Life of a Potential Draftee

[Smokey]

My cousin's young bloke is up for this year's draft and is writing a few articles for the AFL Qld website.  It's an interesting piece that shows how much these kids have to put in just to get a chance of being picked up:

State of Play: Liam Dawson
Queensland U18 player, Liam Dawson, gives his insights into the 2014 rep season.

A lot of people don’t probably realise how much goes into 100 minutes of footy.

The amount we have to go through on and off the field is unbelievable, with meetings and reviews and training.

I train four nights a week, Mondays and Wednesdays with the Queensland team, Thursdays with Aspley and Tuesdays we have a gym session and game review with the Brisbane Lions Academy.

But I think about footy basically all day, every day – when I’m at home, I have a footy in my hand all the time.

This year it has become more intense, with the AIS trip, more travel with the state team and starting work, and it can be hard to get people to understand the commitment.

You have to say no to things because you’re going away or playing footy and those decisions are ultimately the sacrifices you have to make.

I’ve had to make some tough decisions because of footy, but it’s the number one thing in my life and this year particularly, I’ve had to make it my number one priority.

It’s something I’m pretty upfront about and you just have to find a good group of friends who understand that.

You live every day for something you are passionate about and for me that thing is footy.

Being drafted has been my ultimate dream since I was seven years old and I’ve never ever given up and I never ever will.

Last week, I had a pretty difficult week with some personal stuff and it gets hard to separate that, but I have to eliminate that as much as I can from my mind and when I’m at training or on the field, I just ignore everything else.

I’ve had to deal with little problems along the way, but I think you get a better and stronger mind from it and I’m sure I’m not alone in that.

Yeronga, where we do our rep training, has become like a second home for me and just getting around and talking to my teammates helps me forget about off-field stuff that’s going on.

I don’t really have any strategies to put that stuff out of my mind, I think it’s just the kind of person I am.

We did all that kind of stuff in the U16s and last year, but it’s not really me, I think it’s just about finding what works.

Once I get to training, I just concentrate on footy and just enjoying every minute. It’s something other 18 year-olds don’t get to do.

I love the competitive nature of footy, trying to be the best player and person you can and getting the best out of myself.

To be able to get out and have a kick is probably the most fun thing to do, I can’t get away from it and I can’t get enough of it.

I’m lucky that I have a group of mates who I’ve known since I was seven, gone through footy and school with, and they have always been really good.

For me footy is a real outlet.

And you play footy for the kinds of days that we had on Sunday, with a one-point win over Gippsland.

I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed a win so much in my life.

It was an awesome feeling, you can’t really match that feeling, the boys deserved it so much and we have worked so hard.

Footy makes me happy and I am really looking forward to the rest of the year.

=2748&tx_ttnews[backPid]=4&cHash=c489e73c28]http://www.aflq.com.au/index.php?id=5&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=2748&tx_ttnews[backPid]=4&cHash=c489e73c28

[dwaino]

Good luck to him  really hard to make it from QLD.

Are Aspley still the Hornets?

[Smokey]

Yep, sure are Dwaino, although their jumper has changed a bit from when I played there in the early '90's!   

[dwaino]

  I rarely played against them in the 90s but I remember we always called them the bumblebees because of those horrible hoops 

No worse than Springwood's original bright orange with black emblem  we played Sandgate a fair bit from that side of town but never anyone else. I wonder if Sandgate are still green with the red sash that always made my eyes go funny.

[Smokey]

I rarely played against them in the 90s but I remember we always called them the bumblebees because of those horrible hoops 

No worse than Springwood's original bright orange with black emblem  we played Sandgate a fair bit from that side of town but never anyone else. I wonder if Sandgate are still green with the red sash that always made my eyes go funny.

Lol, some memories there!!  The Springwood one was a shocker in anyone's language although I have to say I was rather happy with our hoops - probably because we kept winning flags in them!     Sandgate are still green and red but I'm not sure if it's still the plain old jumper (I agree with the funny eyes bit - it did it to me too) or if they've gone 'modern' as well.  Who did you go around with?

[Darth Tiger]

Smokey, I (and i'm sure many others) would appreciate it if you could keep this series of articles coming in the thread as and when they arrive.

Good luck to the young fella, and at the very least he appears to have his head screwed on and his attitude and focus aligned.

[(•))(©™]

"But I think about footy basically all day, every day – when I’m at home, I have a footy in my hand all the time."

Another missing dynamic of the rfc....

