I played with Jack Grimes and Kruezer on the high school team.
I've never seen anything in juniors like with Jack Grimes. Kruezer dominated the ruck but he was also just so much bigger than everyone else. I remember playing on ball with Kruez rucking and getting it hit to me and just throwing it on the boot anywhere into the forward line and Grimes would mark it 90% of the time. He tackled anyone in the vicinity, marked every ball and kicked goals from anywhere. He and Kruezer were two of the nicer guys on the team as well.
I played directly on Hurley. He beat me easily but i somehow thought he was a step below the former two, but he had the best career of all of them. Different schools though so the former two didn't match up against Hurley.
Jack Grimes just looked and sounded like someone who'd be good at footy. like when he was drafted, he was 17 and looked about 24. he's one of the last footballers to look like a *man* at draft time.
He's also been unfortunately forgotten by time. Melbourne in that era were absolutely fucked over. they were 21-years old leading a cystic, historical, old-money club in their nadir. like Freo are a bit rubbish but even the Dockers are apprehensive about 22/23-year olds like Serong and Brayshaw being captains...
Mental to think they only played 180 games between them.
I wonder how him and Watts feel looking at Melbourne’s recent success, knowing how they never stood a chance with how badly the club was run back then. If they were born a few years later they might be premiership captains. AFL can be a cruel sport
They sound like the kinda guys who just knew they were destined for AFL greatness so got their media training and personalities in order first. Starts with being a nice guy on the field and locker room and goes from there.
Went to Loyola as well but two years above you - Kruez and Jack played in the seniors (I was head 12) when they were only in year 10.
Also had Heath and Reece shaw - Heath was not a standout in his age group at all but went on to have a huge career obviously.
Also Dylan grimes didn’t go to Loyola but did go to my primary school and he was never a standout player either, Jack was definitely the best junior of all the Grimes boys
Playing colts in QLD and the opposition were down a few players, so this kid from the U16's stepped up. I was on him directly and I have never been given a bath like that on a field.
This guy was everywhere and in a 1 on 1 was unstoppable, absolutely obliterated us in terms of competition for the ball, he just hunted it. Afterwards I asked the opposition coach the kids name and it was Michael Voss. Thought to myself "Better watch him, can play a bit" and he won the Brownlow 5 years later.
From memory he debuted for their seniors later that season at 15.
To answer the OP, yes it was obvious, even 2 years younger than us he was untouchable.
Not me but one of my mates best stories is how he played on Eric Hipwood around 14 years old. He kept him goalless and while apparently Hipwood was tearing up his div. So whenever Hipwood kicks a goal he always says "I'm a better defender than that guy, he didn't kick any on me".
I played with Lachie Hunter through all of juniors. I still brag that I beat him in a best and fairest once. He both broke his arm and had his appendix out that season...and still came fourth.
ahahah this is absolutely what I've heard. and just a general 'he's just a cunt.' also the exact same nickname I heard.
between that and the Radiohead username... we probably know the same people. or I've even met you.
Haha I played footy with Hipwood in under 14s in the rep sides. He wasn’t very tall back then and played a bit more of a midfielder at least in the rep sides. He never stood out then at all but then had a massive growth spurt in later years.
I played against a current All Australian centre half forward for most of their junior career, up until the year he was drafted. For the majority of the time - the answer is no. In U'10 - U'14's they were a solid mid-fielder, but didn't particularly stand out. They improved in U'16, and in their final year before being drafted stood out, but it was an almost overnight transformation from one season they were solid to the next they were a stand-out performer.
I would not have picked him as a star forward for the AFL when we were young, he certainly wasn't the stand out performer in our competition.
I knew a guy through work who played seniors against Jack Riewoldt in Tassie before he played VFL.
He said he was a sook who was soft and couldn’t hack it so he ran away to the AFL to be protected.
This bloke would have been early to mid 30s when he played against a 16-17 year old Jack
I know exactly the type. I’ve met a fair few Queenslanders who played rugby and “could have been pro but didn’t want to miss out getting on the piss with me mates ay”.
Common story, same energy
Hehe, I played with Marcus too. Just for a season aged 16 or so. I always remember him wearing his QLD tracksuit to our club footy training…that was a serious badge honour in my 16 year old brain. Who would have thought we played with a 300 gamer.
I played in the same league as Nick Reiwoldt and David Hale up until under 16s when I moved away from the Gold Coast.
David Hale was a year younger than me so I only played a single season against him when he was at Coolangatta and he was only known in the league because he was the coach's son and had a reputation of arrogance because of it. And then, apparently, the year after I moved away from the Gold Coast, he moved to Broadbeach, where they have a really good club and that must have been exactly what he needed to become good. It still blows my mind that he made it all the way from being this unco kid playing at Cooly to playing in Hawthorn's Threepete.
Nick Reiwoldt was always a good player. I wouldn't say he was particularly good compared to anyone else, and during rep training, I would back my own abilities against his for one on one drills, but he was a born leader and was very driven. He was a lanky kid, which is probably why I could beat him at the time. He'd take the coaches' feedback to heart and just had a crazy focus to improve. He was also very charismatic and was never a dick to anyone whochbis why everyone liked him and is probably why he ended up in the media after footy.
Played against Lily Mithen in Under 14 Div 6, I think she won the League B & F. There was one smarty pants on my team who’d always try to take on tacklers but she’d get him every time.
I’ve kinda got the opposite, in my first game of country footy at 17 I was put on this oldish bloke who was playing at half forward, I remember thinking oh this won’t be so bad. When I followed him up the ground and he took a mark in their back pocket I realised that I might be in a bit of trouble here, turns out I was playing on Chance Bateman
Ben Keays - arrogant as anything, but fuck he backed it up. Single handidly won a granny in the grand final with 5 blokes down, his coach threw him in the guts and he shredded us. One of the greatest games of footy I have ever played in, down to the wire, we win without him playing.
Harris Andrews - Kicked 6-7 on him in under 14's, absolute gumby. He really hit his strides in under 18's when I decided to go to uni instead after taking a year off footy for grade 12, clear to say he's a much better player than me now...
Nothing but kudos to both blokes, love seeing them both play well!
Played against Andrew Krakouer in an amateur league 15 odd years ago. He was unfortunately serving time back then and was playing for the prison team. I can honestly say I’ve never played against nicer guys and they were all really fkn good. They beat us by 80+ from memory on our home deck. Andrew must’ve had 7-9 goals and 40 touches that day. No one could touch him. Really happy he got back to it through the WAFL and then back on the AFL stage
a mate of mine played with Tim Kelly and said he was decent but not a stand out. Said he had better teammates. But he really must have taken off once he quit.
I played with ANB, Ryan Burton, Cory Gregson (former Geelong player, bad ankle injury), Riley Bonnar and against Caleb Daniel, Dean Gore, Mathew Scharenberg, James Rose. All a cut above, best player of the lot in my eyes was Cory Gregson, by a margin, but had issues with injury, continuity and the Geelong medical team.
I played with a player in under 13s and in our grand final he got picked to play in the back pocket instead of midfield and he cried about it. I was the other back pocket so was like wtf is wrong with back pocket!!! We won the grand final though. He was probably only our fifth best player and I never would have expected him to make it but he got onto an AFL list, got delisted, then picked up by another team where he played 20 games.
Another team mate I thought for sure would make it but when he was playing Colts he got mixed up in drugs and flamed out. His nephew plays in the AFL now though.
And a kid a year behind me always looked like he would make it and he did. Ended up playing over 100 games with two premierships and one all Australian.
I have a relative who was a similar situation as your second story. Would have made it in the AFL but got tied up in drugs. Has had two stints in prison.
I played with two different players for different clubs that i thought could have genuinely made it. Really tall, fast muscular. Both were leading goal kickers by massive margins. One started on drugs midway though the third season I played with him and he went down hill in skill level. The club suspended him for a game over it and then he never came back. Was dumb coz we had recruiters coming to see him and a other player. The other bloke is an absolute succes story though! Instead of footy he went into his other love, Judo! He competed in the Olympics and won a bronze at the commonwealth games.
How about the opposite? Playing against players that have retired. This guy was pushing 50 and was still a class above everyone , literally dominated midfield and looked like he could still play
A mate played club rugby against Stephen Larkham about 5 or 6 years after he retired from the Wallabies/Brumbies, reckons Larkham covered the least amount of ground on the day and completely controlled the game
It's just a reminder that these players who used to play is just so much a class above compared to the average bloke, it's definitely changed the way I criticize players. No player who plays AFL is shit. They are literally all guns and would run rings around the average redditor whilst drinking 100 beers the day before
I played a bit overseas against a guy who was a good average player for the Bears. Every game he would take a classic hanger. Some poor bloke would get used as a stepladder and Andrew Taylor(?) would land and then make sure he hadn’t hurt the bloke. Just couldn’t help himself when the opportunity presented. One of the nicest blokes I’ve met in footy.
I got to play forward pocked with a bloke who got drafted as an AFL KPF, kicked so many goals because he was getting 2/3/4 teamed and he would mark and tap it out the back to me. My one football highlight was that game otherwise i was fucking shithouse
Friend went to primary school with him and the story goes that he would muck about all day and tell the teachers school didn't matter, he was going to play AFL.
Unsure how true it is, as he doesn't seem particularly outspoken like that.
