Author Topic: Troy Taylor [merged]  (Read 107021 times)

Offline WA Tiger

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Re: Pick 51. Troy Taylor
« Reply #15 on: November 26, 2009, 11:51:15 PM »
Welcome to the club Troy, can't wait to see you in action!!
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Offline Smokey

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Re: Pick 51. Troy Taylor
« Reply #16 on: November 28, 2009, 03:34:31 PM »
Good article on the Age site today.  Really liked the bit at the bottom with the players getting in touch.  Also interesting about the lack of welfare/development resources - Casey really did screw our club over big time.   >:(

New horizons
EMMA QUAYLE
November 28, 2009
Troy Taylor at Alice Springs.

Troy Taylor at Alice Springs. Photo: Steve Strike

TROY Taylor work up early on Thursday morning and stayed in bed for a while, staring up at the ceiling. This was the day he had been waiting for. Which club would call his name out in the draft? Would any club call his name out? Taylor knew he would be moving to a new city this weekend, but which one would it be? 'This is strange,' thought the teenager, 'but I don't really feel too nervous here.'

The calm didn't last. As the draft telecast started, Taylor felt confident, if not entirely convinced, that he would be picked. Then the names started to roll from the recruiters' lips.

He wasn't in the first round. He wasn't called in the second. He wasn't there in the third, and then he started to wonder: will someone pick me? His legs starting twitching and his mother Tania - who knew nothing about football until a few months ago, let alone the drafting process - reminded him that Adam Goodes had been a late pick.

''I was waiting, waiting and waiting,'' he said. ''I was nervous when it started, then I got 100 times more nervous. My mum just kept telling me: calm down.''

For the clubs, deciding whether to draft Troy Taylor was not merely a matter of deciding whether he could be a good player for them - whether or not they liked him, whether or not he suited them.

They also had to determine whether they were a place that could bring out the best of his speedy feet, quick hands and instinctive eye for the impossible goal. They had to decide whether they suited him, in a sense.

Four months ago, The Age met Taylor at the end of the national under-18 championships. Having only just joined the Northern Territory team in April, he had caught some major eyes throughout the six-week tournament.

Managers wanted to speak with him, the Gold Coast wanted to sign him and Taylor wasn't entirely sure what to make of all the fuss. A few months earlier, in February, he had been sitting inside Darwin's Don Dale youth detention centre completing a four-month stay, the result of helping his mates rob a convenience story as a 16-year-old, regularly breaking his curfew and some assaults.

Then, the teenager would never have imagined playing in front of AFL scouts, let alone being drafted, but he shared his story because he wanted the clubs to know he understood what he had done and was absolutely certain that he didn't want any more trouble.

By the draft camp in October he had knocked back an offer to join the Gold Coast and been interviewed by Collingwood, Port Adelaide and the even-more-interested Fremantle and North Melbourne, who flew to Alice Springs to meet him.

Being convinced by Fremantle that it had the players, off-field mentors and structure to look after Troy was the major factor in his decision to enter the draft: initially concerned at the prospect of her son ending up in Perth, Tania felt more comfortable with the idea by the end of their meeting. And so, Troy began the long wait that ended at pick 51 on Thursday night, with Richmond the club to call his name out.

Like everyone, the Tigers had done their research. Like every club, they had been emailed the list of basic probation conditions that Troy's manager Jason Dover had worked hard with the Northern Territory Department of Justice, the AFL and the Players Association to draw up, so that he could transfer interstate. They'd taken time to wonder whether they would be a good fit for Troy, too.

Francis Jackson, the Richmond recruiting manager, has no doubt some clubs were put off by Troy's past. He believes that three or four years ago, the Tigers would not have been in a position to offer Taylor both the on and off-field support he knows he will need to settle in and become what he is capable of. But in calling his name, he had no doubt Punt Road would be a place where he could thrive. ''There was no question on his footy ability. He doesn't fully understand the requirements of professional footy yet and patience will be a virtue, but I think we're in a far better position to give Troy the support and development he needs than we would have a few years ago,'' said Jackson, pointing out that when he started at Richmond three and a half years ago, the club had no fully-devoted welfare or development staff.

