Young guns split the difference
By Emma Quayle
The Age
March 31, 2006
ON draft day 2004, Brett Deledio and Ryan Griffen were separated by more than outside assessments of their kicking technique, speed and beep-test scores. Between the No. 1 and No. 3 draft picks sat Jarryd Roughead, Hawthorn's choice.
Roughead, Lance Franklin, Richard Tambling and others may well interrupt this conversation in the next few years. But of the 83 new players to debut last season, it was Deledio and Griffen who made the most immediate, most massive, splashes.
Deledio played in every Richmond game, won the Rising Star award and the grand final sprint, then finished off with a spot of international rules for Australia. Griffen began a little later, and finished earlier, but otherwise played an impressive game of tag.
But if it became tough last year to separate the turbo-charged Tiger and the neat, assured Bulldog, how difficult was it before then? When a choice really did need to be made?
Nine of the 13 clubs who did not have a top-line pick that November would have opted for Deledio over Griffen. The four clubs who would have grabbed Griffen are, interestingly, more adamant than those who would instead have picked the Kyabram boy.
Would Deledio have settled better had he had to move from home? Did he have the potential to play in more positions, and some irresistible speed? Or were Griffen's kick, side-step and overall nous impossible to pass on? Most recruiters agreed they would have been happy to have got their hands on either player, and that both were "recruiter-proof" and certain bets.
There were, however, a few hairs to split. Terry Wheeler took Griffen to Ireland three years ago, as part of the AFL-AIS Academy. The next year, he coached Deledio through the same program.
Deledio was almost a year older than Griffen was when Wheelerknew them, but more worldly, with a strong sense of what would happen in his life. "He had that date with destiny. He knew he was good enough, it was just a matter of, 'when am I going to be able to do it?' " Wheeler said.
"He was always biding his time and there was also a bit of, 'I'm good enough, and I'll show you'. Brett was always prepared to put on show whatever he had, whether that was his pace, whether it was leading the group, or pulling out something that was individually spectacular.
"Brett was ready to jump over the back of a pack and take a mark. He was ready and able to do those things. He had a real focus and want to do those things."
Griffen was different. Diligent and focused, but introverted, and thankful for the opportunities he had already been given. He didn't necessarily believe anything more was headed his way. "If at any stage Ryan had have been rejected, he would have said, 'well, thank you very much', and headed off," Wheeler said.
"There would have been little angst or little upset. That's not to say he's not driven to be a good AFL footballer, and that he wasn't then, but he felt privileged and honoured and humbled to have been given the chance to show what he's got.
"If that was good enough, great; if not, then 'thank you very much'. He would have been as polite as that, too."
Technically, back then, Deledio had the bigger bag of tricks. Griffen, said Wheeler, was a "clear and linear" addition to any game. He thought and moved from goal to goal; what he did was determined by what the team was supposed to be doing. "If there was ever one word to describe him, it was 'neat'," said Wheeler.
"If it was a kick, it was a 45-metre kick and it would hit the target. He was clean, crisp, never hurried, and that comes with good players. Good players have time to do things, and Ryan always had that time around him."
Deledio could do a bit more. He wanted to do more, too. "He was one of those who, say, coming off a half-back flank, would have a tendency to go laterally because it would give him space to display some other individual skills," Wheeler said.
"With Brett, there was a bit of, 'let me get out here and I can really show you something'. He liked to flirt with his space a bit more. Ryan's the one who thinks, 'no, I don't want to flirt with this space'. Brett had an extra set of skills, and a real desire to show them off."
The closest Deledio and Griffen came to lining up right alongside each other was at the 2004 under-18 championships. Griffen was had a sore hip on the day Deledio took eight marks and kicked three goals in Vic Country's 11-point win over his South Australian side.
A few days later, Griffen was on the MCG and back in the midfield, winning the ball, stepping past opposition players then accelerating away from them. He kicked a couple of long, running goals, the South Australians beaten by Vic Metro, but only in extra time.
"They were both big performances in big, important games," said Kevin Sheehan, the AFL's national talent manager. "They both really got there that week and said 'make sure you have a look at me'.
"If you were splitting them, you had Griffen, whose hand-to-foot ability was absolutely outstanding. He had the great use of the football and the brilliant side-step, and then you had Deledio, with the big leap and the brilliant pace. You couldn't have been disappointed getting either one of them."
The story will continue tonight, when Deledio's Tigers take on Griffen's Bulldogs. Griffen has had his first full pre-season, and now has the body of a man rather than a pup. Rodney Eade considers him a key component of his defence, and that's just for starters. "We'd like to find out which other areas he can play in, so we'll do that this year," Eade said. "At some stage he'll be moving into the midfield."
Deledio will start his second season with eight extra kilograms to throw around. His coach, Terry Wallace, thinks he learnt a few important things while surrounded by the elite members of the Australian side, and that he will soon start spending time in key positions.
He also thinks he has the body, now, to mix it for longer in the middle. "I think at 17 years of age and not knowing where he was at, it was a pretty big ask to ask Brett to go on and run in the midfield at that sort of stage," Wallace said. "He's over 90 kilograms now. He's a fairly big boy. He can handle himself with the best of them, if necessary, at any time."
THE DYNAMIC DUO
BRETT DELEDIOFrom Kyabram
Age 19
Height 188cm
Weight 89kg
Drafted No.1 2004 national draft
Honours 2005 NAB Rising Star winner, 2005 International Rules
Brownlow votes 2
Matches 22
Goals 14
Kicks/marks/handballs (average) 8/4/7
RYAN GRIFFENFrom South Adelaide
Age 19
Height 187cm
Weight 85kg
Drafted No.3 2004 national draft
Honours 2005 Nab Rising Star nominee
Brownlow votes 1
Matches 17
Goals 7
Kicks/marks/handballs (average) 7/3/6
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