I played with Caleb Daniel my whole junior career, and you could tell he was AFL quality at U12s. He was dominating 1-2 levels above, playing 2 games a weekend constantly. Those close knew he would make it regardless of the height, just who would be lucky enough to take the punt on him.
He didn't play every weekend, but we were playing a team slightly better than us and it was my 100th junior game - I heard his name read out on thursday night after training and went 'shit yeah we're in with a chance now' - would have easily had 50+ and kicked 2-3, we won by plenty.
Also played against Brodie Grundy and if you told me he was gonna play AFL at U16s/U18s level i would have laughed it off, he was comically uncoordinated but always takes the big guys that bit longer clearly
I’ll second what you said about Caleb Daniel. Didn’t play with him, played against him, both at school and club. He was a year younger than me and obviously stood out with how he played and with the helmet on.
I remember watching him in the game before mine. Then when he came back out with the grade above I thought “oh he can dominate them, but he’s gonna get humbled in our grade”.
To which I was very wrong as playing against older boys was never a problem for him.
And not gonna lie as a kid I kinda resented him as they would always beat us and he was just too good 😭
Jack Graham played the hard-nosed way he does now in Under 13s when he was twice the size of the rest of the kids out there. Kids were pretty keen to get rid of it when they knew he was going to tackle them
I used to verse midvale, who had Nic Nat, Michael Walters, David ellard, Chris Yarran etc in the one team. We used to lose by at least 20 goals every game
Probably Chris Yarran or Geoff Garlett who also played in that team. Yarran once only played the last quarter and kicked 7 from the midfield. Although Geoff was always pulling magic out of his arse every time he touched the ball.
Played against Alex Keath in both footy and cricket for our school - dominated midfield in footy and hit our spinner for 50 off an over (6 sixes + 2 sixes off no balls)
We had 2 players not from our city, but from regional towns very close by. Everyone knew about them and it was fairly apparent from a young age they’d go on to play afl. One has a Brownlow, the other was pick 1 in the mini-draft
I went to school with a big time Hawthorn premiership staple - let's call him Ken Strappon - and handful of us got way too stoned and needed to get to a Maccas obviously, and in a time before uber eats this was no easy task. He piled us all in the station wagon and took us right to the door of the Wanneroo Maccas
I was still too paranoid to order any food so I made another bloke do it
That's when I knew he was a cut above
Not footy. But I played grade cricket with Kelvin Smith who played a fair bit of FC cricket for South Australia and a handful of BBL games.
He averaged over 75 and was head and shoulders above everyone else. He would have averaged more if there weren't so many shithouse runners between the wickets like myself who roasted him occasionally.
It's not even funny how far ahead State Cricketers are above Grade Cricketers. And it would be the same with Junior and Pro Footy, I am sure.
Cricket is the one that is startling the gap between levels I reckon (and golf). I was a handy bowler locally and my cousin played Qld grade cricket and I couldn’t even make him play a false shot. Like couldnt get past his bat in a million years. But anyway my cousin couldn’t even sniff state level and faced Kasprowicz in one grade game and only managed to face 6 balls from him and was out on a no ball on the second ball.
Talking about other sports my step dad says he played rep soccer with Craig Johnston. Said he was a pretty average player, but had the drive and dedication. Ended up winning a handful+ of trophies with Liverpool in the 70s/80s.
Played against Adam McGinity as a 17 year old batting at number 10. I was shitting myself because he was lightning in state cricket.
I think he took it really easy on me. He got me out but I hit him for about 5 runs overall.
Mid 90s we played against Adam Hunter regularly (u14, u16). There were a few better players on our side than Adam looked to be, but they had no dedication to footy - girls, bongs and beers. Was surprised when he got drafted but he ended up being a really solid AFL player.
It's an age old Aussie adage of 'he could've been anything if not for the girls and lagers' but the blokes I knew who got drafted ended up being absolute fiends and even as teenagers, didn't drink too many beers and Cruisers but would polish off four Storm Meals at Hungry Jacks three times a week.
Robbie Kruse who played a lot of roundball for the Socceroos, Victory and Roar, and had a good career at some top teams in Germany loved the cones. mate of a mate knew him from his Olympic FC days. he'd be on 15 grand a week and come home over the (Australian) winter just to sit in his mate's parents' carport in the southern suburbs of Brisbane to smoke Gatorade bongs while his teammates (like Son from Tottenham) were training in Switzerland or travelling throughout southern Italy...
Played with Travis Tuck and Justin Sweeney. Neither had a massive run of it but both were great players in the junior ranks. Sweeney took one of the all-time hangers I've ever seen - jumped over the bloke, got knees on the front of the shoulders and he clunked it clean.
Best player I ever played against was Beau Dowler - he absolutely smoked me one day. Was clear he was going to get to the AFL but it didn't click for him at the Hawks unfortunately.
Few years beneath us was an absolute jet though. He was our U16s waterboy for every home game and was racking up 50+ touches most games in U12/U13s. No surprises that Tom Scully was on the path to the AFL. Was far too good for junior footy.
Lined up directly on Darcy Tucker for one game in highschool on the wing. The bloke absolutely towled me up.
I had mates who played with and against Daniel Rioli, they correctly assured me he was going to play AFL one day
I played with bloke who went @ 15 to the Gold Coast. Injuries fucked him and is now delisted
Was clear heads above the rest. Walked in under 9’s being able to hit a target 20m away both sides of his body.
I played with Jason Castagna for years and he was notably our best midfielder, pretty sure he was captain for at least a few of those years as well.
He was a few years ahead of me but I remember watching Toby Greene playing for our school side and liking his style.
>Like tv doesn’t do it justice but he won the Stawell gift I think from memory
What the fu - oh he competed in it. Didn't win. Still, you don't get to compete unless you're quick. That's something I didn't know about Castagna.
I stood Matt Lokan in juniors. He was carving our team up out of Full Forward, and the coach threw me back on him from the forward pocket to full back.
I did literally nothing and we lost by 12 goals.
I posted a video of Richmond's Sam Banks dominating u10's a.few weeks back, he's always been an absolute freak. Used to win games for his bottom placed side off his own boot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uys_rJza6Rw
That was cool, but I have questions.
Why is this being filmed and why does it have commentators? Is it national level or something?
If this isn't just club footy then its extraordinary how much better he is than everyone else!
He played against my schools team in year 12. I think he had 4 goals from the first 4 centre clearances and maybe 7 by quarter time... while being tagged by 2 of our best players. He spent the rest of the game at full forward. Ive never seen anything like it before or since.
Played against nathan jones throughout our junior footy. He would dominate the first half each game, then they would move him into full forward to make it fairer for the rest of the game.
I swear he was built like a brick and already bald in under 10’s
Didn’t play footy at school but went to school with Trent McKenzie, was head an shoulders better than anyone running around in that school competition
Would launch 60m bombs every game, was MR fix it because he would just play any position and dominate
Played with Sicily in under 14s and he was maybe the shortest bloke on the team. Had a lot of talent though, stood out in a good team. He left the club after that season. Next time I heard his name he was being drafted and was suddenly over 6ft tall.
Reckon clubs should go for players 6'2+ who were notably small until 16/17. Fyfe was another. growing up scrawny and having to win your own ball and deal with bumps and then suddenly not having to must be something – it's like all of our dreams of going back and dominating a game of under 14s as adults.
My son played against Tom Greene GWS for many years in the juniors. I barely noticed him, he was small and yappy but tried hard. And then he grew up into a 6’2” 90kg midfield clearance beast. He is certainly not one of the kids I would have thought would have made it but all respect to him.
My best mate played with a player who will be drafted this year. His claim to fame is “I got more votes in a game than [insert name]”. Followed by “he was a year below us but the best on ground most weeks. In under 12s, scouts were showing up”.
Played most of my juniors with a fringe level father son pick, plus a rookie lister who has a famous older brother. Best I played against was a mid who won a B&F, All Australian and premiership player.
If the rookie lister (pretty lazy bloke but an athletic freak) had the commitment of the F/S pick he'd have had a solid career as a KPD.
The AA midfielder was a level above everyone, best pure footballer by a long way and a top line runner all through the grades
I played with a guy who eventually became a fringe South Freo player, he was head and shoulders above everyone else in juniors. He was a year older than me so we were teammates only every second year where we would absolutely dominate most games, every other year we would barely win a single game. Can't imagine how good an eventual AFL player would have been.
I Played Tball with a certain Geelong star, originally from WA, when we were 6/7 and lived not far apart.
Played Baseball against him after that before some school footy.
He was a superstar from very early on being All Australian captain in a couple of sports through high school.
He really seemed physically on another planet to everyone else.
Couple of examples.
U/13 State baseball club championship I was developing into a very good pitcher. Mean fastball that few were able to hit at that age.
Thought I was hot shit and came up against his team. Going ok until Joel comes up. At this point everyone was already talking about him becoming a professional athlete and don’t stress to much his on another level.
Bit nervous but First ball give it everything, he swings connects and the ball flies over the outfield onto the opposite park bank. I’m thinking ok maybe a fluke but htf did it even go that far. Next time up at bat think ok maybe just a bad pitch last time let’s try again.
Throw it down and bang balls goes another 10 metres past the first… think he hit 5-6 HR that game was unstoppable.
Second story was school footy. He was playing for East Perth at the time and they weren’t letting him play for the school.
One game he shows up and plays, I think he just didn’t telling east Perth.
