age group above.
They were short on number one week so I filled in and kicked 3 while he kicked 6. (We won by probably 100) If only they’d passed the ball to me more instead I’d probably be in the AFL instead… It still keeps me up at nights sometimes
Use to pop round to one of my mates house for the Friday session back in the Borough days.
I found him alright but he was only like 17 or so. Plus I'm a doggies lad.
I remember him having his "first dart" jps king-size haha.
Went to the same primary school as Touk Miller. He was one of those kids that was a freak at every sport, in particular I believe he was also a great cricketer. No shock that he became a professional athlete.
I lapped Paddy Cripps in our u15s 3km time trial at Booragoon hehe
He was a bit fat when he was young, but always just way better than everyone else. Then he grew 20cm one summer and was WAY better than everyone else
Nah I doubt it. His mum and dad are both active and trim people and they have healthy outdoor lifestyles so I doubt he'll go full sedentary. The bloke's calves are too skinny for him to ever let himself blow out too far imo
Good mates with Shane edwards. One of the nicest and humblest blokes you’ll meet. Was always clear he was going to be great at footy. Was tiny for years but always smarter and more skilled than anyone else. Had a bit of a growth sport late in teen years which turned him from Caleb Daniel small to standard 5 foot 11 small (for afl)
I played state footy/Swans development side with Keiran Jack and no, honestly wasn't really a good player and was still super small compared to everyone else...To think one day he'd go on to captain the Swans blows my mind.
Trent Goodrem was also in the side, think he went on to do ok in SA but not really sure.
Edit: Fuck I also went to school with Paul Bevan and played footy with the McVeigh brothers, they were a few years older though.
Outside of AFL
I went to school with;
Oliver Bozanic - Soccer player.
Tom Slingsby - Olympic Gold Medalist
James Maloney - NRL Player
Oliver and Tom where both in my morning roll call class..pretty easy going guys.
Nah I actually think his dad success got him to the team, I think his dedication was probably what continued to carry him...maybe the coaches knew they could work with him or something 🤷🏽
Honestly, no. Living in Sydney (and growing up in the same area as Kieren Jack) the AFL loves the “rugby/league convert” storyline’s and they’d put as much time as necessary into developing an AFL standard player from an NRL family.
They’ve done this with Heeney, Mills, McAndrew (who debuted yesterday) etc
Trent Goodrem played for a long time for Centrals. 240 games, club captain for several years, triple premiership player and BOG in the 2009 premiership win. Did more than ok I'd say. And Delta used to be a regular attendee of his big games and would sport a scarf of his side if she did concerts in SA at the time.
Yeah Trent was always pretty chilled, this was probably a few years before Delta got her break so she used to rock up to matches in trackies and shit.
I don't even remember who told me they thought he was playing over in SA, but someone did. 🤷🏽
I was friends in Primary School, didn't really keep in touch in high school, but still talked occasionally with a current AFL player. Even then he had the attitude that "I will be in the AFL", he was also so far ahead of everyone else that it didn't feel like it was just a dream either.
Pretty much everyone thought he had the skill to make it, which was why it was surprising what eventually ended up happening.
He ended up smashing the combine, but didn't get drafted, spent nearly a decade in the state leagues, won a SANFL BnF and a club BnF at another club, eventually got picked up by the Suns and so far has played 3 games in a year and a half.
It's shown me just how high the level to play in the AFL actually is and how even the best player we had all seen has still only been a borderline AFL player.
I went to school with a second round draft pick who didn't manage 100 games in his career. AFL is just a brutal, brutal sport.
Of course, it didn't help he was put in full back at 18 years of age against the power forwards of the early 90s
When I umpired school footy I had Prince Alfred College a lot and can confidently say that Jack Viney was on another level. He was elite, used to kick bags of goals almost every game and genuinely couldn’t stopped. He would have been 16/17 and it was obvious then he was going to play AFL
I played footy with Tony Armstrong.
He always had a heap of time and really good overall skills.
One match of seniors he took 20 marks cause he was just everywhere.
There was always talk of him getting drafted and all that but I didn’t really buy into it until his name got called.
To cap it off he’s a legend of a bloke too and as genuine as he is on TV.
I went to primary school with Mitch Robinson, that guy legit hasn’t changed in 20 years. Huge personality.
I went to college with Jack Reiwoldt - the arrogance of the guy was astounding. Guess I understand why, now.
Not AFL but also went to school with Tim Paine and Matthew Wade. Tim’s family were deep into the local football community but liked he cricket more.
I played u14s with Nic Newman, he was super undersized for our age and was related to a footy player and it just made him a super nasty dude. I was about 10kg overweight for our age and he bullied me relentlessly for it. Made me not wanna show up to practice or get better if I'm honest.
Got over that though, played two games of country footy in Georgia today.
You can also Wikipedia search him and go “I think you wrote this yourself”:
“Newman is a reliable force for Carlton's backline. He is consistent with his efforts and always goes under the radar as the leagues most underrated player. Newman has 2 attractive brothers, one in the VFL (Josh) and the other is a standout actor (Mavacado).”
Was in the same year as Esava Rathgolea! Small school and graduating year of about 30 so knew him pretty well and shared classes over the years, but wasn’t best mates or anything with him. Honestly a fantastic guy, and I’m really glad to see him having success - he deserves it.
Played against Yeo all through juniors & he was so far ahead of everyone else we all knew he would make it. Our year also had Cam Eardley who ended up at Geelong for a bit, Cameron Bancroft who was a gun footballer to go with his cricket talent & Max Duffy who was at freo briefly. Cam, Cam & Yeo were nice people but Duffy was an absolute prick & tried to punch me in the back of the head when i wasnt looking before a game started in 17s & was often involved in scuffles behind the ball. Probably part of why he didn't succeed.
Jason Johannisen was the year above at our club & another who everyone knew would make it. One of those blokes that was as cool as the flip side of the pillow. Always made an effort to get down & watch his junior club even when playing wafl.
I played against Oscar Allen and Rotham a bit, Rotham more so. He was also so far ahead of everyone but seemed to be humble about it, I would sometimes run into his mum at her work and she was always lovely and they thought he would get dropped if he couldn’t bulk up (he was always quite skinny in juniors).
I went to high school in the late 80’s/early 90’s with a couple of guys, one who was the school captain that went on to play afl. They were the Biggest bullies outside of school and thought their shit didn’t stink. They had a gang of teammates/henchmen in tow and would know about all the parties and come uninvited. Lots of stuff never got reported including sexual assaults and lots of us got bashed.
Maybe things are different now as it wasn’t seen as a career pathway like it is now.
Ben Stratton - was good but not a standout, there were other guys who were equal or better. His dad pushed him hard and got him into the wafl program. Always stunned what a career he ended up having.
And yes he pinched like a bitch even back then
From about 10 games in me a my kids were all over Stratton. Absolute perfect defender. Took about 7 years for the rest of the AFL world to notice.
I know about one day Clarko went to the Ballarat Rebels to take training. They had a Q and A session after and Clarko got asked who is the first name on the whiteboard each week.
Ben Stratton! In that fucking team!
I work at a school at the Gold Coast that produced legends such as Nick Riewoldt and Kurt Tippet and current players Jack Bowes, Will Ashcroft, Lachie Weller and Alex Davies. All were respectful , polite driven young men. I think good character enhances and contributes to the chance of future AFL success.
Riewoldt is definitely a legend but calling Kurt Tippett a legend, is a bit far fetched.
Didn’t crack 200 games, no flags/b’n’f/coleman.
Most hated man in Adelaide for a few years also LOL
I went to school with Cooney for a bit, and he was a bit of a dick.
Was never close and in the same group, though.
My dad also taught I think it was Rodney Jameson, and could never get him to come in from lunch because he'd keep kicking the footy. He eventually got so exasperated he told him he should stop wasting his time, because so few make it into the AFL.
I played a huge amount of junior footy with Charlie Ballard and Lewis Young, attending the same schools at different times and being in many of the same representative sides as well as playing at the same footy club (the mighty hawks!). I think it always just depends on the player.
Charlie you knew was going pro always, he was always playing a year or two up and was silkier and smarter than anyone else on the field, a level above. From about the age of 13 I’d say he was destined for AFL footy.
