JOE DANIHER has grown up with footy. Aidan Corr spent the first three years of his life growing up in Ireland. Nick Vlastuin and Jonathan O'Rourke will be right on recruiters' minds at this year's NAB AFL Draft, while Jack Billings and Tom Boyd will need to wait until next year.
We profile Vic Metro's top 10 performers from the U18 championships
Luke McDonald, James Stewart and Lachie Hunter are father-son candidates, but Matthew Dick only recently gave up aspirations of a basketball career and tried his hand at football.
There are many stories that make up Vic Metro: the little-favoured side that overcame a shock loss and injuries to key personnel to win the division one title at this year's NAB AFL Under-18 Championships.
From the outside, the championships appear so easy - assemble the most promising teenage footballers in the country, put them on a field, wind them up and let them play.
But in spending the entire national carnival embedded with Vic Metro, AFL.com.au discovered the reality.
It showed there was so much more that needed to be balanced and thought out to get things right, like the role of coaching, the issues surrounding team selection, the place of recruiters, and the development of teenagers who aspire to the top level.
This is the story of Metro: its players, its culture, its challenges, and its championship.
THE STORY began, officially, in April, when a group of 56 players were part of the trial games and preliminary training sessions. But it started, in reality, after Metro's shock defeat to division two team Northern Territory in Darwin in the first round in late May. The loss provided a reference point and a spur for the rest of the championships.
We profile Vic Metro's top 10 performers from the U18 championships
Only days before that game, coach Rohan Welsh, who played 42 games for Carlton from 1992-97, told the players that individual feedback in game review meetings would be carried out in front of the group. He had the chance to do that after the Territory defeat, but there were other matters to address first.
Part of the program's role is to prepare players for an AFL career, so when coaches and team management saw a gradual drop-off in players filling out their fitness and well-being forms online, there were punishments.
Former Blue and Vic Metro coach Rohan Welsh talks to the team during the clash with Tasmania at Visy Park.
Picture: AFL Photos
The first time they missed it brought a warning, the second saw the team punished, and if a player failed to fill in the form a third time, he would be kicked out of the program. Standards are high and wriggle room is low.
This was a second strike, meaning the team had to do five laps of Visy Park at full pace, with a 30-second break in between. It was testing, but these are players who want to be tested. Early indications showed they were also players juggling so much.
In the lead-up to the second-round match with Tasmania, midfielder Nathan Hrovat was busy studying for a mid-year biology exam. The same week he turned 18, got his driver's licence and was getting home past 8pm on most nights due to footy commitments with Metro and school Carey Grammar.
Vic Metro's Nathan Hrovat talks with teammates Jonathan O'Rourke, Jake McKenzie, and Kristian Jaksch.
Picture: AFL Photos
The squad didn't need too much ammunition against Tasmania, but that didn't stop Welsh bringing in some outside forces to help, with Greater Western Sydney midfielder and former Vic Metro star Toby Greene speaking to the group. He recounted the efforts of the 2011 Metro team to ignore the recruiters and instead focus on winning and working for each other.
It's something Welsh and midfield coach Cain Liddle reinforced. Liddle noted Greene's greatest strength was that he knew he couldn't win the ball every time, and he implored this year's batch of midfielders, including Hrovat, O'Rourke, Tom Temay, Josh Kelly and others, to have the same attitude. Welsh suggested Metro was renowned for "tough, hard blokes who work for each other," but all that had been missing against NT.
Ignoring the recruiters, however, is easier said than done. At almost every session, Essendon's recruiter Merv Keane sat by the boundary picking up player's nuances. One, he's noticed, calls for the ball too much. Another impressed Keane with his recovery from an injury. Other scouts come and go. The players notice they're there, but don't play with the recruiters in mind, and the coaches never mention their presence.
"It's their job to be watching, so the quicker you get over that, the better footy you're going to play," says half-back Matthew Haynes, who is one of the team's most vocal leaders. "You can't tell them to go home."
AFTER picking a stronger team, Metro easily accounts for Tasmania by 96 points. But its biggest challenge is waiting in South Australia, who enter the championships as hot favourites to win division one.
Anton Grbac takes a hands-on approach. He is Metro's talent manager, a role that sits above the coaches. He's a conduit between players and parents, and always only a call away.
He also engages in some healthy by-play with the group: regularly wishing happy birthday to athletic forward Stewart (his birthday was in March), calling injured defender Lachie Plowman 'Luna Park' because of his big smile, and mocking Haynes' hand shake at every opportunity. Grbac's the team's father figure.