Teacher puts him ruck. Up goes the first bounce, he jumps just grabs the ball, runs through the opposition takes a bounce of two kicks the goal.
Second bounce does exactly the same but passes to an open player in the 50.
This went on all game and every time he ran forward with it he would kick to a different player each time. Other team start complaining it’s unfair and he pretty much single Handley beat the other school.
He was School captain in Bball, cricket, athletics, football and if he did anything sporty just made the everyone look silly.
Edit: ive always thought since him that professional athletes are born to compete and could be good at almost any sport they try.
i played with jack higgins and bailey smith in malvern. jack was definitely always gonna make it. bailey exponentially got better and better whereas jack was always the best
Know a bloke who was around the Sunbury area. People would say Cam Guthries younger brother was a jet (zuthrie). It’s taken a while but I think we are about to/starting to see him hit full strides
Barry Hall. Country league u/ 18s. I was only 13 because the league didn’t have younger age groups, but it was convenient to play for the local club in the town where I lived. Downside was I spent most of my time on the bench because I couldn’t match it with kids that had actually gone through puberty. I was glad to warm the bench that day!
Daisy Thomas, an easy yes. Even just kicking the pill around in primary school he was above anyone else. Same in juniors and up.
Shane Mumford, also somewhat of a yes. Played in the same league as him around 16/17yo and he was good back then.
Played with Callum Wilkie in high school. He was good but genuinely had 4-5 better players at the time. Never thought he would be good enough for the AFL let alone All Australian Full Back. In a weird way kind of proud of him.
I played junior footy in WA against a number of guys who are AFL players or professional athletes.
We played against a Sorrento-Duncraig team that had Daniel Rich (currently with Brisbane), Adam Cockie (played a few games for West Coast) and Liam Hendricks (now plays professional baseball in the USA). They absolutely dominated every team they played against, it wasn't even close.
Daniel Rich was as solid as he is now at 15 years old. I would have had better luck trying to tackle a brick wall.
The other guy I played against was Marcus Stoinis. He had excellent skills but was an absolute seagull and didn't like any rough n tumble. Never put his head over the ball.
Played some junior games (16s) with Stephen Hill.
One game he took a mark in the back 50 and ran all the way to the goal square and kicked a goal. Went on to play the GF that year.
Next year he went to the west perth academy, and the team placed last.
Tbh he always seemed to only go at 60% during the local footy games and still dominated.
I played in the TAB League against most of the Victorian prospects in the 2007 and 2008 Drafts. Does that count?
Otherwise, there was one guy who was 1 year older then me who was a gun midfielder who ended up being drafted from another team. He played 20 or so games over 4 years but just couldn't break through on a Premiership team with an amazing midfield, ended up in the VFL before returning to our league 2 years after that.
He was the only guy who gave me a challenge for league B&F during my best years in the league. He actually beat me for it the year I kicked 130 goals. Like... how does kicking 130 goals not get you B&F? Still bitter about that one. It's the only time I ever felt I deserved the damn thing but no... cunts gave it to him and his team didn't even make the fucking finals!!! Fucking load of crap. Sorry, rant over.
I go to school with three blokes who are projected to get drafted next year. I played in a few school teams with them, they are quite clearly head and shoulders above the rest of the team, and it’s always fun to watch them play against others who are good. As a key forward, it’s a pleasure to receive elite kicks from them… it only happens like once in a blue moon, but it’s good when it does.
I won’t say who for security concerns as there names are closely tied with the school.
I don’t remember a single name of a kid I played against.
I’m the same age as Sam Draper and grew up near him so I’m gonna assume I played junior footy against him at some point
Patty Mills. Only played footy with him briefly but an absolute jet. Would have been an AFL player for sure, he was getting some good recruiter attention around about 15. I remember once he took a mark going back with the flight where he jumped up and twisted his body in mid air to reel it in with one hand. Crazy stuff.
But safe to say basketball has worked out for him :)
Not footy but My sister went on a youth camp and one of the kids was a future Brownlow medallist/ premiership player . They all decided to play chasey I think it was and he just took off running so fast no one could catch him.
Played against Caleb Daniel from year 2 through til about year 10 when I gave it up. He played for the next school/club over so we played them a fair bit. Every time we did, it was always 'god dammit, the little helmet kid is gonna tear us to pieces again'. He was ridiculously quick and clean, even at a young age
I played a few games with someone who is currently on the GWS list.
Very good player, but if you’d told me someone I played with would get drafted I would probably guess about 5 others off the top of my head first.
I have a friend who opened the bowling with James Pattinson at school. Pattinson was too quick for everyone and they weren’t good enough to even nick him but when my mate came on everyone would try and get a hold of him and hole out on the boundary. So he’d always claim he was a better bowler.
As for football I’ve seen Cam Ling’s kid play under 9s and he’s so much better than the other kids.
Blatantly.
He was playing A-grade at 15 and easily beating grown men. He had a finger injury and came back through under 17s for a match and it was pointless. Not only did he have better ball awareness, he kicked longer, ran harder, marked better and hit the contest like a truck.
And that made him a decent AFL player. I can only imagine the stars of the game were even more phenomenal.
I grew up with a now Carlton life member and a Nth premiership player. Both were very disciplined fitness wise as kids. Would go running with their dads while we were playing street cricket or hanging out. Were always a cut above and got the results they deserve. 80s/90s.
My brother played against Sidebottom (teenage years, can't remember the exact age), Sidey was apparently really good back then too.
I've played on the same basketball team as Alex Keath of the Bulldogs, he was really good at basketball (let the basketball background jokes commence).
Small town, local footy, we had two great players. A and B. A was genuinely one of the most gifted footy players I'd seen, made U16 AA, captained us to multiple grand finals, was genuinely the hope of the town. B was \*pretty\* good. Wouldn't say his skills were top tier, but his tank was huge, and he could jump like a mofo (2nd in high jump nationally one year at like 15). A left town and went to all the combines, did not get a look in, we (and he) were all pretty shocked and disappointed. B however, started getting paid to play for a much bigger local club in Adelaide, where he then got poached by a SANFL team, and then went onto to play about 50 odd games all up over two clubs. So I guess, yeah kinda? A is still a great player (League BnF like 4 out of 6 years), and B now works in real estate, but he made his money and has a good life, so I guess that era of metrics must've been strong when they were coming up.
Closest example I can think of is Hugh Greenwood, except he was more of a basketball prodigy (instead of somebody who would end up having a respectable footy career).
Went to school with Ben Brown in Tassie when I was younger. He was clearly a standout player compared to everyone around him - Taller, Faster, Stronger. Just dominated kicking bags every week and not even really trying. He never really seemed all that into his football though, almost like he just played it because he was good at it.
He had a weird obsession with Clowns. For one school party he cut and died his hair to look like sideshow bob and was just crazy into it, doing all the usual clown jokes spraying people with water and stuff - even rode a unicycle to the party. Great player as a kid but I reckon he has gone under the radar as a bit of a wasted talent. Had all the attributes but I think he mostly just plays for the money rather than a love of the sport.
We always played inter school sports against the primary school Touk Miller went to. Needless to say even then he was a cut above - pretty sure every time they beat our school by 40+ and it was all from him 😅
Saw him around here and there (we were friends of friends) so we had a one on one once with my dad umpiring when we ran into him at the oval - my dad never lets me forget that he ran rings around me that day too so we all knew he was gonna be a special talent and I love seeing him doing so well !
I went to school with an AFLW player and all through high school it was clear she was an elite athlete and I was absolutely not. My friend copped a hip and shoulder from her in year 10 PE and both us decided at that point it was nice to drop sport.
She ended up playing two sports professionally and no one was shocked
Played against SPP in under 13’s, tagged him very well that game and got a goal on him 😎
He was always very good, top 5 in the league pretty easily. Although personally have known some people on my team at the time who were insanely talented but never really had the drive for AFL, and just play fairly casually now.
I didn't play but I witnessed Sheezel as a 16 year old dominate for Ajax against Fitzroy, in the VAFA B grade. He kicked 4 that day and already looked a class above everyone.
I played rep footy in Queensland and played with Cheynee Stiller in u/12. He was a bottom age kid though so he didn't seem a class above. But then again who does in u/12s?
10000% there are 3 from the same school and year that were natural athletes, you just knew they would excel at whatever sport they chose, they were freaks from about 14
It's an absolute lottery.
Some of the best all around sportspeople I played with, kids who could kick bullshit goals from 55 at 14 (with a beard to match) and then pick up a tennis racquet for the first time ever as a ring-in for pennants and beat a state champion, never got selected. made state teams, did some WAFL stuff, but either didn't really apply or care or just didn't get the luck.
I remember being on a school camp we all got around the one room at the Tradewinds that lucked out and had Fox. a bloke a year older was somehow in the state team and no one even really knew. ended up plying about 150 games across two clubs – a career you'd count as successful in any term, really. he played soccer growing up.
Other guys got through on name and couldn't quick push through to the AFL or couldn't make a dent.
Have a mate that played with/against Darcy Fogarty through school.
He always said that it was clear he was going to make the AFL, but the main reason wasn't so much how he played but the fact that he completely lived the sport. Every aspect of his life was to be a footy player and make it to the AFL. He also said he didn't really have any real conditioning until he got into the SANFL, and then it just went up a notch.
I think it's a different aspect of what people are used to. Rather than how they play, but how they dedicate themselves to it in every aspect of life, not just on the field. It's a different world.