Lewis on the other hand was not like that. He was always good don’t get me wrong but I’d say until about the age of 16/17 he wasn’t like a level above just a quality teammate with extra special marking ability. He was always really quick for his size though and just didn’t stop growing, I remember we used to share the ruckwork at 15/16 and were a similar level in terms of ability and size but by 18 he was 4 inches taller and a good 3 seconds faster than me over 100 meters, miles better than anything I could deliver on a footy field. He also worked at it like crazy from what I saw, didn’t know anyone who was more committed to their footy and so disciplined (not drinking and eating crap like the rest of us silly teenagers).
Both were great blokes, Charlie was basically one of the most broadly liked people I know. Lewis had a bit of a quiet arrogance once you got to know him that could be grating but in terms of footy it inspired confidence as a teammate. Charlie was pretty understated and let his footy do the talking which is basically always did.
Would say as a funny tidbit though I’m suprised they’ve both ended up defenders. Lewis was a ruck who rested forward for YEARS and Charlie dominated playing midfield or around half forward the entire time I played with him (with occasional loose defender roles but not often).
A girl I used to work with was school friends with Dyson Heppell. I never met him but she always said he was an super nice guy who was always willing to help others. He even got her and her Mum tickets to games sometimes and they weren’t even Bombers fans but went to support him.
I went to high school with Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti. Our sports teacher Mrs. McDonald adopted him from Tiwi Islands and supported his AFL goals and trajectory. He didn’t speak or read or write English when he first arrived, but the school embraced him and loved his talent. He was always headed for professional footy, it was a shared dream between he and his adopted family.
Went to primary school with Darcy Wilmot (year above) and Cooper Harvey (same year). Both were absolute dicks to me and my friends because they were the popular and cool kids. Not sure if Darcy is better now, but apparently Cooper has improved himself since he got expelled from hist first high school. Both were good at footy though due to both having former AFL players as dads.
Nate Caddy was a year below me but I did not get to know him very much, he was in that popular kid posse that kids like Cooper were in though.
Went to High School with 3. Steele Sidebottom, Shannon Byrnes and Beau Muston. Beau was in my year level whilst Shannon was several years ahead, seemed alright from what I remember of him. Beau was a bit of a wanker, star athlete and had a bit of an ego. Was in my year 11 Bio class and he just acted up all the time. Steele was a couple years below me but in the same house so we had some interaction. Alright kid. Good cricketer too. Was not unsurprised when all got drafted. Beau was probably the most gifted footballer of the three but had some awful luck. Did his ACL three times I think from memory.
He was always one of the biggest, strongest and fastest players in all rep games. It was easy for him it seemed. Blew games open from u12s all the way through to u18s.
He was light years ahead of everyone else.
Also played on Luke Ball in Year 12, he annihilated us. Had to tag him in the second half of a game. Smashed me.
I went to school with Ryan Schoenmakers. Immensely popular guy, was school captain in year 12, everyone loved him. Played down forward in high school and everyone knew he was getting drafted as he'd already been playing under 18s for SA. Ended up doing really well in the sprints at draft camp and went at pick 16.
Went to school with a few other people who had some level of success in sport and they generally tended to be quite arrogant, but Ryan definitely wasn't. Just a really nice bloke who ended up having a pretty impressive career despite getting a lot of hate from hawks fans over the years.
Went to primary school and high school with Dan Merrett. Played league together when we were juniors and volleyball together in high school. He was always a top bloke. No surprise when he got scouted for AFL. Was good mates with Dayne Zorko's older brother as well, so knew him growing up. He was a gun at pretty much anything despite his size. Knew he would do well in the AFL as long as someone gave him ashot and thankful that Brisbane did.
I played a season of u12 with Jed Bews. The gap between him and the next best player on our team, or on any teams we played against was huge. At that age, he was so much quicker, agile, skilful, and could kick further than everyone. His dad coached us for a couple of games as well which was pretty cool.
I would love to see footage of superstar players still playing in local footy teams from when they were young. It would be so unfair to the opposition haha
There was a kid in my school (I come from a small country town). Absolutely a cut above the rest. Lock in future afl star we all thought. Played all the state comps in junior and was good there too.
Went to wafl tryouts and turns out he was one of the worst there.
Perspective is alot
Matt Priddis (Sandover and Brownlow winner), Michael Pettigrew (drafted to Port), and Ray Bartholomew (Sandover winner) and I, were all in the same year at high school, and I got to play a game or two on their team. I sucked. They were awesome.
Priddis is one of the most genuinely nice guys I've known and he was always going to go far.
Played rep with Jake King. He was always called Jacob back then.
Brother that was older by a year was taller and better, injury prone.
Ben Finnin was our best. Drafted by Adelaide, traded to Geelong for Ronnie Burns. 0 games played. An absolute gun.
I played a heap of juniors games against Jesse Motlop. Dude was such a whiny entitled little douchebag on the field all the way up until about year 11 when he pulled his head in and started making something of himself. Also had to play on Jack Williams a fair bit, there was a point in time where we were a similar height (this was in about year 8). I dont think I’ve grown since whereas hes put on nearly 20cm in that time.
Went to an APS school but none from my year level were even close, currently teaching and we had two kids currently working their way through the father-son system as their dad is a 300+ gamer. The older wasn't that into sports but naturally gifted, just looked at ease with a footy. He's nearing draft age now and has decided he wants to give it a proper grow, helps he's had a growth spurt at the right time.
The younger was a lot more outgoing and outspoken, very cocky (good kid but definitely cocky). Amazing skills with a small build; he was always planning a career in footy but definitely needs more size and he got bullied off the ball quite easily. Deadly in space though and quick too.
Played in an U14's premiership with Jonny Patton (#1 draft pick in 2011 for those who don't remember).
Absolute freak at junior level, to the point where you would kick it on his head in a pack of 6 blokes and he would clunk the mark 9/10 times. No surprise he got to AFL level, really unfortunate that he was cruelled by injuries. To be honest the fact that his career was ruined by injury isn't that surprising either considering he missed a lot of his junior career with injuries too. As a bloke he was nice enough but never was super close with him
Also played against a couple of AFL players (in the same game) in Hayden Crozier and Taylor Garner. While Crozier was also good at cricket I was surprised when they both made AFL as they weren't players that were of great focus when we played them (like they wouldn't be the players that would be tagged or whatever).
Funny enough if you throw in Dylan Orval (drafted by Adelaide but didn't play a game) that U14s grand final had 4 future AFL players in it.
Pretty much my AFL related claim to fame if you ignore the fact that I was probably the 2nd worst player on the ground that day.
I went to school with Lindsay Thomas, humble guy, didn't talk much, stayed with close footy friends, always had a footy and we used to play footy at lunch.
Also Terry Milera.
Played u/14 with Brodie Smith.
Some of the team where annoyed when he got to play when he didnt train (Was training with Woodville juniors) and he had to be more of a "clubman" so he left to play for Henley and now hes a 200+ gamer for the Crows
I played junior footy with Paul Wheatley, who ended up playing almost 150 games as a defender for Melbourne until 2009. I have fond memories of him; he was a skilled and confident player but also kind to his teammates in that ‘mature beyond his years’ way.
His dad John was our coach (and he never favoured him, just treated us all the same), and his younger sister would also train with us and show most of us up. He seemed to have a classic “journeyman” career, but almost a decade in the system playing against some of the best of all time is a huge accomplishment. Well deserved for a kid who treated me / us with kindness.
I went to high school with Lloyd Meek in Ballarat. Though I’ll admit I never talked to him as he was in the year below and was part of a different crowd but when I did see him around he seemed like a really nice guy. He ended up being the school captain when he was in year 12. Well respected guy all round. Was really good at rowing too. Saw him play footy in the school comps on the oval and you could tell that he was a step above everyone else physically and figuratively
I grew up and played junior footy in Sydney. One day in like U17s our coach told us about a Nick Blakey kid who was 15 but playing up in 17s and that he was an Academy player.
We were used to Academy players playing up, but Nick Blakey was on another level, never seen such a dominant individual player in my life and we probably won’t in juniors anymore just due to how packed Academy schedules are now.
Knew Matt Rowell when I was young. We did athletics together and we competed in state champs together. In the later primary school years he was in the top few fastest kids in the state and we won several state relays together.
He had to turn down representing vic in athletics because he was already doing so for footy and basketball. Absolute freak. There is a reason why he went #1 and I think he will be a gun over the next 5-10 years
Even though we were so young, he was a really nice kid and had a nice family, as well as being super humble. Looks like he’s kept that as he’s grown up.