Now, there are four. ''I think we're far better resourced in that area now, and we're in a good position to give Troy the help he needs not just to succeed in footy, but with every other part of his life,'' Jackson said. ''He'll do the AFLPA traineeship, but we've talked about him continuing his education and through our indigenous centre we think there will be some opportunities for Troy to be involved in some indigenous community stuff here at the club, which is another positive. He'll have a good role model in Richard Tambling and, of course, we needed to take everything into account when we drafted him. Everyone deserves a chance. It's going to take him some time to understand what professional footy is - I'm sure he doesn't understand that yet - but he's a very talented player and we're willing to put a lot of effort into making sure that we bring that talent out.''

Dover, who has looked after Troy for the past few months, will now start working with the Tigers to help both parties make the transition. Grateful for the Department of Justice's enthusiasm for Taylor's draft prospects, he believes a football club is the ideal place for him to be.

''Everyone associated with Troy has always thought that if we could get him into the system - any club within the system - it was going to be the best thing for him to get his life back on track,'' Dover said.

''It's structured, it's disciplined, and his peers are going to help get him on the right track simply through living the lifestyle they live.

''Whereas previously he's been misled, now we're hoping he'll be well led. We were saying the other day, if he gets good people around him, who lead him in the right direction, it can only be a positive.

''It's exciting, because this is where it all starts for him now. He's been given an opportunity and I don't think he underestimates that. There are plenty of kids who miss out, and he understands that.''

Taylor wasn't even looking when his name flashed up on the television screen: the screaming of his family and friends let him know something had happened, and before long he was holding simultaneous conversations on two or three different phones. He had a call from his new coach Damien Hardwick, another from Tambling, another from Brett Deledio, another from fellow Centralian Liam Jurrah and one from his uncle: Ernie Dingo. Later, text messages from numerous other Tigers, Jack Riewoldt and Ben Cousins among them, came through.

Weird? Yes. ''Ben was just saying good on you Troy, I'm glad you're at the Tigers and look forward to having a kick with you,'' Taylor said.

''I didn't have any of their numbers, so I was always getting to the bottom of the message, seeing their name and thinking: what?

''I'm just happy now that it's happened. I can't wait to get down to the big footy town and get stuck into it, start working hard.

''I never thought it would happen to me so this is a good chance and I'm looking forward to it. I just hope I can get a game next year now. I'll be trying my hardest to.''

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/new-horizons-20091127-jwzs.html

Offline tiger101

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Re: Pick 51. Troy Taylor
« Reply #17 on: November 28, 2009, 08:55:35 PM »
Welcome to the club Troy, hope you reach your full potential and have a long and great career at the TIGERS
 :gotigers


Offline crannyvegas

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Re: Pick 51. Troy Taylor
« Reply #18 on: November 28, 2009, 11:23:53 PM »
This is probably a soft/big call, but i reckon this kid will debut round 1 with The Aston.
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Offline peggles

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Re: Pick 51. Troy Taylor
« Reply #19 on: November 28, 2009, 11:35:57 PM »
This is probably a soft/big call, but i reckon this kid will debut round 1 with The Aston.

would be nice to see but i doubt it.  simply not fit enough.  only joined NT thunder around april so only had about 7 months of formal organised training.  Hence obviously talented and skillful but engine not there yet.  more likely later in the season. 