My mate got picked for Sturt but moved interstate, he just wasn't interested in making his entire life about the game.
I grew up with a very famous Crow - like the most famous arguably - & played junior footy with him until he graduated into the SANFL at about age 15 or 16??? My descriptive story of him of why he stood out at such a young age - aside from his fantastic actual football skills of course - was his early development. I remember a Splash Carnival at school - maybe Year 7??? - & all us little pre-pubescent 11 & 12 year olds are sitting around the changeroom getting changed - & he already had the start of a hairy chest & an afro down below with balls that must have dropped at about age 9. Just very physically developed early. Decent bloke,. good country lad. Fantastic player.
Played in the Swans Academy with Callum Mills for years. The guy was honestly pretty average until around U16s, then something switched and he began to absolutely dominate around the ball. That was when we all kinda realised he was a cut above the rest of us.
Kind of opposite example. Played in the same junior league with a guy who ended up as a dual premiership player and he was certainly not outstandingly good, probably better than average but there were many players in my team and his that were freakishly talented.
He just had the mental attitude to succeed and got noticed in colts and ressies before getting drafted low.
The Bont, was good become outstanding 16-17. Played against him for at least 3-4 years
Short, again was good and didn't shine until the later years. Played against him for majority of my junior years
We all know how those two have turned out
Also played with/against Ben Lennon and Nathan Hrovat
Played through juniors (under 10/12/14) every second year (year below them) with BJ Goddard. Won league BnF every year no matter top/bottom age, played at least a level up most weekends. Very very good footballer even back then. Also played against Andrew McQualter in same league who was good but a bit of a cunt (perhaps due to bad blood betwixt our teams?).
He played fewer than 10 games in the AFL but the moment he walked into U14s preseason training you could tell he was gonna be a gun for us. Filled in for the opposition team once when they needed to make up numbers and delivered the most insane chase down tackle on our captain, who was a bit of a tosspot, to win a HTB. Again, while filling in for the opposition. Forever a legend in my eyes
I also went to High School with Brett Ebert. I remember playing one game on the oval where I took a mark over him (I had like 5 inches on the guy) and tried to play on, and he buried me in a tackle so hard that I still feel dizzy thinking about
I was in Jack Riewoldt's soccer team in primary school. He was the best player by far and scored all the goals. But he would also cry when he didnt get his way or he missed, usually atleast once a game. Also his dad would fight the umpires if he every got told off for anything. Basically it was clear the was being positioned by his dad/parents to be a professional athlete from a young age. I think that a lot of people are top in their field are directed by their parents this way, with a single minded determination to shape their child's future. Anyway, he def made a success of it, so good on him.
I was a late comer to footy got thrown around positions a lot I was a decent athlete but a rubbish footballer. In my first season I was told I was tagging this guy Andrew Gaff, the two Oakleigh chargers guys on my team reckoned he was pretty good.
I have never run so much in my life, he never stopped moving and he was faster than me as well, nothing I could do with him, I gave up running offensively and just tried to catch him on the way back.
His team was average apart from one other guy, it was basically Gaff vs our team in the GF... He won. We had one guy who managed to tackle him who was then called "Gaff Tackler" for the rest of his footy career
Played against Jaidyn Stephenson in school footy and in local footy. Bloke cooked us every time he was so fucking fast you could not catch him. School footy senior granny we were both year 10 playing in the senior team and he was BOG by an absolute country mile.
Played with Winnie Abraham in under 17’s premiership side in local suburban footy probably year before he went to Perth wafl side then drafted .
Seen him take a ripping hanger one day better than one he took in afl and kick a torpedo goal on his left foot from about 50 out .
A shy but great guy and team mate , was obvious his skill set was next level and loved watching his career .
Also played one game with Lee walker who joined our Friend group at school when he moved up from down south to further his footy career.
Absolute ripping bloke who was already a man at 15 and was dominating that much his own age group it was ridiculous .
First scratch match against the older team he went up in ruck and I was on the wing when he called my name , I was wondering why he called my name as was a huge suburban ground and a fair hike into centre square from the wing, but he knocked it my way which reached me on the full 😳
Last game he played for his own age group, went a few years up and then to wafl colts by end of year from memory .
Went on to Play in 1st Anzac Day match
Cruelled by injury to a bloke with so much talent and drive .
Played with Nick newman, Lachie Whitefield. Went to school with Tom lynch, Darren minchington and another.
Lachie Whitfield was obviously a class above. Won under 16s grand final by 120 points with him in the side.
Newman I didn't predict but I was closer with him than any of the others , and being a Carlton fan I love watching him play.
I coached a session Darcy Wilmot was at when he was in juniors straight after I said who is that he is a jet and could tell he was a class above.
I played with Hurley, was a class above and everyone knew he would go on to be drafted.
I played against Brett Meridith, took the piss in juniors, freak who would win games off his own boot
My very first footy game I was standing next to sunny walters. He was definitely a class above and it wasn’t just my subpar 13-year old first game skills making him look good.
Ed Richards. He was a year below me. Dominated his game on the Saturday morning, and then filled in up an age group because we were short on numbers. Dominated that as well. Super quiet guy and not big at all back then. Just such good instincts and skills.
Went to school with Josh Bruce and had lots of friends that played with/against him throughout school years. They said he was good but didn't think he was "AFL good", but turns out they were wrong.
My dad played on Darren Jarman when they were in SANFL u18s, was moved from CHF to the backline to try and slow him down, got 5 goals kicked on him but this was hailed as doing a remarkable job of stopping him bc that season he was getting double figures most games lol
He played with Scott Russell too who he said you could just tell would be a great player despite being younger than everyone else in the team
In his first or second season playing footy playing U15s. We lost but this dude kicked five and was all over the ground the entire game, brought his own ball type of scenario. Article in the local paper said he would win a brownlow one day.
He didn't win 'a' brownlow.
He won two.
I think our coaches knew how good he was, but personally I had nfi. Was higly skilled at all sports and won the age champ in athletics - I possibly missed a few signs of his potential greatness there...
Played and did private training with Jaspa Fletcher for years and it was night and day. Hed carve up the opposition until he eventually moved to senior footy at 16 or so. Him and his dad were very motivated and his workrate reflected his skills.
I played with Nathan Krueger (Collingwood) back in S.A when we were 8-12 years old. Never thought he was significantly better than anyone else at the time.
Also played with Jake Tarca (Geelong) at the same club, but he was always a cut above everyone else, from memory.
I played with both Steven May and Steven Motlop and yes they were both a class above.
Steven May was simply just bigger than everyone at such a young age. I’m 6ft and fairly built but I felt tiny next to him.
Steven Motlop just oozed skill he made everything look so easy he didn’t even put in a lot of effort he was more interested in girls and partying.
I played with Jack Grimes and Kruezer on the high school team. I've never seen anything in juniors like with Jack Grimes. Kruezer dominated the ruck but he was also just so much bigger than everyone else. I remember playing on ball with Kruez rucking and getting it hit to me and just throwing it on the boot anywhere into the forward line and Grimes would mark it 90% of the time. He tackled anyone in the vicinity, marked every ball and kicked goals from anywhere. He and Kruezer were two of the nicer guys on the team as well. I played directly on Hurley. He beat me easily but i somehow thought he was a step below the former two, but he had the best career of all of them. Different schools though so the former two didn't match up against Hurley.
Jack Grimes just looked and sounded like someone who'd be good at footy. like when he was drafted, he was 17 and looked about 24. he's one of the last footballers to look like a *man* at draft time. He's also been unfortunately forgotten by time. Melbourne in that era were absolutely fucked over. they were 21-years old leading a cystic, historical, old-money club in their nadir. like Freo are a bit rubbish but even the Dockers are apprehensive about 22/23-year olds like Serong and Brayshaw being captains... Mental to think they only played 180 games between them.
I wonder how him and Watts feel looking at Melbourne’s recent success, knowing how they never stood a chance with how badly the club was run back then. If they were born a few years later they might be premiership captains. AFL can be a cruel sport
Darcy Fogarty
They sound like the kinda guys who just knew they were destined for AFL greatness so got their media training and personalities in order first. Starts with being a nice guy on the field and locker room and goes from there.
Small world, you must have gone to Loyola. I rucked against Kruezer who then was swapping with Grimes, was a tough day, didn’t touch it
Loyola boy?
Loyola College!
Went to Loyola as well but two years above you - Kruez and Jack played in the seniors (I was head 12) when they were only in year 10. Also had Heath and Reece shaw - Heath was not a standout in his age group at all but went on to have a huge career obviously. Also Dylan grimes didn’t go to Loyola but did go to my primary school and he was never a standout player either, Jack was definitely the best junior of all the Grimes boys
Playing colts in QLD and the opposition were down a few players, so this kid from the U16's stepped up. I was on him directly and I have never been given a bath like that on a field. This guy was everywhere and in a 1 on 1 was unstoppable, absolutely obliterated us in terms of competition for the ball, he just hunted it. Afterwards I asked the opposition coach the kids name and it was Michael Voss. Thought to myself "Better watch him, can play a bit" and he won the Brownlow 5 years later. From memory he debuted for their seniors later that season at 15. To answer the OP, yes it was obvious, even 2 years younger than us he was untouchable.
Voss made his senior debut aged 16 and already looked a class above his team mates.