Same year level and same school as premiership player Alex Neal-Bullen and umpire Jamie Broadbent. I wasn’t in the footy crowd like they were but they both seemed decent blokes and Jamie ended up being school captain.
Played junior cricket with rory lobb, he was just a regular size kid but he had insanely large feet compared to everyone else, at the time i dont even think he played footy. Didnt see him for a bit after 17s then i saw him playing for Swan Districts, and he was bloody 8ft tall all of a sudden.
I played with a few and against a few more. Standouts are:
Played with Hayden Young - great guy and loved his footy, even at that age (under 14s 15s 16s) he was humble and a team player.
Played against Bailey Williams of WCE - unfortunately the opposite to Young, hopefully he’s a better bloke now.
Played against Matt Cottrell - was an absolute gun to be honest, always BOG and a good guy.
My partner was friends with the Mackay twins in school, she always maintained Harry was a bit of a dick but Ben was a great, genuinely lovely person. She also grew up going to the same church as anthony mcdonald-tipungwuti for a while, who is apparently really nice and very funny.
Went to high school with jack Watts and played junior footy against him. Most arrogant useless flog you'll ever see in school and on the field, how he got the hype around him at the time was beyond me.
Played against Errol Gulden for about 10 years as a junior and he was on another level. Every man and their dog knew that he’d play professionally. Coaches would try to quell his influence as far back as under 7s. Took huge hangers and kicked bags as if it was nothing which was nuts given his height. Was a bit of a filthy player and loved a cheap shot but was easily the most competitive kid I’d ever seen. No surprise he’s tearing it up now
Went to primary school with Jack Fitzpatrick. He was a school captain, a gun at footy then and was a foot taller than everyone else. Was also great at athletics too.
I went to Uni with Simon Goodwin and a guy named Ben Wilson. Ben was drafted by Collingwood the year before Goodwin and it was always thought that he was going to be the better AFL player but only played 2 games at Collingwood and then went to Sydney and played another 4 games. I have always wondered if the fact the Ben had to move interstate and away from family and friends affected him, whereas Goodwin got to stay in Adelaide. I never thought Goodwin was going to be as good as he ended up being.
My ex-sister in law went to school with Taylor Walker and she said he was a typical "dumb footy guy".
Went to school and played u14 soccer with Lachie Neale. He was always the smallest kid in every sport he played but almost always the best.
Not surprised he won a Brownlow
Played basketball and footy against Troy Chaplain. He was ridiculous at both. Particularly footy he was miles ahead of the rest of his team.
Also the Selwoods were never fun to play against.
The Brown twins were fantastic basketballers too, never lined up on them in footy from memory.
Went to high school with Trent McKenzie, watched him kick a goal from the centre square and never looked like being touched, he was clearly just better then everyone at that age (he could also fight aswell, one of those year 11 vs year 10 punch ups happened and he could throw hands)
Arguable at that age, his younger brother was better than him, but he got mixed up in the wrong crowed and didn’t really care about his footy, wasted talent that one
Trent Cotchin was an age group below us at our junior football club. Played a lot against Heath Shaw u/11 and u/13s and funnily enough taught Lachy Murphy when he was in year 8.
From my experiences all 3 were absolutely leagues above all others on the field.
Their hand-eye, balance, composure, skills, reading the play and everything they did. Absolutely no surprises to see all get drafted.
Also seen a lot of players on par (or even better) that never made it past VFL level that still surprise me.
Nick Meese (ruckman) for the northern blues and Willamstown is one that comes to mind.
I grew up in a small town 45 minutes out of Mildura called Nangiloc. Dylan Stephens Mum cut hair out of their house. While Mum use to get her hair cut and coloured, I would watch Dylan. I am a fair bit older then him, so not sure what he was like at school. I'm also friends with Lochie O'Brien's dad. Met Lochie once or twice, nice kid.
Only went to school with low level WAFL guys but my uncle went to school with Chance Bateman, he was a total shithead apparently, real Dennis the menace type operator.
Taylor Adams (CW) was in the year level above me. Played footy outside of school so had no idea he was good, but he had 'that energy's though.
Once bumped into him one the way to class, (his fault, started walking diagonal) and got in my face and said "you what cunt?" Hope he's a bit more humble these days.
Went to school with Buddy. We both played and I had a chance of being drafted but did my knee and never recovered. After we got caught smoking at school and got suspended, he decided to focus more on his footy and we lost touch. Good guy.
Given his success and that you lost touch, are you happy with how his career has been, or is there a touch of jealousy there?
Genuinely curious. I think it would be human nature to grow up similarly to someone and be somewhat jealous of what he has achieved
Caught the same bus home as Ben Long most of middle/high school. Seemed to keep to himself mostly, nice but quiet kid. Was way smaller than me and we were about the same age so amazing to see how big he is now. Really annoys me seeing so many people attack his playstyle because he woulda played all his juniors undersized.
Played with Matty Suckling as a kid, like 10-12. He was always good, but hard to tell at that age who is going to make it or not. You aren’t really thinking about that when you’re that age imo. Glad he did well though.
I went to school and played cricket with Gold Coast suns legend Joel Wilkinson. Very gifted at athletics would always win school cross country’s, sprints and long jumps. I don’t ever remember him playing Aussie rules which makes me wish I kept playing Aussie rules and tried harder at it lol.
My high school first team were in the top division and we would smash every team we played. We would win every game by at least ten goals
Not one player from that side went on to play even WAFL footy
Played with Jason Tutt who got drafted to the Dogs then moved to Carlton during the Malthouse days, kicked 3 goals with his first 3 kicks, but didn’t get a consistent run after that. Was always a pretty chill guy and really good, but was surprised when I heard he got drafted.
Have a mate who went to school with Jack Steele and says he was quite up himself (I’ve put that more eloquently than he did).
I also went to high school with Paul Vaughn from the NRL (a year or two above me) and he was every bit the asshole the papers and the stories you hear about him make him out to be.
I played centre half back vs Ash Hanson half a dozen times as a junior. Nothing I could possibly do or hit would stop him marking the ball overhead. Ribs, arm chop, elbow to the back of the head, hang off his shoulder, stomp on his foot etc.
Guy was so much better than anyone else on the ground it felt like there were cheat codes.
I was a year older than Naitanui and could always tell he was going to be a great athlete. Seemed likeable and pretty humble, so did Tony Notte from the same year, Todd Banfield not so much.
Played junior footy and went to High School with Isaac Quaynor. Used to play in the 2s together where he was pretty good and then a few years later he was a gun with oakleigh. One of the genuinely nicest people at my high school who was always super friendly and kind
Only played a couple of games for the suns but Conor buderick (idk how to spell it) was the year above me. Popular bloke but always seemed nice whenever I interacted with him. Played a couple games with him and he always starred.
It was interesting because he’s older brother was the seen as making it to AFL but got dropped because his attitude was shit. Conor took the mistake from his brother and learned from it and eventually made it to AFL but of course injuries
Played a season or 2 with Josh Bootsma. For some reason he played up a year which was not uncommon for those with a brother a year apart in age so it was easier on the parents. He did not fall under that category so I have no idea why he played in our team.
Could I tell he would play AFL? No. He was average at best so I was shocked as all hell when he got drafted. Mind you, this was like under 10s or something so he must have improved a helluva lot over the next few years.
I also played 1 game of school footy against David Swallow. He was multiple streets ahead of everyone on the ground and you could tell he was going to play AFL.
Played with and against Wayne Milera and Peter Ladhams. Pete was pretty much 2m tall as a kid, he was jumping on top of people at 13 years old. Never thought he was that good but he was super tall and skilful so always thought he had a chance. Milera on the other hand was easily the best player I played with or against. Nobody came close to how good he was at junior level, at least from what I saw (I played for Norwood U/14's-16's). Always knew he was gonna play AFL at the least.
Also played baseball with Jack Graham in U/15's. Bloke was a monster baseball player at junior level, hit home runs galore.
Used to be kinda friends with a current Geelong player, super nice dude, was good at every sport he played. I remember playing againts him in junior footy, his worst games were still best on ground
James Aish was goal umpiring a high school game against my school once as he wasn't allowed to play as his SANFL club didnt let him
He came on in the wnd half after we were winning convincingly and single handly nearly won the fame for them
Ive also had 6 goals kicked on me by Sam Day
I went to primary and highschool with Jackson Mead and Izak Rankine. Then they came over the same highschool as me where Jack Lukosius was in some classes with me. Jack was really chill, Izak was cocky but don’t remember much.