Offline crannyvegas

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Re: Pick 51. Troy Taylor
« Reply #20 on: November 28, 2009, 11:44:26 PM »
This is probably a soft/big call, but i reckon this kid will debut round 1 with The Aston.

would be nice to see but i doubt it.  simply not fit enough.  only joined NT thunder around april so only had about 7 months of formal organised training.  Hence obviously talented and skillful but engine not there yet.  more likely later in the season. 
ahhhh fair fair, i was just making a baseless prediction for the fun of it! Do you think any of the other draftees will debut round 1?
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Offline peggles

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Re: Pick 51. Troy Taylor
« Reply #21 on: November 29, 2009, 10:10:47 AM »
This is probably a soft/big call, but i reckon this kid will debut round 1 with The Aston.

would be nice to see but i doubt it.  simply not fit enough.  only joined NT thunder around april so only had about 7 months of formal organised training.  Hence obviously talented and skillful but engine not there yet.  more likely later in the season. 
ahhhh fair fair, i was just making a baseless prediction for the fun of it! Do you think any of the other draftees will debut round 1?

round 1, apart from martin, probably no one else.  Due to the lack of tall forward depth, it could be possible that astbury gets a run if he impresses pre-season (not griffiths as i think due to his recent surgery, he simply wouldn't have had enough of a pre-season).

other than that, if you count mitch farmer as a new recruit, then he's another who could play round 1

Offline Smokey

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Re: Pick 51. Troy Taylor
« Reply #22 on: November 29, 2009, 11:10:38 AM »
If Webberley shows something in the NAB cup then he would be a chance - he is more conditioned than the younger draftees - as in Liam Anthony, Greg Broughton, Robin Nahas etc.

Offline Judge Roughneck

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Re: Pick 51. Troy Taylor
« Reply #23 on: November 29, 2009, 08:53:40 PM »
Was very happy listening to SEN when his name came out @ pick #51

 8)

Offline one-eyed

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New cub Troy Taylor meets Tigers (Centralian Advocate)
« Reply #24 on: December 02, 2009, 05:57:32 PM »
New cub meets Tigers
Max Bennett
01Dec09


CENTRAL Australia's newest AFL star Troy Taylor was welcomed to his new home at Punt Road Oval and has wasted no time impressing his teammates.

Taken at pick 51 by Richmond in last week's AFL National Draft, Taylor has enjoyed a whirlwind couple of days that saw him fly down to Melbourne on Saturday.

He said it has been a full-on experience since he set foot in Melbourne but that he has thoroughly enjoyed every moment.

Taylor said: "It's all happened pretty quickly.

"One minute I'm in Alice celebrating with my friends and family, the next I'm in Melbourne meeting all the players.

"We've been meeting all the staff around the club and meeting sponsors, which has been good, and meeting the leadership group too.

"It's been busy but I've really enjoyed it.''

Meeting with the club's leadership group, club officials and sponsors has been part and parcel of Taylor's short time at Richmond but he was finally given the chance to strut his stuff yesterday at training.

taying with Tiger Will Thursfield until a more settled living arrangement is organised, Taylor is enjoying Melbourne and the unique weather patterns that go with it.

He said: "I'm staying with Will at the moment and he's been really helpful.

"Melbourne's been pretty good but the weather's always changing.

"One minute it's raining, then it's windy and then it gets really hot.''

Today Taylor will meet his new coach Damien Hardwick, with the two likely to discuss future plans for the talented 18-year-old.

He said: "I'll sit down with the coach and discuss what he wants me to do and see what I'll be be doing for the pre-season.''

Taylor will stay in Melbourne until Christmas before returning to Alice Springs for a short break, after which he will head back to Victoria to resume training.   

http://www.centralianadvocate.com.au/article/2009/12/01/5471_sport.html

Offline Owl

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Re: Pick 51. Troy Taylor
« Reply #25 on: December 02, 2009, 06:32:36 PM »
Sounds like he is going to be fine, as long as he keeps out of strife when he goes home for holidays.  He is keen as mustard, and damn talented, what a coup!  :thumbsup
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Offline Penelope

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Re: Pick 51. Troy Taylor
« Reply #26 on: December 02, 2009, 10:29:31 PM »
Sounds like he is going to be fine, as long as he keeps out of strife when he goes home for holidays.  He is keen as mustard, and damn talented, what a coup!  :thumbsup
It was up here in Darwin that he was in with the wrong crowd an got into trouble. I believe his mum moved them to Alice to get away from that so it shouldnt be a problem. (Smart woman)
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Offline Owl

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Re: Pick 51. Troy Taylor
« Reply #27 on: December 03, 2009, 08:48:19 AM »
Fair enough.  He has a dedicated mum there trying to look out for him, big move from Darwin to Alice.  I doff my cap to her and hope it pays off.
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Re: New cub Troy Taylor meets Tigers (Centralian Advocate)
« Reply #28 on: December 03, 2009, 09:01:08 AM »

Today Taylor will meet his new coach Damien Hardwick, with the two likely to discuss future plans for the talented 18-year-old.