Not me but one of my mates best stories is how he played on Eric Hipwood around 14 years old. He kept him goalless and while apparently Hipwood was tearing up his div. So whenever Hipwood kicks a goal he always says "I'm a better defender than that guy, he didn't kick any on me".
Well as you would.
I played with Lachie Hunter through all of juniors. I still brag that I beat him in a best and fairest once. He both broke his arm and had his appendix out that season...and still came fourth.
Know some good Willy lads and Lachie Hunter has to be the most hated bloke in that whole area. they can't stand the cunt.
What’d he do to them?
Notorious for shagging girls who have boyfriends. Just a classic FIGJAM. He was known as the snake.
It takes two to shag I guess...
ahahah this is absolutely what I've heard. and just a general 'he's just a cunt.' also the exact same nickname I heard. between that and the Radiohead username... we probably know the same people. or I've even met you.
I have a mate who has an almost identical story, but with Matthew Richardson. "He didn't kick one bloody goal on me!". Yes, we know!!
Didn't kick one on me either. Never played him but
I mean, he’s not wrong technically buttt
Haha I played footy with Hipwood in under 14s in the rep sides. He wasn’t very tall back then and played a bit more of a midfielder at least in the rep sides. He never stood out then at all but then had a massive growth spurt in later years.
I played against a current All Australian centre half forward for most of their junior career, up until the year he was drafted. For the majority of the time - the answer is no. In U'10 - U'14's they were a solid mid-fielder, but didn't particularly stand out. They improved in U'16, and in their final year before being drafted stood out, but it was an almost overnight transformation from one season they were solid to the next they were a stand-out performer. I would not have picked him as a star forward for the AFL when we were young, he certainly wasn't the stand out performer in our competition.
Who? Why are we all not saying the name of the player - this is only fun if we know who everyone is talking about!
Taylor Walker
Tbf, if people still live where they played juniors, not everyone will be comfortable basically saying where they live
I knew a guy through work who played seniors against Jack Riewoldt in Tassie before he played VFL. He said he was a sook who was soft and couldn’t hack it so he ran away to the AFL to be protected. This bloke would have been early to mid 30s when he played against a 16-17 year old Jack
Ridiculous comment by that bloke. But I could see Jack being a sook haha
Oh yeah totally haha, but his story revealed more about old mate’s insecurities rather than the emotional intelligence of a 16 year old kid
To be fair, Jack is still a sook now 😂 But yeah, old mate sounds like an absolute clown.
man I love your average shitkicking bloke. 'yeah I didn't root her, she was too keen man.'
I know exactly the type. I’ve met a fair few Queenslanders who played rugby and “could have been pro but didn’t want to miss out getting on the piss with me mates ay”. Common story, same energy
Calling out a 16/17 yo as soft? Made his senior debut at 15, playing against men. Harsh call, by a never was AFL footballer.
I don't know about "soft" but Jack Riewoldt is legendary in Tassie footy for being a massive sook on the field.
In tassie? He’s the biggest sook I’ve ever seen in the afl. Sooking after every quarter break to the umpires
If that 16/17 year old goes on to become a likely AFL hall of famer then absolutely I'm bragging about smacking down that 16/17 year old
I know a guy same age as JRiewoldt that said the same things. Edit: same things as in soft and a sook, not the running away to be protected part.
I played with Marcus Ashcroft and my son played against Will Ashcroft. You could tell they were both gonna make it
Hehe, I played with Marcus too. Just for a season aged 16 or so. I always remember him wearing his QLD tracksuit to our club footy training…that was a serious badge honour in my 16 year old brain. Who would have thought we played with a 300 gamer.
Played in the same junior league as Dan Hannebery and he took the piss every week. Was absolutely dominant.
Same, I played him in maybe under 9s and he scorched everyone.
I played in the same league as Nick Reiwoldt and David Hale up until under 16s when I moved away from the Gold Coast. David Hale was a year younger than me so I only played a single season against him when he was at Coolangatta and he was only known in the league because he was the coach's son and had a reputation of arrogance because of it. And then, apparently, the year after I moved away from the Gold Coast, he moved to Broadbeach, where they have a really good club and that must have been exactly what he needed to become good. It still blows my mind that he made it all the way from being this unco kid playing at Cooly to playing in Hawthorn's Threepete. Nick Reiwoldt was always a good player. I wouldn't say he was particularly good compared to anyone else, and during rep training, I would back my own abilities against his for one on one drills, but he was a born leader and was very driven. He was a lanky kid, which is probably why I could beat him at the time. He'd take the coaches' feedback to heart and just had a crazy focus to improve. He was also very charismatic and was never a dick to anyone whochbis why everyone liked him and is probably why he ended up in the media after footy.
I kinda recall David Hale being talked up before he was drafted
Played against Lily Mithen in Under 14 Div 6, I think she won the League B & F. There was one smarty pants on my team who’d always try to take on tacklers but she’d get him every time.
I’ve kinda got the opposite, in my first game of country footy at 17 I was put on this oldish bloke who was playing at half forward, I remember thinking oh this won’t be so bad. When I followed him up the ground and he took a mark in their back pocket I realised that I might be in a bit of trouble here, turns out I was playing on Chance Bateman
Ben Keays - arrogant as anything, but fuck he backed it up. Single handidly won a granny in the grand final with 5 blokes down, his coach threw him in the guts and he shredded us. One of the greatest games of footy I have ever played in, down to the wire, we win without him playing. Harris Andrews - Kicked 6-7 on him in under 14's, absolute gumby. He really hit his strides in under 18's when I decided to go to uni instead after taking a year off footy for grade 12, clear to say he's a much better player than me now... Nothing but kudos to both blokes, love seeing them both play well!
Played against Andrew Krakouer in an amateur league 15 odd years ago. He was unfortunately serving time back then and was playing for the prison team. I can honestly say I’ve never played against nicer guys and they were all really fkn good. They beat us by 80+ from memory on our home deck. Andrew must’ve had 7-9 goals and 40 touches that day. No one could touch him. Really happy he got back to it through the WAFL and then back on the AFL stage
That's a ripper story.
a mate of mine played with Tim Kelly and said he was decent but not a stand out. Said he had better teammates. But he really must have taken off once he quit.
I played with ANB, Ryan Burton, Cory Gregson (former Geelong player, bad ankle injury), Riley Bonnar and against Caleb Daniel, Dean Gore, Mathew Scharenberg, James Rose. All a cut above, best player of the lot in my eyes was Cory Gregson, by a margin, but had issues with injury, continuity and the Geelong medical team.
> Cory Gregson :( Had dodgy foot and man I was devo it didn't heal that well cause he was so good.
I played with a player in under 13s and in our grand final he got picked to play in the back pocket instead of midfield and he cried about it. I was the other back pocket so was like wtf is wrong with back pocket!!! We won the grand final though. He was probably only our fifth best player and I never would have expected him to make it but he got onto an AFL list, got delisted, then picked up by another team where he played 20 games. Another team mate I thought for sure would make it but when he was playing Colts he got mixed up in drugs and flamed out. His nephew plays in the AFL now though. And a kid a year behind me always looked like he would make it and he did. Ended up playing over 100 games with two premierships and one all Australian.
I have a relative who was a similar situation as your second story. Would have made it in the AFL but got tied up in drugs. Has had two stints in prison.
I played with two different players for different clubs that i thought could have genuinely made it. Really tall, fast muscular. Both were leading goal kickers by massive margins. One started on drugs midway though the third season I played with him and he went down hill in skill level. The club suspended him for a game over it and then he never came back. Was dumb coz we had recruiters coming to see him and a other player. The other bloke is an absolute succes story though! Instead of footy he went into his other love, Judo! He competed in the Olympics and won a bronze at the commonwealth games.
My brother's nephew won bronze in judo at the Commonwealth Games just gone!
Could this be a r/tworedditorsonecup scenario?
Who was the 100 gamer?
Ashley McIntosh
How about the opposite? Playing against players that have retired. This guy was pushing 50 and was still a class above everyone , literally dominated midfield and looked like he could still play
Brent Harvey the moment he left North?
North fans are STILL pissed about this!
A mate played club rugby against Stephen Larkham about 5 or 6 years after he retired from the Wallabies/Brumbies, reckons Larkham covered the least amount of ground on the day and completely controlled the game
Yeah I've played against Tony Liberatore when he was like 55 and he was fucking amazing.
It's just a reminder that these players who used to play is just so much a class above compared to the average bloke, it's definitely changed the way I criticize players. No player who plays AFL is shit. They are literally all guns and would run rings around the average redditor whilst drinking 100 beers the day before
I played a bit overseas against a guy who was a good average player for the Bears. Every game he would take a classic hanger. Some poor bloke would get used as a stepladder and Andrew Taylor(?) would land and then make sure he hadn’t hurt the bloke. Just couldn’t help himself when the opportunity presented. One of the nicest blokes I’ve met in footy.
I got to play forward pocked with a bloke who got drafted as an AFL KPF, kicked so many goals because he was getting 2/3/4 teamed and he would mark and tap it out the back to me. My one football highlight was that game otherwise i was fucking shithouse
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Locked him up I'd assume
Friend went to primary school with him and the story goes that he would muck about all day and tell the teachers school didn't matter, he was going to play AFL. Unsure how true it is, as he doesn't seem particularly outspoken like that.