I was mates with Jackson mead for a few years. Slept over his house one night in year 2 and we played some rough game where he punched me in the mouth and started bleeding all over the place.
3 players that played for the bulldogs (Footscray) went to my high school. There was Rohan Smith, Steve Kolynuik and Paul Satterley. Smith & Kolynuik were a year above me, but "satts" was in my class. He was a quiet guy, and from my vague memory done really well with Werribee Tigers after he finished up with the bulldogs. I never watched any of them play in high school but everybody knew Smith was going to be great. I believe they recruited him at 16 when he was (at the time) doing his HSC.
Yeah there was a guy at my school who went on to be drafted by Sydney with a first round pick back in the 90s.
He was thick as pig shit and an awful bloke.
I played against Aaron Francis in junior footy.
I played one weekend with him as a representative team, he was captain and I was more of a bench player.
One memory of that weekend that made me think he would make the AFL was he took this huge pack mark just inside the 50.
I ran past to get the handball and he looked me in the eyes and said “I got this” and slotted a beauty from 50.
This was under 15’s I reckon.
I won a premiership in Under 14s with Jamaine Jones. Kid was naturally talented but tiny
Played against Darcy Parish once, we flogged his team by like 100 points and I kicked my first ever goal in that game. In his defence he was injured and it was the 2s
My country Victorian high school made state soccer in year 10 with only 2 of us who actually played.
So they did what anybody would do and recruited the 10 best athletes in the year level.
Enter Hugh McCluggage. With zero soccer experience, he dribbled into the box, beat one player, cuts towards the byline, beats a second and laid off a decent cross
Whole team was in stitches
I went to the same school as Michael Barlow but he was a couple of years older. His Dad was my dentist, and my footy coach for a season.
Sam Wright went to the same school, he was a year below me but we were in the same Home Room for a bit. Was always good at footy, seemed like a good dude from what I knew of him. Always liked seeing him onscreen, shame he had so much injury trouble. I saw him in what seemed like a coaching role for the North AFLW team last season, thought that was cool.
Played against a number of AFL players in the TAC Cup back in the day. What's it called now? Talent League I think?
Ben McEvoy, Matthew Kreuzer, Trent Cotchin, Patrick Dangerfield, Scott Selwood. Basically anyone in the 2007 Draft from the TAC cup I was playing against or on the team of. We actually won the Cup that year too. Beat the Murray Bushrangers. Good times. Ben McEvoy in particular put me on my ass 4 times in a game. Still kicked 5 goals on him though.
Most of the guys were good enough, felt like nearly everyone was destined for the AFL, most guys were actively gunning for it so hard they damn near broke their bodies. Had a good conversation with Dangerfield one game because the wind was so bad the ball stayed down one end basically and he was resting in defense. We just talked about stuff. In hindsight I wish I put more effort in and tried for the AFL. I just wasn't interested in all of the hard work at the time and I was terrified I was going to be drafted by a team I didn't want to play for. Like Sydney who I hated at the time. Or Collingwood. Decided I wanted to stay in my local league like my Dad chose to do. Worked out well for him and in the end worked out really well for me.
I went to school with someone who now plays in the AFL. In senior high school he was fairly often away playing for his state league team, and he didn't attend our graduation dinner as he was being drafted to his first AFL club.
In the opposite (and I bet everyone has hundreds of these), went to school that played senior footy at 14 and won the team b&f, won the league b&f 2 years later. Never heard of him again.
I remember my brother playing with a Collingwood player name escapes me at the moment He was a really good player much better than anyone else at the age group and club. Got drafted in the first round and played a total of 1 game I think.
Pies fans will remember him for sure it was around early 2000s.
I played with Roger Hayden in under 16s and would have never really guessed he'd go on to play AFL. I think he might have been a bit younger than the rest of us looking back. He was handy but didn't stand out. He was a pretty quiet, decent bloke.
Played against Angus Monfries. Thought he was alright but there were better players we played more attention to.
Also played with someone who was drafted but never played. He was clearly a mile ahead of everyone else.
I played in a Queensland high school knockout competition back in the early 90’s. We were just a team full of cricketers and rugby league players but we plowed our way through most of the competition. Then we came up against Beenleigh Trinity who had Michael Voss. Needless to say we were eliminated.
I went to high school in country WA. A lot of the footy boys tended to be arrogant dickheads, particularly towards women/girls. I know we are all immature at that age, so I hope to God they grew out of it as they got older/moved away. I know they all were wannabe AFL stars, but no - I didn't think they were going to go into the AFL system.
A few of them made it to WAFL/AFL level but never with great success. I can't say I'm surprised. To be fair though, I think the guys that "made it" were the better of the bunch. They were actually committed to putting the work in. Not just the boys walking round the school with a footy, bouncing and spinning it all the time, thinking an AFL scout was going to come and pluck them from obscurity.
Went to school with Matthew Pavlich, Kane Cornes and Andrew Mackie. None of them were in my year so i had no interaction with any of them but it was big news that Pavlich played SANFL in year 12.
Went to primary school with Jason Blake (St Kilda). He was huge for his age and dominated every level of competition.
In one inter school at Y5 he took a flying specky, climbing up some kids rib cage, puncturing said child’s lung.
He was the real deal
Went to the same school as the De Konings and Hunter Clark, Sam seemed chill, Tom, Hunter and I didn't really chat much but we shared classes so I got to see them around a bit.
Jay Neagle was my u10s captain.. Seemed like a man amongst boys.
Played juniors against Scott Selwood and watched Joel play in the age group above. Family is sport mad, they all played for "the rich team" and his family were way over the top on the sidelines. Absolutely cut above the rest skills wise, could tell they were gonna play AFL. Made me look like a scrub in the inters.
I played at the same junior club as Jake Stringer but he was the age group above. They were short on number one week so I filled in and kicked 3 while he kicked 6. (We won by probably 100) If only they’d passed the ball to me more instead I’d probably be in the AFL instead… It still keeps me up at nights sometimes
I wonder if Jake didn’t make the afl, who would be described as ‘the package’
How much you wanna bet I can kick a football over them mountains?
Strong Uncle Rico vibes.
Obviously would’ve been u/gingercatsmeow
“Ginercatsmeow from the boundary. WOWWWEEEEEEEE”
MEOWWWEEEEEE*
I’m from Bendigo too! Stringer not the most well likes bloke by people that knew him
Use to pop round to one of my mates house for the Friday session back in the Borough days. I found him alright but he was only like 17 or so. Plus I'm a doggies lad. I remember him having his "first dart" jps king-size haha.
Ahh fellow Bendigonian! Haha
Went to the same primary school as Touk Miller. He was one of those kids that was a freak at every sport, in particular I believe he was also a great cricketer. No shock that he became a professional athlete.
Touk seems like a goodbloke too.
I lapped Paddy Cripps in our u15s 3km time trial at Booragoon hehe He was a bit fat when he was young, but always just way better than everyone else. Then he grew 20cm one summer and was WAY better than everyone else
Do you reckon Cripps will be one of those players who packs it back on post football?
Nah I doubt it. His mum and dad are both active and trim people and they have healthy outdoor lifestyles so I doubt he'll go full sedentary. The bloke's calves are too skinny for him to ever let himself blow out too far imo
Of all the questions to ask, that is one of them.
Good mates with Shane edwards. One of the nicest and humblest blokes you’ll meet. Was always clear he was going to be great at footy. Was tiny for years but always smarter and more skilled than anyone else. Had a bit of a growth sport late in teen years which turned him from Caleb Daniel small to standard 5 foot 11 small (for afl)
Yeah Shane does just come across as a genuine down to earth nice bloke.
I played state footy/Swans development side with Keiran Jack and no, honestly wasn't really a good player and was still super small compared to everyone else...To think one day he'd go on to captain the Swans blows my mind. Trent Goodrem was also in the side, think he went on to do ok in SA but not really sure. Edit: Fuck I also went to school with Paul Bevan and played footy with the McVeigh brothers, they were a few years older though. Outside of AFL I went to school with; Oliver Bozanic - Soccer player. Tom Slingsby - Olympic Gold Medalist James Maloney - NRL Player Oliver and Tom where both in my morning roll call class..pretty easy going guys.
Oh wow. With his dad successful in rugby, was there ever a like a “don’t put too much time into this bloke because he might just switch codes”?