[dwaino]

I rarely played against them in the 90s but I remember we always called them the bumblebees because of those horrible hoops 

No worse than Springwood's original bright orange with black emblem  we played Sandgate a fair bit from that side of town but never anyone else. I wonder if Sandgate are still green with the red sash that always made my eyes go funny.

Lol, some memories there!!  The Springwood one was a shocker in anyone's language although I have to say I was rather happy with our hoops - probably because we kept winning flags in them!     Sandgate are still green and red but I'm not sure if it's still the plain old jumper (I agree with the funny eyes bit - it did it to me too) or if they've gone 'modern' as well.  Who did you go around with?

Springwood  then a couple years at Redland Sharks (I think they're the Viccy point Bombers now?) and Mt Gravatt before going back to Springwood. By then Springwood had changed to the West Coast guernsey though. I was playing juniors in the 90s though . I quit playing a season before seniors at Springwood when we lost our granny to Logan  My old man was heavily involved in footy up there long after I stopped playing, right up until a few years ago when he moved down here to Melbourne too. Good chance if you or your cousin are involved that you would have mutual acquaintances with him (he ran the QLD Richmond supporters group for a couple years around '99/'00 too).

From my limited experience  is why I said that good luck to your cousin's son as it is real tough to make it from there. In my age group only one bloke managed to get drafted (Scott Harding, kicked 3 in a quarter on him in a prelim yeesssss), and one of my teammates made it to training with Brisbane before he did his knee so they discarded him. I had a foot in the door because some of the people dad knew, did summer training at St Lucia with a group that had guys like Brett Voss in it, and found out I was being looked at along with some other blokes pretty early. But despite always being one of the best in my position at club and SE QLD regionals I could never make it to state try outs because the other kid's dads were on the selections. So I ended up chucking in the towel to concentrate on some other hobbies that footy was getting in the way of.

[Smokey]

I was playing juniors in the 90s though . I quit playing a season before seniors at Springwood when we lost our granny to Logan  My old man was heavily involved in footy up there long after I stopped playing, right up until a few years ago when he moved down here to Melbourne too. Good chance if you or your cousin are involved that you would have mutual acquaintances with him (he ran the QLD Richmond supporters group for a couple years around '99/'00 too).

I was involved with Aspley for 3 years (90-92) when I was in the Army up there.  As well as playing, I coached the U8's and U9's and had David Hille in my team.  You would never have guessed at the time that he would go on to make the big show.  Back then he was a tallish skinny kid with no outstanding attributes or abilities as a footballer.  I didn't get back to Qld until 2000 and then didn't get involved again at club level but I had a fair bit to do with the RFC Supporters Group for a few years in the early 2000's.

[Smokey]

For Darth and anyone else interested in these articles, here is the latest from Lachie Weller:

State of Play: Lachie Weller
Queensland U18 rep, Lachie Weller, gives us his insight into the 2014 rep season.

It was great to get a win against Gippsland last weekend.

We knew we had a good chance against the Power but we thought that against Sandringham too and got beaten pretty easily, so it was fantastic to get up by one point.

The boys were just so excited after the game, and it was especially good because a lot of the boys had their parents down and they were in the rooms after the match.

We had the song words out in the middle of the circle after the game and we were all reading off it, because no one knew the words.

The Queensland song is to the tune of the Richmond song, but we haven’t really heard that one much recently either, so that wasn’t too much help.

As one of the team’s leaders, I tried to make sure the boys didn’t get distracted into ball watching, which tends to be what happens when there’s a lot of pressure on.

Our runner, Jake Ryan, played a massive part in that as well and I’m pretty sure he lost his voice by the end.

I wasn’t really thinking anything in particular when it was tight, but I knew we had been the better team all day so I just thought we’d win it.

You get such an adrenalin rush in those kinds of games and you really do push harder for that win.

I’m not a massive talker really and I tend to try and lead by example, on and off the field.

Talking is still something I’m trying to build into game – just by making myself have the confidence to do that, and I did a lot of it in that game.

Off the field, I’ve never really changed the way I do things, I just try to be myself and I'm always open if anyone wants to chat.

I don’t really know how leaders in the AFL go about things, but having spent part of a pre-season with the SUNS, I think I’m a bit like Gary Ablett in my leadership.

He’s not the loudest guy out there, but he’s always full of knowledge and anything you ask him, he always gives you a good answer.

I like to think I’m a bit like him – I always try to be professional, with things like being the first to start the warm up and that kind of thing.

There are times when you really need to talk though, and that’s in these kinds of games.

Talking brings everyone into the game – you can be the worst player on the day but still have a major influence with your voice.

I’ve had a weekend off footy since the Power game and it’s been good to have a weekend without the knocks and bruises.

