Young cubs on run
Michael Gleeson | April 7, 2007
The Age
DENIS Foley worked on the railways at Colac for years. No one knew him much as Denis, he was "Shunter". His job in the railyards was, as you might have guessed, to shunt the trains in the sheds.
Nathan hasn't followed Shunter into the railways, but he has crafted his own take on his dad's job: he sort of does the same thing at Richmond. He collects the ball and farms it out. Shunts it. Sending it scuttling away on what he thinks is the best track.
Short and lightly framed, although without a small man's electric pace and an uncanny ability to be where the ball was, Foley faced an uphill battle to play AFL. Overlooked for a primary list position, he had to find his way into the game through the rookie system.
Last week against Carlton, Foley got the ball 17 times in the first quarter. He faded once, sat on by Adam Bentick, and finished with 26 for the game, but it was an impressive effort and a career high.
"The way I have always played, I sort of get after the ball and that was always my strength to get possession," Foley said.
"As a youngster, I probably didn't show enough speed and didn't get enough outside ball and maybe wasn't damaging enough with the ball when I got it and that is probably why I missed out on the draft.
"When you are getting after the footy, winning it or not, the same rules apply whatever level you are playing at. You just want to have damaging possessions; you want your ball use to be efficient. You look at a midfield like West Coast and they are all so damaging when they get the ball."
At Richmond, he is one of a clutch of players who form the nucleus of a promising young running troupe typical of the sorts of player coach Terry Wallace favours. Early draftees Brett Deledio and Richard Tambling obviously form part of that group, as do the relatively late blooming sons of stars in Andrew Raines and Shane Tuck.
Richmond has also managed to find another group of players to merge with that quartet. Chris Newman and Chris Hyde have been in the system for some time and both struggled in recent years with serious injuries.
But to Foley, the Tigers have been able to add Dean Polo — at pick No. 20 in the draft, a well-regarded junior selection — who has since proved his high billing.
Originally from Bairnsdale, he arrived in the senior side via the Coburg seconds, then its senior team. And the arrival was emphatic with a Rising Star nomination in his first game and the unreserved backing of his coach who has handed him some of the biggest jobs in the game — playing on the likes of Brett Burton, or Paul Williams in his 300th game and, in a later match, Adam Goodes.
"When I got told (about) Goodes, I was pooting myself. (It was a) big challenge, but the coaches were happy I did OK. I rely on my endurance to wear them down, but Goodes is so athletic, he runs hard all day," Polo said.
Like Foley's in the first quarter last week, Cam Howat made an early impression. His first kick was a goal, after two bounces and a dummied handball. Moments later, Carlton's Bryce Gibbs kicked a goal with his first kick in AFL football. The pair had very different pathways to the AFL. Gibbs arrived via the first pick in the national draft, Howat via Box Hill, Old Carey and Coburg.
He played six games off the rookie list last year and felt he should be rewarded with a senior position at year's end.
"I was annoyed about that and I wanted to come back and prove a point and I got myself as fit as I have ever been and it led to a good pre-season and some good practice match form," Howat said.
"Definitely, it was a disappointment for me not to be promoted immediately. It was a bit of what about me and selfishness. But after sitting down with the coaches, they still felt I had a good chance of playing senior footy this year.
"As a 17, 18-year-old, I was really only a 15 to 16-year-old in build, so I really needed those extra few years at Box Hill to mature physically. I had that time to do some elite training and put some weight on in the gym."
Wallace said the emergence of rookies in Howat and Foley in particular was crucial in crafting a competitive list.
"The nature of the game, if you have a look at Adelaide over the last couple of years when no one expected them to be strong and West Coast's big rise, some of that has been based on finding players out of nothing," Wallace said.
"You need your key players to succeed, but you need to find ones around the periphery as well. When I arrived, I felt we had a lack of run through the middle of the ground and we have developed some running players.
"These guys have only started their careers, but we feel now we have got a group of them and you add the quality of Deledio and Tambling to those guys and we feel have got a group of eight, nine, 10 who can run through the middle of the ground.
"I have always believed that the success of the game is to have that midfield run — and a midfielder now is half-back to half-forward — but the more midfield run you can have, the more likely you are to have success.
"I know there are others who believe it is key-position driven and it is a combination of both isn't it? You want to have both.
"But the best side I have seen, leaving out the sides that I played in, was Brisbane and they were able to combine both."
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