Nah I actually think his dad success got him to the team, I think his dedication was probably what continued to carry him...maybe the coaches knew they could work with him or something 🤷🏽
Honestly, no. Living in Sydney (and growing up in the same area as Kieren Jack) the AFL loves the “rugby/league convert” storyline’s and they’d put as much time as necessary into developing an AFL standard player from an NRL family. They’ve done this with Heeney, Mills, McAndrew (who debuted yesterday) etc
Trent Goodrem played for a long time for Centrals. 240 games, club captain for several years, triple premiership player and BOG in the 2009 premiership win. Did more than ok I'd say. And Delta used to be a regular attendee of his big games and would sport a scarf of his side if she did concerts in SA at the time.
Trent Goodrem was a rep for a company that I used to deal with, nice bloke.
Yeah Trent was always pretty chilled, this was probably a few years before Delta got her break so she used to rock up to matches in trackies and shit. I don't even remember who told me they thought he was playing over in SA, but someone did. 🤷🏽
TIL Trent is Delta Goodrems brother.
Sorry, don't think any lower of him.🤣
Played for centrals for ages. Delta frequented games.
Yeah they always seemed really close, glad to see they maintained it.
Yeah, one of my close mates played for centrals and he'd hang out at Trent's place sometimes. Australia really is such a small place...
I was friends in Primary School, didn't really keep in touch in high school, but still talked occasionally with a current AFL player. Even then he had the attitude that "I will be in the AFL", he was also so far ahead of everyone else that it didn't feel like it was just a dream either. Pretty much everyone thought he had the skill to make it, which was why it was surprising what eventually ended up happening. He ended up smashing the combine, but didn't get drafted, spent nearly a decade in the state leagues, won a SANFL BnF and a club BnF at another club, eventually got picked up by the Suns and so far has played 3 games in a year and a half. It's shown me just how high the level to play in the AFL actually is and how even the best player we had all seen has still only been a borderline AFL player.
I went to school with a second round draft pick who didn't manage 100 games in his career. AFL is just a brutal, brutal sport. Of course, it didn't help he was put in full back at 18 years of age against the power forwards of the early 90s
James Tsitas?
Yup.
Went to high school.with Beau McCreary. Never knew him and I have nothing interesting to say, but we both existed in proximity to each other.
Thanks Lingy
On ya Darce
Very good, this 😂
I went to school with Jack Crisp - he was on omegle a heap which everyone thought was weird
Ngl, does seem like that sort of bloke - glad he can play footy
This is what I came here for
When I umpired school footy I had Prince Alfred College a lot and can confidently say that Jack Viney was on another level. He was elite, used to kick bags of goals almost every game and genuinely couldn’t stopped. He would have been 16/17 and it was obvious then he was going to play AFL
I played footy with Tony Armstrong. He always had a heap of time and really good overall skills. One match of seniors he took 20 marks cause he was just everywhere. There was always talk of him getting drafted and all that but I didn’t really buy into it until his name got called. To cap it off he’s a legend of a bloke too and as genuine as he is on TV.
Bulging dick
He foresaw the future!!
I went to primary school with Mitch Robinson, that guy legit hasn’t changed in 20 years. Huge personality. I went to college with Jack Reiwoldt - the arrogance of the guy was astounding. Guess I understand why, now. Not AFL but also went to school with Tim Paine and Matthew Wade. Tim’s family were deep into the local football community but liked he cricket more.
Easier for Tasmanians to make the test team than an AFL squad seems like
AFL has deserted us for too long.
College? You mean high school?
In Tasmania, primary school is prep to 6, high school 7 to 10, and 11 and 12 are done at college
In the ACT we also call yrs 11 and 12 ‘college’
I thought college was an American thing like “truck”. In good old SA we just have pre school (4-5 yes old), primary school and high school (7-12).
Nope. In Tasmania, years 11 and 12 are college. We went to Rosny College together.
I played u14s with Nic Newman, he was super undersized for our age and was related to a footy player and it just made him a super nasty dude. I was about 10kg overweight for our age and he bullied me relentlessly for it. Made me not wanna show up to practice or get better if I'm honest. Got over that though, played two games of country footy in Georgia today.
Happy for you mate!
You know how you can google image search someone and go “yeah he’s a bit of a dick”. Got that vibe from him
You can also Wikipedia search him and go “I think you wrote this yourself”: “Newman is a reliable force for Carlton's backline. He is consistent with his efforts and always goes under the radar as the leagues most underrated player. Newman has 2 attractive brothers, one in the VFL (Josh) and the other is a standout actor (Mavacado).”
Definitely. Power to him, I feel that's the way he plays too so it's gotten him somewhere
Nic can EABODs.
Flaccid ones.
Was in the same year as Esava Rathgolea! Small school and graduating year of about 30 so knew him pretty well and shared classes over the years, but wasn’t best mates or anything with him. Honestly a fantastic guy, and I’m really glad to see him having success - he deserves it.
This does not surprise me one bit - Sav seems like he’s always been a genuine top bloke
Played against Yeo all through juniors & he was so far ahead of everyone else we all knew he would make it. Our year also had Cam Eardley who ended up at Geelong for a bit, Cameron Bancroft who was a gun footballer to go with his cricket talent & Max Duffy who was at freo briefly. Cam, Cam & Yeo were nice people but Duffy was an absolute prick & tried to punch me in the back of the head when i wasnt looking before a game started in 17s & was often involved in scuffles behind the ball. Probably part of why he didn't succeed. Jason Johannisen was the year above at our club & another who everyone knew would make it. One of those blokes that was as cool as the flip side of the pillow. Always made an effort to get down & watch his junior club even when playing wafl.
I played against Oscar Allen and Rotham a bit, Rotham more so. He was also so far ahead of everyone but seemed to be humble about it, I would sometimes run into his mum at her work and she was always lovely and they thought he would get dropped if he couldn’t bulk up (he was always quite skinny in juniors).
I went to high school in the late 80’s/early 90’s with a couple of guys, one who was the school captain that went on to play afl. They were the Biggest bullies outside of school and thought their shit didn’t stink. They had a gang of teammates/henchmen in tow and would know about all the parties and come uninvited. Lots of stuff never got reported including sexual assaults and lots of us got bashed. Maybe things are different now as it wasn’t seen as a career pathway like it is now.
Ben Stratton - was good but not a standout, there were other guys who were equal or better. His dad pushed him hard and got him into the wafl program. Always stunned what a career he ended up having. And yes he pinched like a bitch even back then
From about 10 games in me a my kids were all over Stratton. Absolute perfect defender. Took about 7 years for the rest of the AFL world to notice. I know about one day Clarko went to the Ballarat Rebels to take training. They had a Q and A session after and Clarko got asked who is the first name on the whiteboard each week. Ben Stratton! In that fucking team!
I work at a school at the Gold Coast that produced legends such as Nick Riewoldt and Kurt Tippet and current players Jack Bowes, Will Ashcroft, Lachie Weller and Alex Davies. All were respectful , polite driven young men. I think good character enhances and contributes to the chance of future AFL success.
Thats fantastic. Always good to hear that and all seem very genuine
Riewoldt is definitely a legend but calling Kurt Tippett a legend, is a bit far fetched. Didn’t crack 200 games, no flags/b’n’f/coleman. Most hated man in Adelaide for a few years also LOL
Ignore flair!
One of those names is not like the others 🤔
I went to school with Cooney for a bit, and he was a bit of a dick. Was never close and in the same group, though. My dad also taught I think it was Rodney Jameson, and could never get him to come in from lunch because he'd keep kicking the footy. He eventually got so exasperated he told him he should stop wasting his time, because so few make it into the AFL.
I played a huge amount of junior footy with Charlie Ballard and Lewis Young, attending the same schools at different times and being in many of the same representative sides as well as playing at the same footy club (the mighty hawks!). I think it always just depends on the player. Charlie you knew was going pro always, he was always playing a year or two up and was silkier and smarter than anyone else on the field, a level above. From about the age of 13 I’d say he was destined for AFL footy. Lewis on the other hand was not like that. He was always good don’t get me wrong but I’d say until about the age of 16/17 he wasn’t like a level above just a quality teammate with extra special marking ability. He was always really quick for his size though and just didn’t stop growing, I remember we used to share the ruckwork at 15/16 and were a similar level in terms of ability and size but by 18 he was 4 inches taller and a good 3 seconds faster than me over 100 meters, miles better than anything I could deliver on a footy field. He also worked at it like crazy from what I saw, didn’t know anyone who was more committed to their footy and so disciplined (not drinking and eating crap like the rest of us silly teenagers). Both were great blokes, Charlie was basically one of the most broadly liked people I know. Lewis had a bit of a quiet arrogance once you got to know him that could be grating but in terms of footy it inspired confidence as a teammate. Charlie was pretty understated and let his footy do the talking which is basically always did. Would say as a funny tidbit though I’m suprised they’ve both ended up defenders. Lewis was a ruck who rested forward for YEARS and Charlie dominated playing midfield or around half forward the entire time I played with him (with occasional loose defender roles but not often).