I’ve always watched a lot of footy and a lot of replays during the week and recently, I’ve started to  watch the midfielders closely to see how they do things.

Dad will sometimes rewind the TV to show how some of the good midfielders set up at stoppages.

I love watching Scott Pendlebury and having had some of my pre-season at the SUNS, I love watching Dave Swallow and Jaeger O’Meara.

You can always find something that they do and get something out of that and I saw firsthand over summer how hard the Gold Coast guys work.

I really look up to those guys.

http://bit.ly/1gRcPZn

[Darth Tiger]

The Queensland song is to the tune of the Richmond song, but we haven’t really heard that one much recently either, so that wasn’t too much help.

We're from Bannana Land ?
A frying fury ...

Cheeky bugger, a call out to his uncle perhaps ?

BTW, Cheers Smokey.

[Smokey]

Lol Darth, but this time it wasn't at me.     This article is written by another Academy kid - Lachie Weller (brother of Mav who is currently on Saint's list).  Lachie and Liam are both writing a few articles over the course of the season.

[Smokey]

New article:

State of Play: Liam Dawson
Queensland U18 representative, Liam Dawson, gives us insight into the 2014 rep season.

Each week is a bit of an unknown for me, because I generally don’t know where I’m going to play until Thursday, unless there’s a state game on.

I really like going back and playing for Aspley, it’s a more homely environment, but it’s always a good opportunity if I get the chance to play with the Lions reserves.

I played in the QAFL for the first time on the weekend, for Wilston Grange, and I really just tried to get as much information as I could from their senior players, particularly their captain.

It was a different level to what some of us boys are used to with state and NEAFL,but  you’ve just got to run to the right spot and hope for the best.

I played a bit with the Lions reserves last year, but I didn’t really talk to a lot of their senior players, I just learned a lot off the older boys in my age group like Jono Freeman, Izzy Conway and Aden Rutledge.

With all that footy, it can be a bit difficult to manage your load properly, and since I work during the day, I can’t go and see a physio much out of training, so you have to get to know your body.

But I will do everything I can to make sure I can play every week.

If you know you’re no good, there’s obviously no point playing, but if it’s just something little, you sometimes push through those things.

I’m always trying to make sure I play.

That kind of stuff doesn’t really worry me on match day, though, I’m all focused on just beating my opponent.

Once I cross the line, my mind is just like ‘get that ball’, really.

I think there’s a bit more motivation for me to get out there this year, being a leader of the team.

You want to be out there with the boys that you trained with all summer, and that’s my first thought – the team.

Training four nights a week, I’m flat out trying to watch an AFL match on a Friday night, let alone many other sports.

Probably the only two sports I watch would be AFL and cricket, they’re the only ones allowed in our house, but if you live in Queensland, you have to watch State of Origin.

I’m definitely a Queenslander but sometimes I like to tell people I’m a NSW supporter and get them all worked up.

I did that at work this week and caused a bit of controversy, they were like ‘you dog’ and all this, but it was good to get them geed up.

Most of the guys I look up to do come from AFL, especially Scott Pendlebury and Joel Selwood, as well as some of the younger guys like James Aish and Lewy Taylor.

I used to really like Jonathan Brown – everyone loves Browny – and Brendan Fevola when he was playing, just for his on field talents.

This weekend is an exciting one for Queensland, and if everyone can win their one on ones, then we’ll go alright

http://tinyurl.com/l9tb38y

[Smokey]

Next article:

State of Play; Liam Dawson
Queensland u18 representative, Liam Dawson, gives us his insights into the 2014 rep season.

With U18 nationals just around the corner, we had our jumper presentation this week, which was a really good chance to catch up with and meet some new people.

I’ve been to a few presentations the last few years and coming towards the back end of the season, it’s always nice to hang out with a few people you haven’t seen in a while and coaches and all that.

You meet a lot of people along the way, being in the state program and generally everyone’s really nice and you can learn a lot off everyone, it’s great.

It’s a bit daunting sometimes, people kind of know who you are before you meet them, and they’re excited to meet you and I feel like it’s only Liam Dawson.

I went back to my old club the other day, the Redcliffe Tigers, and a lot of people came up to me there, and gave me advice and all that.

You do get used to that sort of thing, and that helps when you speak to recruiters, who you haven’t necessarily met before.

Before this year, I hadn’t spoken to any clubs, so it’s all been a bit of a unknown.

I met with a couple of clubs earlier in the year, through the AIS Academy and recruiters keep in touch with you through the season.

At the moment, I would probably talk to a recruiter once a week and texting them on and off, it’s pretty strange, that feeling of ‘wow, people want to talk to me’, but it’s a good experience to be part of.

