How Jack Graham went from overweight draft hopeful to premiership starTom Morris
FOX SPORTSTWO-TIME Brownlow Medallist and chairman of the Norm Smith Medal committee Chris Judd adjudged Jack Graham to be the third best player on the field on Saturday.
This would be a ringing endorsement for anyone, let alone a 19-year-old playing just his fifth AFL match.
Graham booted three goals — having kicked just two in his career before Saturday — among 16 touches.
Drafted with Pick 53 in last year’s national draft, Graham has been made to work for this moment.
Selected for the AFL’s academy tour of the USA in January 2016, the South Australian on-baller turned heads for all the wrong reasons initially.
Brad Johnson was on that trip and remembers the teenager vividly. But then again, how could he miss him?
”He was not in tune of where he should have been,” Johnson said on Fox Footy.
“He got some stern messages and Michael Ablett of the AFL academy gave them to him. It switched him on. Then he went into his draft year, got himself right and dominated for South Australia. Now you see why. The talent comes through.”
That’s an overview what transpired, for more specific context foxfooty.com.au contacted AFL national talent football manager Ablett to articulate his version of events.
“Jack’s a fantastic person but he just came on the trip overweight and out of shape,” Ablett said from the MCG just minutes after Richmond’s triumph.
“I’m a keen boxing man so I thought I’d take him for a boxing session while the other boys were starting training. I asked him what was going on. He said: ‘I’ll be honest with you. I ate too much poo over Christmas.’
“I just told him that he had to change and enough was enough. I said ‘you need to start working your arse off’. He needed to pull his head in and get his poo together.
“All credit to Jack. He’s a fantastic person and I couldn’t be prouder. He’s the leading goalkicker in a Grand Final. I never would have thought that would be the case.”
In 1997. Aaron Keating played in a premiership in his third game. A week later he repeated the dose for Norwood in the SANFL decider.
But by the time Adelaide won its next flag 12 months later, the ruckman’s career was over with six matches and a flag under his belt.
In 2003, Richard Hadley played in Brisbane’s third straight premiership in just his fourth game at the end of his third year on the club’s list. He would go on to register 66 matches for the Lions and then Carlton.
And on Saturday Graham’s fifth match was a Grand Final and Dermott Brereton, who himself played his first two matches in finals, was full of praise for the former South Australian captain.
“The thing I loved about the young man was anything that came his way, he ate up,” Brereton said on Fox Footy.
“You can see that the boy says ‘give it to me, no problem.’ If he can mark the ball, there is not going to be much between him and say a Luke Parker when he has his game fully together.
Jonathan Brown, who like Brereton won several flags in his early years playing AFL (three flags in his first four years), was equally bullish about Graham’s future prospects.
“He looks rough and tough and up for the fight,” Brown said.
“There is no doubt about it. Rory Sloane had obviously got off the chain early and the call came out from Damien Hardwick that Jack had to go to Sloane to nullify him. Well nullify him he did.
“His skinfolds will going back north now!”
Dual Tigers premiership player Rex Hunt was in Richmond’s rooms post-match and embraced Graham, who was still 20 years away from being born when Hunt played his last game.
Indeed it’s entirely feasible that Graham has seen more of Hunt fishing than he has of him kicking a football.
This is Graham’s account of his encounter with Hunt.
“Rex just said, ‘unbelievable’,” Graham said.
“He said we’ve given them some enjoyment and something to look forward to. He’s an amazing man. He said: ‘you didn’t have a surname and now you’re a life member of Richmond.’”
Not bad for a kid who was considered unfit and overweight just months before he was drafted.
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