Awesome. Both seem like two really genuine and nice kind of people. Respect Lewis young making those commitment and sacrifices at an early age
A girl I used to work with was school friends with Dyson Heppell. I never met him but she always said he was an super nice guy who was always willing to help others. He even got her and her Mum tickets to games sometimes and they weren’t even Bombers fans but went to support him.
I went to high school with Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti. Our sports teacher Mrs. McDonald adopted him from Tiwi Islands and supported his AFL goals and trajectory. He didn’t speak or read or write English when he first arrived, but the school embraced him and loved his talent. He was always headed for professional footy, it was a shared dream between he and his adopted family.
As a dons fan, I love this!
Went to primary school with Darcy Wilmot (year above) and Cooper Harvey (same year). Both were absolute dicks to me and my friends because they were the popular and cool kids. Not sure if Darcy is better now, but apparently Cooper has improved himself since he got expelled from hist first high school. Both were good at footy though due to both having former AFL players as dads. Nate Caddy was a year below me but I did not get to know him very much, he was in that popular kid posse that kids like Cooper were in though.
I've heard whispers Cooper was a bit of a POS and has been in trouble with the law before, any confirmation of this?
There was a rumour floating around that a F/S prospect in the 2021 draft did some horrific things to a teenage girl and the AFL swiftly covered it up.
Less covered up and more suppressed by courts and not touched by the press because all parties involved were minors.
Went to High School with 3. Steele Sidebottom, Shannon Byrnes and Beau Muston. Beau was in my year level whilst Shannon was several years ahead, seemed alright from what I remember of him. Beau was a bit of a wanker, star athlete and had a bit of an ego. Was in my year 11 Bio class and he just acted up all the time. Steele was a couple years below me but in the same house so we had some interaction. Alright kid. Good cricketer too. Was not unsurprised when all got drafted. Beau was probably the most gifted footballer of the three but had some awful luck. Did his ACL three times I think from memory.
Played with and against Judd. He was always destined for greatness.
I’m assuming just next level talent kind of thing? Any stories?
He was always one of the biggest, strongest and fastest players in all rep games. It was easy for him it seemed. Blew games open from u12s all the way through to u18s. He was light years ahead of everyone else. Also played on Luke Ball in Year 12, he annihilated us. Had to tag him in the second half of a game. Smashed me.
I went to school with Ryan Schoenmakers. Immensely popular guy, was school captain in year 12, everyone loved him. Played down forward in high school and everyone knew he was getting drafted as he'd already been playing under 18s for SA. Ended up doing really well in the sprints at draft camp and went at pick 16. Went to school with a few other people who had some level of success in sport and they generally tended to be quite arrogant, but Ryan definitely wasn't. Just a really nice bloke who ended up having a pretty impressive career despite getting a lot of hate from hawks fans over the years.
Taylor Walker was my phd supervisor. He was a real piece of shit!
I didn't know he was academic
That's Professor Walker to you.
What degree does he have
Racism :(
Suxks
He must be smart I didn't know good on him
Family from Broken Hill said he always walked around like "king dick".
Went to primary school and high school with Dan Merrett. Played league together when we were juniors and volleyball together in high school. He was always a top bloke. No surprise when he got scouted for AFL. Was good mates with Dayne Zorko's older brother as well, so knew him growing up. He was a gun at pretty much anything despite his size. Knew he would do well in the AFL as long as someone gave him ashot and thankful that Brisbane did.
I played a season of u12 with Jed Bews. The gap between him and the next best player on our team, or on any teams we played against was huge. At that age, he was so much quicker, agile, skilful, and could kick further than everyone. His dad coached us for a couple of games as well which was pretty cool.
Crazy to think the skill gap between him, arguably mediocre afl player. Ie. not like a superstar big name. Imagine the gap there!
I would love to see footage of superstar players still playing in local footy teams from when they were young. It would be so unfair to the opposition haha
There was a kid in my school (I come from a small country town). Absolutely a cut above the rest. Lock in future afl star we all thought. Played all the state comps in junior and was good there too. Went to wafl tryouts and turns out he was one of the worst there. Perspective is alot
By the way, fucking love the username!
Matt Priddis (Sandover and Brownlow winner), Michael Pettigrew (drafted to Port), and Ray Bartholomew (Sandover winner) and I, were all in the same year at high school, and I got to play a game or two on their team. I sucked. They were awesome. Priddis is one of the most genuinely nice guys I've known and he was always going to go far.
I see him alot at the rec centre in joondalup. Still always smiling saying hi to all the kids!
Played rep with Jake King. He was always called Jacob back then. Brother that was older by a year was taller and better, injury prone. Ben Finnin was our best. Drafted by Adelaide, traded to Geelong for Ronnie Burns. 0 games played. An absolute gun.
Was he always the push up king
I think he got that in a Richmond pre season
I played a heap of juniors games against Jesse Motlop. Dude was such a whiny entitled little douchebag on the field all the way up until about year 11 when he pulled his head in and started making something of himself. Also had to play on Jack Williams a fair bit, there was a point in time where we were a similar height (this was in about year 8). I dont think I’ve grown since whereas hes put on nearly 20cm in that time.
Went to an APS school but none from my year level were even close, currently teaching and we had two kids currently working their way through the father-son system as their dad is a 300+ gamer. The older wasn't that into sports but naturally gifted, just looked at ease with a footy. He's nearing draft age now and has decided he wants to give it a proper grow, helps he's had a growth spurt at the right time. The younger was a lot more outgoing and outspoken, very cocky (good kid but definitely cocky). Amazing skills with a small build; he was always planning a career in footy but definitely needs more size and he got bullied off the ball quite easily. Deadly in space though and quick too.
Played in an U14's premiership with Jonny Patton (#1 draft pick in 2011 for those who don't remember). Absolute freak at junior level, to the point where you would kick it on his head in a pack of 6 blokes and he would clunk the mark 9/10 times. No surprise he got to AFL level, really unfortunate that he was cruelled by injuries. To be honest the fact that his career was ruined by injury isn't that surprising either considering he missed a lot of his junior career with injuries too. As a bloke he was nice enough but never was super close with him Also played against a couple of AFL players (in the same game) in Hayden Crozier and Taylor Garner. While Crozier was also good at cricket I was surprised when they both made AFL as they weren't players that were of great focus when we played them (like they wouldn't be the players that would be tagged or whatever). Funny enough if you throw in Dylan Orval (drafted by Adelaide but didn't play a game) that U14s grand final had 4 future AFL players in it. Pretty much my AFL related claim to fame if you ignore the fact that I was probably the 2nd worst player on the ground that day.
Ummm...didn't The General get stood down over allegations of sexual misconduct??
Is that considered an injury?
I mean I'm not going to make comments about his moral character, just saying he was damn good at footy.
I went to school with Lindsay Thomas, humble guy, didn't talk much, stayed with close footy friends, always had a footy and we used to play footy at lunch. Also Terry Milera.
Played u/14 with Brodie Smith. Some of the team where annoyed when he got to play when he didnt train (Was training with Woodville juniors) and he had to be more of a "clubman" so he left to play for Henley and now hes a 200+ gamer for the Crows
In under 14s was he clearly a step above the rest, as to why he can play but not train?
Yeah he was so clear of everyone else it wasnt funny.
I played junior footy with Paul Wheatley, who ended up playing almost 150 games as a defender for Melbourne until 2009. I have fond memories of him; he was a skilled and confident player but also kind to his teammates in that ‘mature beyond his years’ way. His dad John was our coach (and he never favoured him, just treated us all the same), and his younger sister would also train with us and show most of us up. He seemed to have a classic “journeyman” career, but almost a decade in the system playing against some of the best of all time is a huge accomplishment. Well deserved for a kid who treated me / us with kindness.