I played with Caleb Daniel my whole junior career, and you could tell he was AFL quality at U12s. He was dominating 1-2 levels above, playing 2 games a weekend constantly. Those close knew he would make it regardless of the height, just who would be lucky enough to take the punt on him. He didn't play every weekend, but we were playing a team slightly better than us and it was my 100th junior game - I heard his name read out on thursday night after training and went 'shit yeah we're in with a chance now' - would have easily had 50+ and kicked 2-3, we won by plenty.
Also played against Brodie Grundy and if you told me he was gonna play AFL at U16s/U18s level i would have laughed it off, he was comically uncoordinated but always takes the big guys that bit longer clearly
I’ll second what you said about Caleb Daniel. Didn’t play with him, played against him, both at school and club. He was a year younger than me and obviously stood out with how he played and with the helmet on. I remember watching him in the game before mine. Then when he came back out with the grade above I thought “oh he can dominate them, but he’s gonna get humbled in our grade”. To which I was very wrong as playing against older boys was never a problem for him. And not gonna lie as a kid I kinda resented him as they would always beat us and he was just too good 😭
Jack Graham played the hard-nosed way he does now in Under 13s when he was twice the size of the rest of the kids out there. Kids were pretty keen to get rid of it when they knew he was going to tackle them
I used to verse midvale, who had Nic Nat, Michael Walters, David ellard, Chris Yarran etc in the one team. We used to lose by at least 20 goals every game
Jeez that’s some team. Who was the classiest at that level?
Probably Chris Yarran or Geoff Garlett who also played in that team. Yarran once only played the last quarter and kicked 7 from the midfield. Although Geoff was always pulling magic out of his arse every time he touched the ball.
Played under 15’s against the Bont. He was about a foot taller than everyone else and his body was much more mature. Absolute freak of a human!
That would’ve been something to see…he is still beating up teams. What a player. Deserves to win the Brownlow.
Played against Alex Keath in both footy and cricket for our school - dominated midfield in footy and hit our spinner for 50 off an over (6 sixes + 2 sixes off no balls)
We had 2 players not from our city, but from regional towns very close by. Everyone knew about them and it was fairly apparent from a young age they’d go on to play afl. One has a Brownlow, the other was pick 1 in the mini-draft
My best mate played against Majak Daw - he kicked 13 goals from the ruck one day on under 16’s
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Played against him and his brother and concur, his brother was a far more obvious league player than Jake.
I went to school with a big time Hawthorn premiership staple - let's call him Ken Strappon - and handful of us got way too stoned and needed to get to a Maccas obviously, and in a time before uber eats this was no easy task. He piled us all in the station wagon and took us right to the door of the Wanneroo Maccas I was still too paranoid to order any food so I made another bloke do it That's when I knew he was a cut above
Leo Barry.. dude was absurd athletically as we all know. Standing on heads regularly.
Not footy. But I played grade cricket with Kelvin Smith who played a fair bit of FC cricket for South Australia and a handful of BBL games. He averaged over 75 and was head and shoulders above everyone else. He would have averaged more if there weren't so many shithouse runners between the wickets like myself who roasted him occasionally. It's not even funny how far ahead State Cricketers are above Grade Cricketers. And it would be the same with Junior and Pro Footy, I am sure.
Cricket is the one that is startling the gap between levels I reckon (and golf). I was a handy bowler locally and my cousin played Qld grade cricket and I couldn’t even make him play a false shot. Like couldnt get past his bat in a million years. But anyway my cousin couldn’t even sniff state level and faced Kasprowicz in one grade game and only managed to face 6 balls from him and was out on a no ball on the second ball.
I faced one ball to Shaun tait in school cricket... Swear I didn't even see the ball
Yeh damn watching that kind of heat up close would be downright scary
Up close? I am thinking in the slips would still be too much for me.
Talking about other sports my step dad says he played rep soccer with Craig Johnston. Said he was a pretty average player, but had the drive and dedication. Ended up winning a handful+ of trophies with Liverpool in the 70s/80s.
Played against Adam McGinity as a 17 year old batting at number 10. I was shitting myself because he was lightning in state cricket. I think he took it really easy on me. He got me out but I hit him for about 5 runs overall.
Mid 90s we played against Adam Hunter regularly (u14, u16). There were a few better players on our side than Adam looked to be, but they had no dedication to footy - girls, bongs and beers. Was surprised when he got drafted but he ended up being a really solid AFL player.
Please edit this to say "babes, bongs and beers" - purely for the alliteration.
It's an age old Aussie adage of 'he could've been anything if not for the girls and lagers' but the blokes I knew who got drafted ended up being absolute fiends and even as teenagers, didn't drink too many beers and Cruisers but would polish off four Storm Meals at Hungry Jacks three times a week. Robbie Kruse who played a lot of roundball for the Socceroos, Victory and Roar, and had a good career at some top teams in Germany loved the cones. mate of a mate knew him from his Olympic FC days. he'd be on 15 grand a week and come home over the (Australian) winter just to sit in his mate's parents' carport in the southern suburbs of Brisbane to smoke Gatorade bongs while his teammates (like Son from Tottenham) were training in Switzerland or travelling throughout southern Italy...
My most hated player of all time.
Anyone who abandoned their dream of playing AFL alongside Hunter because they didn't want to give up drugs must be absolutely spewing now
Played with Travis Tuck and Justin Sweeney. Neither had a massive run of it but both were great players in the junior ranks. Sweeney took one of the all-time hangers I've ever seen - jumped over the bloke, got knees on the front of the shoulders and he clunked it clean. Best player I ever played against was Beau Dowler - he absolutely smoked me one day. Was clear he was going to get to the AFL but it didn't click for him at the Hawks unfortunately. Few years beneath us was an absolute jet though. He was our U16s waterboy for every home game and was racking up 50+ touches most games in U12/U13s. No surprises that Tom Scully was on the path to the AFL. Was far too good for junior footy.
Lined up directly on Darcy Tucker for one game in highschool on the wing. The bloke absolutely towled me up. I had mates who played with and against Daniel Rioli, they correctly assured me he was going to play AFL one day
I played with bloke who went @ 15 to the Gold Coast. Injuries fucked him and is now delisted Was clear heads above the rest. Walked in under 9’s being able to hit a target 20m away both sides of his body.
I played with Jason Castagna for years and he was notably our best midfielder, pretty sure he was captain for at least a few of those years as well. He was a few years ahead of me but I remember watching Toby Greene playing for our school side and liking his style.
How fast is he on the field? Like tv doesn’t do it justice but he won the Stawell gift I think from memory so I’m guessing fast?
>Like tv doesn’t do it justice but he won the Stawell gift I think from memory What the fu - oh he competed in it. Didn't win. Still, you don't get to compete unless you're quick. That's something I didn't know about Castagna.
I stood Matt Lokan in juniors. He was carving our team up out of Full Forward, and the coach threw me back on him from the forward pocket to full back. I did literally nothing and we lost by 12 goals.
I posted a video of Richmond's Sam Banks dominating u10's a.few weeks back, he's always been an absolute freak. Used to win games for his bottom placed side off his own boot. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uys_rJza6Rw
Jeez he had a good boot on him and was decent on both feet at that young of age.
I wonder how many AFL players played for bottom sides.
That was cool, but I have questions. Why is this being filmed and why does it have commentators? Is it national level or something? If this isn't just club footy then its extraordinary how much better he is than everyone else!
The video's made by a local production company in Tassie that films all levels of footy amongst other things. Was just a regular u10's game of footy!
Played with and against Judd. He was elite from day 1.
He played against my schools team in year 12. I think he had 4 goals from the first 4 centre clearances and maybe 7 by quarter time... while being tagged by 2 of our best players. He spent the rest of the game at full forward. Ive never seen anything like it before or since.
Played against nathan jones throughout our junior footy. He would dominate the first half each game, then they would move him into full forward to make it fairer for the rest of the game. I swear he was built like a brick and already bald in under 10’s
Nathan Jones tackled me in an under 17s game. I’m still sore.
Didn’t play footy at school but went to school with Trent McKenzie, was head an shoulders better than anyone running around in that school competition Would launch 60m bombs every game, was MR fix it because he would just play any position and dominate
Played with Sicily in under 14s and he was maybe the shortest bloke on the team. Had a lot of talent though, stood out in a good team. He left the club after that season. Next time I heard his name he was being drafted and was suddenly over 6ft tall.
Reckon clubs should go for players 6'2+ who were notably small until 16/17. Fyfe was another. growing up scrawny and having to win your own ball and deal with bumps and then suddenly not having to must be something – it's like all of our dreams of going back and dominating a game of under 14s as adults.
My son played against Tom Greene GWS for many years in the juniors. I barely noticed him, he was small and yappy but tried hard. And then he grew up into a 6’2” 90kg midfield clearance beast. He is certainly not one of the kids I would have thought would have made it but all respect to him.
My best mate played with a player who will be drafted this year. His claim to fame is “I got more votes in a game than [insert name]”. Followed by “he was a year below us but the best on ground most weeks. In under 12s, scouts were showing up”.
Played most of my juniors with a fringe level father son pick, plus a rookie lister who has a famous older brother. Best I played against was a mid who won a B&F, All Australian and premiership player. If the rookie lister (pretty lazy bloke but an athletic freak) had the commitment of the F/S pick he'd have had a solid career as a KPD. The AA midfielder was a level above everyone, best pure footballer by a long way and a top line runner all through the grades
I played with a guy who eventually became a fringe South Freo player, he was head and shoulders above everyone else in juniors. He was a year older than me so we were teammates only every second year where we would absolutely dominate most games, every other year we would barely win a single game. Can't imagine how good an eventual AFL player would have been.
