Battlers outshine the draft's leading lights
Robert Walls | July 3, 2007 | The Age
GIVEN time, opportunity and hard work, football can even out. In Saturday night's match at Telstra Dome, the Saints and Tigers fielded some "hot-shot" picks from previous drafts. Brett Deledio was the No. 1 selection in 2004, while Luke Ball was taken at No. 2 by St Kilda in the vaunted 2001 draft when Luke Hodge went at one and Chris Judd at three.
But being gold chip in the draft doesn't guarantee a prosperous career in the AFL. Neither Deledio nor Ball shone underneath the Dome's lights. No, the stars were a couple of battlers who have had to grind their way to the top.
Nathan Foley hadn't been heard of two years ago. Now, the tenacious Tiger is forging a reputation as a hard goer with more than a touch of class. Best afield was Leigh Montagna. The Saint speedster has taken six years to come of age, but he was one of his team's best against West Coast and he won the Ian Stewart medal as well as a TV last Saturday night.
Deledio has plenty of class but he must realise by now that he has to add to it. In his first two full seasons with Richmond he hasn't featured in the top 10 in the club champion count. Coach Terry Wallace has groomed the Kyabram kid well, with opportunities to play at both ends of the ground. But it's in the midfield that you want to excel and Deledio has yet to prove that he can cut it there.
On Saturday night he was tagged by little known Saint Jayden Attard. Deledio accepted the tag and gave his team just one disposal in the first half. It was not good enough and proves that physically and mentally he has a long way to go.
Twenty years ago the best midfielder and the hardest runner was Sydney's Gerard Healy. The Brownlow medallist was tagged week in, week out, but Healy trained himself to gut-run to exhaustion to shake off his taggers. That takes hard work and lots of mental strength. Deledio did no gut-busting running to get from contest to contest. Instead he jogged around the back of teammates looking for an easy receive.
Deledio should watch Judd live at every opportunity to see how hard you have to run.
Fortunately for the Tigers, Foley is emerging as a midfield gun. The 21-year-old from Colac wasn't drafted. He worked his way on to a rookie list in 2005. After one full season in the big time, the dynamo is No. 1 at his club for clearances, hard-ball gets and handball receives. He is a great example of what hard work and dedication can do.
So what we saw on Saturday night is food for thought. The battlers from struggle street can rise to the top, while the silver spoon boys need to know they can't rest on their laurels.
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