He said: "I'll sit down with the coach and discuss what he wants me to do and see what I'll be be doing for the pre-season.''

I like this new initiative from the Tigers, the senior coach actually talking to the young kids.
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Offline someone_noone

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How footy freed a troubled teen (Age)
« Reply #29 on: December 04, 2009, 02:35:34 AM »
How footy freed a troubled teen

Emma Quayle | July 12, 2009
Meet Troy Taylor, a once-troubled 17-year-old with a big future ahead of him. As Emma Quayle learns, he's come a long way already.

THEY saw him for the first time in May, early one Saturday morning. The Northern Territory's under-18 football team was playing the Dandenong Stingrays in a warm-up match for the national championships, and scattered around the cold, suburban oval in Melbourne's south-east was a small group of parents, friends and AFL recruiters, looking for the next big thing.

First, Troy Taylor scooped the ball cleanly off the ground, while running at full pace. He sidestepped an opponent, sliding by him. He kicked two smart, skilful goals. All day, he crunched opponents to the ground, laying six fierce tackles. Within just a few minutes, the recruiters' heads had turned. "There were a group of us, all looking around," said Kevin Sheehan, the AFL's talent manager, "asking: 'Where has this kid been?' "
This time last year, Troy Taylor didn't want to be the next big thing. All of a sudden, football had become boring to him. Growing up in Darwin, the teenager had made the territory's under-14 and under-15 teams, but after he was picked in the under-16 squad, he stopped showing up for training. At school, Taylor had made a couple of new friends, and they had other thoughts on how he should be spending his spare time. On a Saturday night two years ago, when one of them suggested they rob a service station near their homes, Taylor wondered: why would you want to do that? But he was bored, and frustrated. He wanted to fit in, to do what his mates were doing.

When he walked into the store, he turned and walked back out. "It was pretty scary," he said. "Every time I walked in I was thinking: I don't want to do this. But in the end I turned around and thought, let's just do it. I don't know why. There was a lady in there and my mate just told her to give us the money, really, and she did what he said and we took off."
It was scary, but also a rush. "I was pretty happy, you know," Taylor said. "I got a bit of money out of it, so I was sort of happy, just to get a bit of money. I wasn't even thinking properly, but then after a while I got pretty scared. I was just looking at myself, thinking: why would you go and do that?"

Taylor was placed on a good behaviour bond when he was eventually caught three months later. He was placed on a nightly curfew, but this wasn't where his story began to turn around. Instead, he became more angry, more frustrated, more bored. "I kept thinking: I'm missing out on a bit of fun here, so I'd better take off," he says. "And every time I'd take off, the police would come around, and I wouldn't be there." After a while, the teenager's behaviour began to drain the energy of the people who cared about him.

Taylor's mother, Tania, had his siblings to look after at home, and no car. She had also reached a point where she no longer knew what to say to him.

"He didn't listen to anything, to anyone, except for his mates," she told The Sunday Age.

"He didn't want to listen - he was too busy having a good time, getting into trouble. With the police, he sort of knew their pattern, when they'd be around. I kept telling him: 'I'm going to go in and tell them they need to be checking you every day of the week, twice a night.' He said, 'Why would you do that?' and I said, 'Troy, no one knows how to help you any more'."

Taylor found himself in more trouble. He spent a weekend in a detention centre early last year and did a few more weeks here and there. He found himself in court again after "a couple of assaults" and found out there was a final straw.

Where was he, two months before that match against Dandenong? Taylor was sitting in a jail cell, nearing the end of a four-month stay in Darwin's Don Dale Youth Detention Centre after another late, drunken night with his mates ended in another fight.