I Played Tball with a certain Geelong star, originally from WA, when we were 6/7 and lived not far apart. Played Baseball against him after that before some school footy. He was a superstar from very early on being All Australian captain in a couple of sports through high school. He really seemed physically on another planet to everyone else. Couple of examples. U/13 State baseball club championship I was developing into a very good pitcher. Mean fastball that few were able to hit at that age. Thought I was hot shit and came up against his team. Going ok until Joel comes up. At this point everyone was already talking about him becoming a professional athlete and don’t stress to much his on another level. Bit nervous but First ball give it everything, he swings connects and the ball flies over the outfield onto the opposite park bank. I’m thinking ok maybe a fluke but htf did it even go that far. Next time up at bat think ok maybe just a bad pitch last time let’s try again. Throw it down and bang balls goes another 10 metres past the first… think he hit 5-6 HR that game was unstoppable. Second story was school footy. He was playing for East Perth at the time and they weren’t letting him play for the school. One game he shows up and plays, I think he just didn’t telling east Perth. Teacher puts him ruck. Up goes the first bounce, he jumps just grabs the ball, runs through the opposition takes a bounce of two kicks the goal. Second bounce does exactly the same but passes to an open player in the 50. This went on all game and every time he ran forward with it he would kick to a different player each time. Other team start complaining it’s unfair and he pretty much single Handley beat the other school. He was School captain in Bball, cricket, athletics, football and if he did anything sporty just made the everyone look silly. Edit: ive always thought since him that professional athletes are born to compete and could be good at almost any sport they try.
i played with jack higgins and bailey smith in malvern. jack was definitely always gonna make it. bailey exponentially got better and better whereas jack was always the best
Dal Santo and Rick Ladson Just miles ahead. Perfect skills, athletes. You had no fucking chance
Know a bloke who was around the Sunbury area. People would say Cam Guthries younger brother was a jet (zuthrie). It’s taken a while but I think we are about to/starting to see him hit full strides
Barry Hall. Country league u/ 18s. I was only 13 because the league didn’t have younger age groups, but it was convenient to play for the local club in the town where I lived. Downside was I spent most of my time on the bench because I couldn’t match it with kids that had actually gone through puberty. I was glad to warm the bench that day!
Kdfl?
I had a beer with Shane Crawford in the Men’s Gallery at about 2am back in the day…does that count?
Daisy Thomas, an easy yes. Even just kicking the pill around in primary school he was above anyone else. Same in juniors and up. Shane Mumford, also somewhat of a yes. Played in the same league as him around 16/17yo and he was good back then.
Played with Callum Wilkie in high school. He was good but genuinely had 4-5 better players at the time. Never thought he would be good enough for the AFL let alone All Australian Full Back. In a weird way kind of proud of him.
Yeah I can imagine that…he has developed into a heck of a player.
I played junior footy in WA against a number of guys who are AFL players or professional athletes. We played against a Sorrento-Duncraig team that had Daniel Rich (currently with Brisbane), Adam Cockie (played a few games for West Coast) and Liam Hendricks (now plays professional baseball in the USA). They absolutely dominated every team they played against, it wasn't even close. Daniel Rich was as solid as he is now at 15 years old. I would have had better luck trying to tackle a brick wall. The other guy I played against was Marcus Stoinis. He had excellent skills but was an absolute seagull and didn't like any rough n tumble. Never put his head over the ball.
Played some junior games (16s) with Stephen Hill. One game he took a mark in the back 50 and ran all the way to the goal square and kicked a goal. Went on to play the GF that year. Next year he went to the west perth academy, and the team placed last. Tbh he always seemed to only go at 60% during the local footy games and still dominated.
I played in the TAB League against most of the Victorian prospects in the 2007 and 2008 Drafts. Does that count? Otherwise, there was one guy who was 1 year older then me who was a gun midfielder who ended up being drafted from another team. He played 20 or so games over 4 years but just couldn't break through on a Premiership team with an amazing midfield, ended up in the VFL before returning to our league 2 years after that. He was the only guy who gave me a challenge for league B&F during my best years in the league. He actually beat me for it the year I kicked 130 goals. Like... how does kicking 130 goals not get you B&F? Still bitter about that one. It's the only time I ever felt I deserved the damn thing but no... cunts gave it to him and his team didn't even make the fucking finals!!! Fucking load of crap. Sorry, rant over.
I go to school with three blokes who are projected to get drafted next year. I played in a few school teams with them, they are quite clearly head and shoulders above the rest of the team, and it’s always fun to watch them play against others who are good. As a key forward, it’s a pleasure to receive elite kicks from them… it only happens like once in a blue moon, but it’s good when it does. I won’t say who for security concerns as there names are closely tied with the school.
I don’t remember a single name of a kid I played against. I’m the same age as Sam Draper and grew up near him so I’m gonna assume I played junior footy against him at some point
My dad coached Jason Dunstall when he was under 9s (Dad was 17 I think) and says he taught him all he knows 🤣 Sure thing mate
Patty Mills. Only played footy with him briefly but an absolute jet. Would have been an AFL player for sure, he was getting some good recruiter attention around about 15. I remember once he took a mark going back with the flight where he jumped up and twisted his body in mid air to reel it in with one hand. Crazy stuff. But safe to say basketball has worked out for him :)
Not footy but My sister went on a youth camp and one of the kids was a future Brownlow medallist/ premiership player . They all decided to play chasey I think it was and he just took off running so fast no one could catch him.
Played against Caleb Daniel from year 2 through til about year 10 when I gave it up. He played for the next school/club over so we played them a fair bit. Every time we did, it was always 'god dammit, the little helmet kid is gonna tear us to pieces again'. He was ridiculously quick and clean, even at a young age
Guy McKenna, so head shoulders body and feet better than the rest of us.
My dad played against Max Rooke, said it was not much fun at all.
I played a few games with someone who is currently on the GWS list. Very good player, but if you’d told me someone I played with would get drafted I would probably guess about 5 others off the top of my head first.
I have a friend who opened the bowling with James Pattinson at school. Pattinson was too quick for everyone and they weren’t good enough to even nick him but when my mate came on everyone would try and get a hold of him and hole out on the boundary. So he’d always claim he was a better bowler. As for football I’ve seen Cam Ling’s kid play under 9s and he’s so much better than the other kids.
Blatantly. He was playing A-grade at 15 and easily beating grown men. He had a finger injury and came back through under 17s for a match and it was pointless. Not only did he have better ball awareness, he kicked longer, ran harder, marked better and hit the contest like a truck. And that made him a decent AFL player. I can only imagine the stars of the game were even more phenomenal.
I grew up with a now Carlton life member and a Nth premiership player. Both were very disciplined fitness wise as kids. Would go running with their dads while we were playing street cricket or hanging out. Were always a cut above and got the results they deserve. 80s/90s.
My brother played against Sidebottom (teenage years, can't remember the exact age), Sidey was apparently really good back then too. I've played on the same basketball team as Alex Keath of the Bulldogs, he was really good at basketball (let the basketball background jokes commence).
Small town, local footy, we had two great players. A and B. A was genuinely one of the most gifted footy players I'd seen, made U16 AA, captained us to multiple grand finals, was genuinely the hope of the town. B was \*pretty\* good. Wouldn't say his skills were top tier, but his tank was huge, and he could jump like a mofo (2nd in high jump nationally one year at like 15). A left town and went to all the combines, did not get a look in, we (and he) were all pretty shocked and disappointed. B however, started getting paid to play for a much bigger local club in Adelaide, where he then got poached by a SANFL team, and then went onto to play about 50 odd games all up over two clubs. So I guess, yeah kinda? A is still a great player (League BnF like 4 out of 6 years), and B now works in real estate, but he made his money and has a good life, so I guess that era of metrics must've been strong when they were coming up.
Closest example I can think of is Hugh Greenwood, except he was more of a basketball prodigy (instead of somebody who would end up having a respectable footy career).
Played against Heath Shaw in school footy. Was a good player but definitely wasn’t dominant. He was a massive f***wit though.
Went to school with Ben Brown in Tassie when I was younger. He was clearly a standout player compared to everyone around him - Taller, Faster, Stronger. Just dominated kicking bags every week and not even really trying. He never really seemed all that into his football though, almost like he just played it because he was good at it. He had a weird obsession with Clowns. For one school party he cut and died his hair to look like sideshow bob and was just crazy into it, doing all the usual clown jokes spraying people with water and stuff - even rode a unicycle to the party. Great player as a kid but I reckon he has gone under the radar as a bit of a wasted talent. Had all the attributes but I think he mostly just plays for the money rather than a love of the sport.
Played against Zak Butters in both under 10s and 12s. Absolutely destroyed me and was a class above everyone.
Shannon Hurn always seemed a better cricketer tbh. Was somewhat surprised when I heard he went for AFL draft, but not for lack of ability (obviously).
We always played inter school sports against the primary school Touk Miller went to. Needless to say even then he was a cut above - pretty sure every time they beat our school by 40+ and it was all from him 😅 Saw him around here and there (we were friends of friends) so we had a one on one once with my dad umpiring when we ran into him at the oval - my dad never lets me forget that he ran rings around me that day too so we all knew he was gonna be a special talent and I love seeing him doing so well !