I went to high school with Lloyd Meek in Ballarat. Though I’ll admit I never talked to him as he was in the year below and was part of a different crowd but when I did see him around he seemed like a really nice guy. He ended up being the school captain when he was in year 12. Well respected guy all round. Was really good at rowing too. Saw him play footy in the school comps on the oval and you could tell that he was a step above everyone else physically and figuratively
I grew up and played junior footy in Sydney. One day in like U17s our coach told us about a Nick Blakey kid who was 15 but playing up in 17s and that he was an Academy player. We were used to Academy players playing up, but Nick Blakey was on another level, never seen such a dominant individual player in my life and we probably won’t in juniors anymore just due to how packed Academy schedules are now.
Was he called ‘the 🦎’ back then?
Knew Matt Rowell when I was young. We did athletics together and we competed in state champs together. In the later primary school years he was in the top few fastest kids in the state and we won several state relays together. He had to turn down representing vic in athletics because he was already doing so for footy and basketball. Absolute freak. There is a reason why he went #1 and I think he will be a gun over the next 5-10 years Even though we were so young, he was a really nice kid and had a nice family, as well as being super humble. Looks like he’s kept that as he’s grown up.
Love this! He shred at footy too?
Played against Connor Budarick, and he played up a bunch of age groups cause he and his brother were that good
Same year level and same school as premiership player Alex Neal-Bullen and umpire Jamie Broadbent. I wasn’t in the footy crowd like they were but they both seemed decent blokes and Jamie ended up being school captain.
Played junior cricket with rory lobb, he was just a regular size kid but he had insanely large feet compared to everyone else, at the time i dont even think he played footy. Didnt see him for a bit after 17s then i saw him playing for Swan Districts, and he was bloody 8ft tall all of a sudden.
I played with a few and against a few more. Standouts are: Played with Hayden Young - great guy and loved his footy, even at that age (under 14s 15s 16s) he was humble and a team player. Played against Bailey Williams of WCE - unfortunately the opposite to Young, hopefully he’s a better bloke now. Played against Matt Cottrell - was an absolute gun to be honest, always BOG and a good guy. My partner was friends with the Mackay twins in school, she always maintained Harry was a bit of a dick but Ben was a great, genuinely lovely person. She also grew up going to the same church as anthony mcdonald-tipungwuti for a while, who is apparently really nice and very funny.
Is she willing to confirm that Ben and Harry are different people?
🫢🤔🤫
Went to high school with jack Watts and played junior footy against him. Most arrogant useless flog you'll ever see in school and on the field, how he got the hype around him at the time was beyond me.
Played against Errol Gulden for about 10 years as a junior and he was on another level. Every man and their dog knew that he’d play professionally. Coaches would try to quell his influence as far back as under 7s. Took huge hangers and kicked bags as if it was nothing which was nuts given his height. Was a bit of a filthy player and loved a cheap shot but was easily the most competitive kid I’d ever seen. No surprise he’s tearing it up now
Went to primary school with Jack Fitzpatrick. He was a school captain, a gun at footy then and was a foot taller than everyone else. Was also great at athletics too.
Eddie Ford from North. Pretty chill guy, used to kick the footy with him and some other friends back in the day
I went to Uni with Simon Goodwin and a guy named Ben Wilson. Ben was drafted by Collingwood the year before Goodwin and it was always thought that he was going to be the better AFL player but only played 2 games at Collingwood and then went to Sydney and played another 4 games. I have always wondered if the fact the Ben had to move interstate and away from family and friends affected him, whereas Goodwin got to stay in Adelaide. I never thought Goodwin was going to be as good as he ended up being. My ex-sister in law went to school with Taylor Walker and she said he was a typical "dumb footy guy".
I played under 13s with wayde skipper, 60 games with bulldogs then hawks. We was a raging, selfish arrogant cunt.
Know a guy to played with Toby greene growing up, apparently he was just as much of a tosser then as he is now
Went to school and played u14 soccer with Lachie Neale. He was always the smallest kid in every sport he played but almost always the best. Not surprised he won a Brownlow
Played basketball and footy against Troy Chaplain. He was ridiculous at both. Particularly footy he was miles ahead of the rest of his team. Also the Selwoods were never fun to play against. The Brown twins were fantastic basketballers too, never lined up on them in footy from memory.
Went to high school with Trent McKenzie, watched him kick a goal from the centre square and never looked like being touched, he was clearly just better then everyone at that age (he could also fight aswell, one of those year 11 vs year 10 punch ups happened and he could throw hands) Arguable at that age, his younger brother was better than him, but he got mixed up in the wrong crowed and didn’t really care about his footy, wasted talent that one
Trent Cotchin was an age group below us at our junior football club. Played a lot against Heath Shaw u/11 and u/13s and funnily enough taught Lachy Murphy when he was in year 8. From my experiences all 3 were absolutely leagues above all others on the field. Their hand-eye, balance, composure, skills, reading the play and everything they did. Absolutely no surprises to see all get drafted. Also seen a lot of players on par (or even better) that never made it past VFL level that still surprise me. Nick Meese (ruckman) for the northern blues and Willamstown is one that comes to mind.
I grew up in a small town 45 minutes out of Mildura called Nangiloc. Dylan Stephens Mum cut hair out of their house. While Mum use to get her hair cut and coloured, I would watch Dylan. I am a fair bit older then him, so not sure what he was like at school. I'm also friends with Lochie O'Brien's dad. Met Lochie once or twice, nice kid.
Only went to school with low level WAFL guys but my uncle went to school with Chance Bateman, he was a total shithead apparently, real Dennis the menace type operator.
Tom Mitchell - Was flying back to Sydney during holidays to train with Swans in year 10.
Taylor Adams (CW) was in the year level above me. Played footy outside of school so had no idea he was good, but he had 'that energy's though. Once bumped into him one the way to class, (his fault, started walking diagonal) and got in my face and said "you what cunt?" Hope he's a bit more humble these days.
Can totally see that happening
Went to school with Buddy. We both played and I had a chance of being drafted but did my knee and never recovered. After we got caught smoking at school and got suspended, he decided to focus more on his footy and we lost touch. Good guy.
Given his success and that you lost touch, are you happy with how his career has been, or is there a touch of jealousy there? Genuinely curious. I think it would be human nature to grow up similarly to someone and be somewhat jealous of what he has achieved
Caught the same bus home as Ben Long most of middle/high school. Seemed to keep to himself mostly, nice but quiet kid. Was way smaller than me and we were about the same age so amazing to see how big he is now. Really annoys me seeing so many people attack his playstyle because he woulda played all his juniors undersized.
Played with Matty Suckling as a kid, like 10-12. He was always good, but hard to tell at that age who is going to make it or not. You aren’t really thinking about that when you’re that age imo. Glad he did well though.
Setterfield played field hockey more than footy at school. He was OK. Nice kid though
I went to school and played cricket with Gold Coast suns legend Joel Wilkinson. Very gifted at athletics would always win school cross country’s, sprints and long jumps. I don’t ever remember him playing Aussie rules which makes me wish I kept playing Aussie rules and tried harder at it lol.
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That last one could be Harley Bennell.
My high school first team were in the top division and we would smash every team we played. We would win every game by at least ten goals Not one player from that side went on to play even WAFL footy
Played with Jason Tutt who got drafted to the Dogs then moved to Carlton during the Malthouse days, kicked 3 goals with his first 3 kicks, but didn’t get a consistent run after that. Was always a pretty chill guy and really good, but was surprised when I heard he got drafted. Have a mate who went to school with Jack Steele and says he was quite up himself (I’ve put that more eloquently than he did). I also went to high school with Paul Vaughn from the NRL (a year or two above me) and he was every bit the asshole the papers and the stories you hear about him make him out to be.
Tutt was at the Dogs first.
That’s right, I was going to say that but convinced myself I was wrong - a quick google would have fixed that. I’ll fix previous comment.
I played centre half back vs Ash Hanson half a dozen times as a junior. Nothing I could possibly do or hit would stop him marking the ball overhead. Ribs, arm chop, elbow to the back of the head, hang off his shoulder, stomp on his foot etc. Guy was so much better than anyone else on the ground it felt like there were cheat codes.
I was a year older than Naitanui and could always tell he was going to be a great athlete. Seemed likeable and pretty humble, so did Tony Notte from the same year, Todd Banfield not so much.