Even before he was sentenced, the 17-year-old had come to realise this was not, really, how he wanted to live his life. "I was pretty scared about it," he admitted, "but mostly I thought: 'I don't want to be like this any more'." Inside, he started some classes; since his release, he has gone back to repeat year 11, and stuck at it.

His mum found him more willing to listen, and tried to help him look ahead. "I kept saying, 'you've got to come out of here and take your chance,' " she said. "He knew if he messed up another time, he'd be looking at the big place and everyone kept saying to him, 'you just need to come out, do the right thing and have another go at it.' "

She believes that even when she couldn't be there, the same message was pushed. "It was good because a lot of the officers in there were football players as well," she said. "Troy found it hard because his father wasn't around, he didn't have many male role models. But some of those officers had a good influence on him."

For Taylor, a low point came when one of his junior teammates turned up at the centre to host a football clinic. "It was really embarrassing, you know, to see one of my football mates come in and see me locked up," he said. "He looked at me, like: 'What the hell is he doing in here?' I tried to hide myself, I didn't want him to see me."

The four months were long: Taylor felt depressed at times, homesick all the time, and at other points optimistic. "I'd go to court and I'd just be hoping I'd get bail to go home and stay home. I really wanted to go home," he said. "It was a bit scary in that place. I reckon it was the scariest part of my life."

On February 28, he finally walked out. "Just waking up that morning was so good. I couldn't really sleep the night before," he said. "It was good to go outside and see my mum and take off out of the gates. After all that, all my trouble, I was really thinking to myself: I'm just going to change my whole life now and move on and leave all that stuff in the past."

Football has helped him. Taylor moved with his brother Corey and mother to Alice Springs when he was released. Mrs Taylor had got a new teaching job. She wanted to take him away from the negative influences in Darwin, and his guardian, a family friend, Jason Bell, lived there.

He started playing footy for South Alice Springs and, like that Saturday morning in Dandenong, he was noticed within a few minutes. Coaching against Souths in an Easter carnival match, Brett Hand, the territory's under-18 coach, watched Taylor play in the ruck and star. Later, he and Jarrod Chipperfield, the AFL's NT talent manager, sat with the teenager and asked if he wanted to rejoin the program.

Taylor was surprised: "I never thought they'd want me." But to write a kid off at 17, said Hand, was ridiculous. "We sat with Troy and asked him how things were going, and we said: 'What do you want to do?'

"He said, 'I want to go as far as I can with my footy. I see it as a pathway out of trouble.' So he started training with a squad we have in Alice, and he hasn't set a foot wrong since. He's a good kid, a really nice kid. He's done a really good job."

Taylor has come a long way. He starred for the territory at the national championships, a five-match series that finished in Melbourne last week.
Now he has some decisions to make.

Turning 18 later this year, he is able to enter the November player draft and potentially get picked by any AFL club, in any state. But as a Territorian, he is also eligible to sign with the new Gold Coast club, as part of its draft concessions. He met Gold Coast officials after the territory's final game, and flew there yesterday with his mum and Corey. Today, he will debut for the senior NT side in a Queensland state league match against Mount Gravatt.

"He's had a lot to get used to and it's happened in a big hurry," said Chipperfield. "We'll make sure that he gets a good manager and gets some good advice. The kid's head is spinning, but we'll make sure he's clear on all the options."

Taylor's mum has seen her kid's confidence shine in the past few weeks. "It's been such a big turnaround," she said. "I'm pretty proud of him."
Hand has come to know him as a quiet, respectful man who likes to ask questions and follow instructions. "Troy's had a tough life and he's got a long way to go. He knows that, but he's doing well and he's got some good people in his life . . . I just really hope this kid makes it."

And Taylor? He has started over. He wanted to tell his story because he wants people to know where he's been and that he won't be going back. "Footy's the big thing for my life now. It's my path now," he said. "Footy's turned me right around."

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2009/07/12/1247337016523.html