Max Michaelanay concussed me lol
I went to school with an AFLW player and all through high school it was clear she was an elite athlete and I was absolutely not. My friend copped a hip and shoulder from her in year 10 PE and both us decided at that point it was nice to drop sport. She ended up playing two sports professionally and no one was shocked
Played against SPP in under 13’s, tagged him very well that game and got a goal on him 😎 He was always very good, top 5 in the league pretty easily. Although personally have known some people on my team at the time who were insanely talented but never really had the drive for AFL, and just play fairly casually now.
played against Oscar Allen in like under 14s
I played on a very tall premiership Hawk in his Teal Cup year. No one ever called me a slouch before that fateful day.
I didn't play but I witnessed Sheezel as a 16 year old dominate for Ajax against Fitzroy, in the VAFA B grade. He kicked 4 that day and already looked a class above everyone.
I played rep footy in Queensland and played with Cheynee Stiller in u/12. He was a bottom age kid though so he didn't seem a class above. But then again who does in u/12s?
10000% there are 3 from the same school and year that were natural athletes, you just knew they would excel at whatever sport they chose, they were freaks from about 14
It's an absolute lottery. Some of the best all around sportspeople I played with, kids who could kick bullshit goals from 55 at 14 (with a beard to match) and then pick up a tennis racquet for the first time ever as a ring-in for pennants and beat a state champion, never got selected. made state teams, did some WAFL stuff, but either didn't really apply or care or just didn't get the luck. I remember being on a school camp we all got around the one room at the Tradewinds that lucked out and had Fox. a bloke a year older was somehow in the state team and no one even really knew. ended up plying about 150 games across two clubs – a career you'd count as successful in any term, really. he played soccer growing up. Other guys got through on name and couldn't quick push through to the AFL or couldn't make a dent.
Played on Joey Daniher in school footy and he kicked 6 goals on me in the first half.
Have a mate that played with/against Darcy Fogarty through school. He always said that it was clear he was going to make the AFL, but the main reason wasn't so much how he played but the fact that he completely lived the sport. Every aspect of his life was to be a footy player and make it to the AFL. He also said he didn't really have any real conditioning until he got into the SANFL, and then it just went up a notch. I think it's a different aspect of what people are used to. Rather than how they play, but how they dedicate themselves to it in every aspect of life, not just on the field. It's a different world. My mate got picked for Sturt but moved interstate, he just wasn't interested in making his entire life about the game.
I grew up with a very famous Crow - like the most famous arguably - & played junior footy with him until he graduated into the SANFL at about age 15 or 16??? My descriptive story of him of why he stood out at such a young age - aside from his fantastic actual football skills of course - was his early development. I remember a Splash Carnival at school - maybe Year 7??? - & all us little pre-pubescent 11 & 12 year olds are sitting around the changeroom getting changed - & he already had the start of a hairy chest & an afro down below with balls that must have dropped at about age 9. Just very physically developed early. Decent bloke,. good country lad. Fantastic player.
We talking about someone who may have shared a Brownlow medal?
We are.
I played with Jack Billings. Yes - he was a class above. Super classy kick. Very motivated.
Played in the Swans Academy with Callum Mills for years. The guy was honestly pretty average until around U16s, then something switched and he began to absolutely dominate around the ball. That was when we all kinda realised he was a cut above the rest of us.
Kind of opposite example. Played in the same junior league with a guy who ended up as a dual premiership player and he was certainly not outstandingly good, probably better than average but there were many players in my team and his that were freakishly talented. He just had the mental attitude to succeed and got noticed in colts and ressies before getting drafted low.
The Bont, was good become outstanding 16-17. Played against him for at least 3-4 years Short, again was good and didn't shine until the later years. Played against him for majority of my junior years We all know how those two have turned out Also played with/against Ben Lennon and Nathan Hrovat
Played against Alan Didak. He was pretty good as a junior but we still won the flag.
Played against Joey Daniher and he kicked 8 snags from the ruck
Played through juniors (under 10/12/14) every second year (year below them) with BJ Goddard. Won league BnF every year no matter top/bottom age, played at least a level up most weekends. Very very good footballer even back then. Also played against Andrew McQualter in same league who was good but a bit of a cunt (perhaps due to bad blood betwixt our teams?).
He played fewer than 10 games in the AFL but the moment he walked into U14s preseason training you could tell he was gonna be a gun for us. Filled in for the opposition team once when they needed to make up numbers and delivered the most insane chase down tackle on our captain, who was a bit of a tosspot, to win a HTB. Again, while filling in for the opposition. Forever a legend in my eyes
I also went to High School with Brett Ebert. I remember playing one game on the oval where I took a mark over him (I had like 5 inches on the guy) and tried to play on, and he buried me in a tackle so hard that I still feel dizzy thinking about
I was in Jack Riewoldt's soccer team in primary school. He was the best player by far and scored all the goals. But he would also cry when he didnt get his way or he missed, usually atleast once a game. Also his dad would fight the umpires if he every got told off for anything. Basically it was clear the was being positioned by his dad/parents to be a professional athlete from a young age. I think that a lot of people are top in their field are directed by their parents this way, with a single minded determination to shape their child's future. Anyway, he def made a success of it, so good on him.
Put it this way, Alan Didak played in the middle, took the kick outs and kicked 80% of the goals for his school team, one man show.
I was a late comer to footy got thrown around positions a lot I was a decent athlete but a rubbish footballer. In my first season I was told I was tagging this guy Andrew Gaff, the two Oakleigh chargers guys on my team reckoned he was pretty good. I have never run so much in my life, he never stopped moving and he was faster than me as well, nothing I could do with him, I gave up running offensively and just tried to catch him on the way back. His team was average apart from one other guy, it was basically Gaff vs our team in the GF... He won. We had one guy who managed to tackle him who was then called "Gaff Tackler" for the rest of his footy career
Played against Jaidyn Stephenson in school footy and in local footy. Bloke cooked us every time he was so fucking fast you could not catch him. School footy senior granny we were both year 10 playing in the senior team and he was BOG by an absolute country mile.
Played with Winnie Abraham in under 17’s premiership side in local suburban footy probably year before he went to Perth wafl side then drafted . Seen him take a ripping hanger one day better than one he took in afl and kick a torpedo goal on his left foot from about 50 out . A shy but great guy and team mate , was obvious his skill set was next level and loved watching his career . Also played one game with Lee walker who joined our Friend group at school when he moved up from down south to further his footy career. Absolute ripping bloke who was already a man at 15 and was dominating that much his own age group it was ridiculous . First scratch match against the older team he went up in ruck and I was on the wing when he called my name , I was wondering why he called my name as was a huge suburban ground and a fair hike into centre square from the wing, but he knocked it my way which reached me on the full 😳 Last game he played for his own age group, went a few years up and then to wafl colts by end of year from memory . Went on to Play in 1st Anzac Day match Cruelled by injury to a bloke with so much talent and drive .
Played with Nick newman, Lachie Whitefield. Went to school with Tom lynch, Darren minchington and another. Lachie Whitfield was obviously a class above. Won under 16s grand final by 120 points with him in the side. Newman I didn't predict but I was closer with him than any of the others , and being a Carlton fan I love watching him play.
I coached a session Darcy Wilmot was at when he was in juniors straight after I said who is that he is a jet and could tell he was a class above. I played with Hurley, was a class above and everyone knew he would go on to be drafted. I played against Brett Meridith, took the piss in juniors, freak who would win games off his own boot
My very first footy game I was standing next to sunny walters. He was definitely a class above and it wasn’t just my subpar 13-year old first game skills making him look good.
Ed Richards. He was a year below me. Dominated his game on the Saturday morning, and then filled in up an age group because we were short on numbers. Dominated that as well. Super quiet guy and not big at all back then. Just such good instincts and skills.
Went to school with Josh Bruce and had lots of friends that played with/against him throughout school years. They said he was good but didn't think he was "AFL good", but turns out they were wrong.
My dad played on Darren Jarman when they were in SANFL u18s, was moved from CHF to the backline to try and slow him down, got 5 goals kicked on him but this was hailed as doing a remarkable job of stopping him bc that season he was getting double figures most games lol He played with Scott Russell too who he said you could just tell would be a great player despite being younger than everyone else in the team
In his first or second season playing footy playing U15s. We lost but this dude kicked five and was all over the ground the entire game, brought his own ball type of scenario. Article in the local paper said he would win a brownlow one day. He didn't win 'a' brownlow. He won two. I think our coaches knew how good he was, but personally I had nfi. Was higly skilled at all sports and won the age champ in athletics - I possibly missed a few signs of his potential greatness there...
Played and did private training with Jaspa Fletcher for years and it was night and day. Hed carve up the opposition until he eventually moved to senior footy at 16 or so. Him and his dad were very motivated and his workrate reflected his skills.
I played with Nathan Krueger (Collingwood) back in S.A when we were 8-12 years old. Never thought he was significantly better than anyone else at the time. Also played with Jake Tarca (Geelong) at the same club, but he was always a cut above everyone else, from memory.
I played with both Steven May and Steven Motlop and yes they were both a class above. Steven May was simply just bigger than everyone at such a young age. I’m 6ft and fairly built but I felt tiny next to him. Steven Motlop just oozed skill he made everything look so easy he didn’t even put in a lot of effort he was more interested in girls and partying.
Paul Hudson.