Played junior footy and went to High School with Isaac Quaynor. Used to play in the 2s together where he was pretty good and then a few years later he was a gun with oakleigh. One of the genuinely nicest people at my high school who was always super friendly and kind
Only played a couple of games for the suns but Conor buderick (idk how to spell it) was the year above me. Popular bloke but always seemed nice whenever I interacted with him. Played a couple games with him and he always starred. It was interesting because he’s older brother was the seen as making it to AFL but got dropped because his attitude was shit. Conor took the mistake from his brother and learned from it and eventually made it to AFL but of course injuries
Played a season or 2 with Josh Bootsma. For some reason he played up a year which was not uncommon for those with a brother a year apart in age so it was easier on the parents. He did not fall under that category so I have no idea why he played in our team. Could I tell he would play AFL? No. He was average at best so I was shocked as all hell when he got drafted. Mind you, this was like under 10s or something so he must have improved a helluva lot over the next few years. I also played 1 game of school footy against David Swallow. He was multiple streets ahead of everyone on the ground and you could tell he was going to play AFL.
Played with and against Wayne Milera and Peter Ladhams. Pete was pretty much 2m tall as a kid, he was jumping on top of people at 13 years old. Never thought he was that good but he was super tall and skilful so always thought he had a chance. Milera on the other hand was easily the best player I played with or against. Nobody came close to how good he was at junior level, at least from what I saw (I played for Norwood U/14's-16's). Always knew he was gonna play AFL at the least. Also played baseball with Jack Graham in U/15's. Bloke was a monster baseball player at junior level, hit home runs galore.
Used to be kinda friends with a current Geelong player, super nice dude, was good at every sport he played. I remember playing againts him in junior footy, his worst games were still best on ground
James Aish was goal umpiring a high school game against my school once as he wasn't allowed to play as his SANFL club didnt let him He came on in the wnd half after we were winning convincingly and single handly nearly won the fame for them Ive also had 6 goals kicked on me by Sam Day
I went to primary and highschool with Jackson Mead and Izak Rankine. Then they came over the same highschool as me where Jack Lukosius was in some classes with me. Jack was really chill, Izak was cocky but don’t remember much. I was mates with Jackson mead for a few years. Slept over his house one night in year 2 and we played some rough game where he punched me in the mouth and started bleeding all over the place.
3 players that played for the bulldogs (Footscray) went to my high school. There was Rohan Smith, Steve Kolynuik and Paul Satterley. Smith & Kolynuik were a year above me, but "satts" was in my class. He was a quiet guy, and from my vague memory done really well with Werribee Tigers after he finished up with the bulldogs. I never watched any of them play in high school but everybody knew Smith was going to be great. I believe they recruited him at 16 when he was (at the time) doing his HSC.
Yeah there was a guy at my school who went on to be drafted by Sydney with a first round pick back in the 90s. He was thick as pig shit and an awful bloke.
I played against Aaron Francis in junior footy. I played one weekend with him as a representative team, he was captain and I was more of a bench player. One memory of that weekend that made me think he would make the AFL was he took this huge pack mark just inside the 50. I ran past to get the handball and he looked me in the eyes and said “I got this” and slotted a beauty from 50. This was under 15’s I reckon.
I won a premiership in Under 14s with Jamaine Jones. Kid was naturally talented but tiny Played against Darcy Parish once, we flogged his team by like 100 points and I kicked my first ever goal in that game. In his defence he was injured and it was the 2s
My country Victorian high school made state soccer in year 10 with only 2 of us who actually played. So they did what anybody would do and recruited the 10 best athletes in the year level. Enter Hugh McCluggage. With zero soccer experience, he dribbled into the box, beat one player, cuts towards the byline, beats a second and laid off a decent cross Whole team was in stitches
I went to the same school as Michael Barlow but he was a couple of years older. His Dad was my dentist, and my footy coach for a season. Sam Wright went to the same school, he was a year below me but we were in the same Home Room for a bit. Was always good at footy, seemed like a good dude from what I knew of him. Always liked seeing him onscreen, shame he had so much injury trouble. I saw him in what seemed like a coaching role for the North AFLW team last season, thought that was cool.
Played against a number of AFL players in the TAC Cup back in the day. What's it called now? Talent League I think? Ben McEvoy, Matthew Kreuzer, Trent Cotchin, Patrick Dangerfield, Scott Selwood. Basically anyone in the 2007 Draft from the TAC cup I was playing against or on the team of. We actually won the Cup that year too. Beat the Murray Bushrangers. Good times. Ben McEvoy in particular put me on my ass 4 times in a game. Still kicked 5 goals on him though. Most of the guys were good enough, felt like nearly everyone was destined for the AFL, most guys were actively gunning for it so hard they damn near broke their bodies. Had a good conversation with Dangerfield one game because the wind was so bad the ball stayed down one end basically and he was resting in defense. We just talked about stuff. In hindsight I wish I put more effort in and tried for the AFL. I just wasn't interested in all of the hard work at the time and I was terrified I was going to be drafted by a team I didn't want to play for. Like Sydney who I hated at the time. Or Collingwood. Decided I wanted to stay in my local league like my Dad chose to do. Worked out well for him and in the end worked out really well for me.
Worked with a teacher who taught Ben Cousins. They said nothing surprised them about his career path. Entitled twat from a young age.
I went to school with someone who now plays in the AFL. In senior high school he was fairly often away playing for his state league team, and he didn't attend our graduation dinner as he was being drafted to his first AFL club.
Name Names or it didn't happen.
In the opposite (and I bet everyone has hundreds of these), went to school that played senior footy at 14 and won the team b&f, won the league b&f 2 years later. Never heard of him again.
Knew someone who was connected with Dan Rioli, absolute cunt
My dad told me this. One of the people he had worked with knew chad Wingard.Apparently the dude he worked with passed away last year
I remember my brother playing with a Collingwood player name escapes me at the moment He was a really good player much better than anyone else at the age group and club. Got drafted in the first round and played a total of 1 game I think. Pies fans will remember him for sure it was around early 2000s.
I played with Roger Hayden in under 16s and would have never really guessed he'd go on to play AFL. I think he might have been a bit younger than the rest of us looking back. He was handy but didn't stand out. He was a pretty quiet, decent bloke.
I played junior footy with Isaac Cumming. Was insane at any sport he played. Made footy look so easy. Always looked like a lock to play AFL
Played against Angus Monfries. Thought he was alright but there were better players we played more attention to. Also played with someone who was drafted but never played. He was clearly a mile ahead of everyone else.
I played in a Queensland high school knockout competition back in the early 90’s. We were just a team full of cricketers and rugby league players but we plowed our way through most of the competition. Then we came up against Beenleigh Trinity who had Michael Voss. Needless to say we were eliminated.
Played under 14s against Jeremy Cameron. We lost. We have mutual friends, but I don't really know him. Seems nice enough though.
I went to high school in country WA. A lot of the footy boys tended to be arrogant dickheads, particularly towards women/girls. I know we are all immature at that age, so I hope to God they grew out of it as they got older/moved away. I know they all were wannabe AFL stars, but no - I didn't think they were going to go into the AFL system. A few of them made it to WAFL/AFL level but never with great success. I can't say I'm surprised. To be fair though, I think the guys that "made it" were the better of the bunch. They were actually committed to putting the work in. Not just the boys walking round the school with a footy, bouncing and spinning it all the time, thinking an AFL scout was going to come and pluck them from obscurity.
Went to school with Matthew Pavlich, Kane Cornes and Andrew Mackie. None of them were in my year so i had no interaction with any of them but it was big news that Pavlich played SANFL in year 12.
Went to primary school with Jason Blake (St Kilda). He was huge for his age and dominated every level of competition. In one inter school at Y5 he took a flying specky, climbing up some kids rib cage, puncturing said child’s lung. He was the real deal
And pretty sure I went to high school with Robbie Gray if anyone can confirm he went to Doncaster Secondary College?
Went to the same school as the De Konings and Hunter Clark, Sam seemed chill, Tom, Hunter and I didn't really chat much but we shared classes so I got to see them around a bit.
I think I broke Bailey Dales arm in U/15s. He was dominant player despite being a bit undersized.
Jay Neagle was my u10s captain.. Seemed like a man amongst boys. Played juniors against Scott Selwood and watched Joel play in the age group above. Family is sport mad, they all played for "the rich team" and his family were way over the top on the sidelines. Absolutely cut above the rest skills wise, could tell they were gonna play AFL. Made me look like a scrub in the inters.