There is also a 2nd article which is more about Emma's book but focuses on Cotch
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Turning their fields of dreams into realityDate
May 23, 2013
Emma Quayle
Football writer with The Age
For five young guns, there has been plenty of hard work.
There was a party at Trent Cotchin's place on the day he was drafted, six years ago. He was 17 and he had reached the end - the end of the hard work, the end of all the hoping, the end of a very long wait. So much effort had gone into making the moment his name was called out by Richmond happen, but the second it did something new started. Trent snuck off to bed early that night, while everyone else kept celebrating. His mind was churning: what would training be like? How soon would he play? How many games would he play? How would it all turn out?
Trent was one of five boys I followed through 2007, for a book called The Draft. He started the year as a possible No. 1 pick, with things to live up to already. Ben McEvoy lived on a farm and travelled hours each week to train and play. Brad Ebert had football in his blood, and so did Cyril Rioli, though some couldn't figure 'Junior' out: he was brilliant, yes, but how badly did he want it? Patrick Veszpremi needed to get fit, to convince recruiters he could run, and had an injured shoulder that needed surgery. All five wanted the same thing - to get drafted - but were going after it from different angles.
The day after the draft, I started writing and by the time the book was done three months later, all five of the boys had become footballers, grown ups. It seemed to happen so quickly. There was still a bit of naivety - Ben would set two alarms each night, to make sure he was never late and the first time Pat went to a supermarket on his own in Sydney he had no idea what to buy, so he went home, checked the pantry to see what his teammates ate, then turned back around. But football had changed for all of them, it's kept changing in the six years since.
All five are the same people they were back then. It would be nice to see things as clearly as Trent, to know exactly what you want. I love the way Ben is able to step back from the at-times absurd world he lives in, and consider it so sensibly. Pat brightens up your day the second you see him and Junior is as humble as he always was, which is why I think people (then and now) seem to always want more from him. He will never talk himself up. Brad was always very curious and conscious of others.
The one thing that has happened is that their worlds have naturally expanded. Trent and Junior are both engaged. Ben has bought his own farm. Pat picked up the phone at the end of last year and called his dad, who he had not seen for years. Brad had always seemed destined to play for Port Adelaide, given his family's long history there. But there was much more to his trade there from West Coast two years ago. He had to think about where he would play his best football. His sister was unwell, and he wanted to be home, helping. But his girlfriend was from Perth. If he moved, what would it mean for them?
All five talk about how physically demanding the game is, how challenging it can be to wake up in the morning and think: 'I have to do that all again?' Pat was a boy when he went to Sydney and thought he was going there to play footy, but suddenly it was about what he weighed, what he ate, trying to get his head around what the coaches wanted and dealing with his own insecurities. Junior, who could barely be bothered with draft camp - the recruiters thought he was disinterested; he wanted to kick a footy around, not taken written tests - has had to painstakingly reconstruct his running style to help his hamstrings cope, and walking into team meetings he still feels a little overwhelmed by how much work there is left to do. Against bigger, stronger, older opponents in his early games Ben felt helpless.
Then there is Trent. He went to Richmond wanting to make a bright start, and couldn't.
He was put on the long-term injury list almost as soon as he got there and wondered if his body was going to let him do what he wanted it to. He is only 23 but he can already see not only the finish line, but the things that will be there: wife, teenage kids, a house at Flinders, a few businesses and charities on the go.
Like the others, he finds the game physically hard, and relentless. He loves the constant challenges - beating the player beside him, being a good captain, helping his team improve - but is already looking forward to it being over.
It's a tough game and it's all they ever wanted to do but no matter how much work they do, they can still never completely control their story. Ben probably puts it best of all. Football ''gives you so much,'' he said, ''and it can absolutely shatter you.''
The Draft, by Emma Quayle, is available now through Penguin Books. rrp: $22.95
Read more:
http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/turning-their-fields-of-dreams-into-reality-20130522-2k18s.html#ixzz2U1M4quyX