I don’t know how they get my number but they’ll just give me a call and say ‘I’m so and so from this club’ and they’ll ask me about myself and some of the other state guys, if I know them well.

I get a bit nervous talking to them sometimes, because you’re trying to sell yourself to them and it’s a bit bizarre sometimes, texting them, it’s like what do I say –hey mate?, no, can’t say that, but you do get used to it.

Often it’s just a general kind of chat, they’ll ask about school, work and what you’re up to.

Sometimes they put you on the spot, so you’ve got to think quickly and be ready for the questions they ask and that’s where the AIS was really helpful, talking to us about the questions they’ll ask.

The best thing is to tell the truth, lies always come back to bite you, which is basically how I am in life generally.

As the season goes on, the draft has crossed my mind a little bit and you wonder where you fit or if you’re going to be picked up.

I do read some of the stuff out there about the draft, but some of it’s pretty outrageous and I don’t’ really take much notice.

The coaches are the people I pay attention to – I listen to what Fletch, Scotty Borlace and all the guys say about where my footy’s at and what I’ve got to do.

I’ve been looking forward to nationals since last September, it’s the time where all the training you’ve done has to pay off.

It’s a bit more nerve-wracking this year because I feel like I’ve got a bigger role to play being one of the older guys, but I’m not going to put too much pressure on myself.

I just need to play footy, that’s why we’re here, and we’ve got people who can really help us.

The AIS, Lions Academy and the state program have been invaluable for my development as a person and a footballer and I have so much to be grateful to them for.

I probably wouldn’t be in this position if it weren’t for them.

http://tinyurl.com/myjcgue

[TigerMonk]

My cousin's young bloke is up for this year's draft and is writing a few articles for the AFL Qld website.  It's an interesting piece that shows how much these kids have to put in just to get a chance of being picked up:

State of Play: Liam Dawson
Queensland U18 player, Liam Dawson, gives his insights into the 2014 rep season.

A lot of people don’t probably realise how much goes into 100 minutes of footy.

The amount we have to go through on and off the field is unbelievable, with meetings and reviews and training.

I train four nights a week, Mondays and Wednesdays with the Queensland team, Thursdays with Aspley and Tuesdays we have a gym session and game review with the Brisbane Lions Academy.

But I think about footy basically all day, every day – when I’m at home, I have a footy in my hand all the time.

This year it has become more intense, with the AIS trip, more travel with the state team and starting work, and it can be hard to get people to understand the commitment.

You have to say no to things because you’re going away or playing footy and those decisions are ultimately the sacrifices you have to make.

I’ve had to make some tough decisions because of footy, but it’s the number one thing in my life and this year particularly, I’ve had to make it my number one priority.

It’s something I’m pretty upfront about and you just have to find a good group of friends who understand that.

You live every day for something you are passionate about and for me that thing is footy.

Being drafted has been my ultimate dream since I was seven years old and I’ve never ever given up and I never ever will.

Last week, I had a pretty difficult week with some personal stuff and it gets hard to separate that, but I have to eliminate that as much as I can from my mind and when I’m at training or on the field, I just ignore everything else.

I’ve had to deal with little problems along the way, but I think you get a better and stronger mind from it and I’m sure I’m not alone in that.

Yeronga, where we do our rep training, has become like a second home for me and just getting around and talking to my teammates helps me forget about off-field stuff that’s going on.

I don’t really have any strategies to put that stuff out of my mind, I think it’s just the kind of person I am.

We did all that kind of stuff in the U16s and last year, but it’s not really me, I think it’s just about finding what works.

Once I get to training, I just concentrate on footy and just enjoying every minute. It’s something other 18 year-olds don’t get to do.

I love the competitive nature of footy, trying to be the best player and person you can and getting the best out of myself.

To be able to get out and have a kick is probably the most fun thing to do, I can’t get away from it and I can’t get enough of it.

I’m lucky that I have a group of mates who I’ve known since I was seven, gone through footy and school with, and they have always been really good.

For me footy is a real outlet.

And you play footy for the kinds of days that we had on Sunday, with a one-point win over Gippsland.

I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed a win so much in my life.

It was an awesome feeling, you can’t really match that feeling, the boys deserved it so much and we have worked so hard.

Footy makes me happy and I am really looking forward to the rest of the year.

=2748&tx_ttnews[backPid]=4&cHash=c489e73c28]http://www.aflq.com.au/index.php?id=5&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=2748&tx_ttnews[backPid]=4&cHash=c489e73c28

we get him #12 next time on the return game