He quietly predicts a strong showing against SA, and that's what happens, with Metro knocking off the favourites in Adelaide by 18 points.
The game review is enlightening. Feedback is strong, but positive. When bottom-ager Ben Lennon chooses a wrong option, he admits it wasn't on. When Kelly streams forward, he says he should have kicked the goal instead of passing it. It might have been Kelly's only error for the day; he has 21 disposals and is one of three bottom-agers to star.
Another is Billings, a sharp half-forward who reads the play better than most and who kicks five goals against SA. At 16, Billings is the second youngest at Metro (behind forward Boyd), but he's mature and sees this campaign as a learning experience. Billings is best friends with McDonald, another player unable to be drafted until next year.
They live about 200m from each other in Kew, have grown up playing sport together, and their parents swap driving duties throughout the championships to make sure they arrive at training on time.
There is room for fun. In the video review of Metro's win over SA, Welsh rewinds the footage three times to show 202cm forward Daniher giving a long chase. Each time, the laughs from his teammates grow. "Joey looks like he's running the Stawell Gift," Welsh says.
Earlier in the campaign, long-time trainer David 'Bluey' Gilmore (whose nephew Sam is Metro's ruckman), told Rory Atkins he should do something creative with his time in the rehab group. Atkins grinned, then replied: "What, like painting?"
On the bench against Tasmania, as Jackson Macrae kicked his sixth goal, key forward Kristian Jaksch turns to a teammate and says "That sh*t Macrae," referencing a line from a Kanye West and Jay Z song.
Vic Metro's Jonathan O'Rourke samples the post-match milk with young defender Aidan Corr at Visy Park.
Picture: AFL Photos
EVERYONE knows, however, when to switch on. With a week to go in the championships, Metro knows its destiny - beat Vic Country and WA, and it will take the title as the best team in the land.
In the lead up to the match against Country, defender Corr (nicknamed 'Apples') has injured his hamstring so Brandon Wood, one of 10 players cut from the squad of 35 after the SA win, gets another chance. Luckily he can still be called upon for selection - a car hit him at an intersection only days earlier.
The team meeting on the night before the Country game is held at a conference room at Vibe Hotel across the road from Visy Park, where Metro stays. The trainers stay with the team, and doctor David Bolzonello is on call.
Gilmore, who partners perfectly with trainer Nick Alexopoulos, has a day job organising transport for Linfox transport. He takes it on himself to keep the teenagers relaxed.
"People at work say it must be terrible being locked away with all these 18-year-olds, and I say 'Far from it'," he says. "They're the most respectful kids you'd want to meet."
In the team meeting, Temay is told he has a job on Country midfielder Lachie Whitfield, who has enjoyed a brilliant championship series and is considered the likely No.1 selection at this year's NAB AFL Draft.
But here's where things differ from the AFL. This isn't a tagging role. Temay isn't required to stand next to Whitfield at every stoppage.
It's a role in which Temay can boost his draft hopes, and a tactic used often by the Metro coaches. They play someone they want to get noticed on a player they know people will be watching. Jake McKenzie, the younger brother of Gold Coast's Trent, Jacob Ballard, Tom Tyquin and Dick have also been given a chance to impress in similar roles.
This is the coaches' balancing act; picking a team they know can win, but using players in ways to enhance their draft hopes.
Welsh hands out a sheet of notes, detailing Country's best players, with a message at the top. "The team that is prepared to go that little bit further for their mate will taste success. It will be us." He describes it as "our preliminary final".?
OUTWARDLY, there are no nerves at breakfast on game day as the players scour news outlets for coverage of their game. After eating, they head back to their rooms, where they fill in pre-match forms and hand them to squad manager Gary Plummer.
These list their goals for the day, and things are usually kept pretty general, like saying there needs to be more blocks, or to make sure there aren't "too many bees at the honeypot" - Liddle's expression for getting drawn into a contest.
While most players are upstairs getting ready for the bus trip to Geelong, McDonald comes down by himself and asks Grbac if he can watch some vision of his opponent, Taylor Garner.
Grbac pulls out his laptop and McDonald studies the footage closely, seeing where Garner runs and how he plays.
Aside from a few early laughs, the trip is a quiet one. By this stage of the championships most players are starting to feel a little weary, and any opportunity for extra sleep is welcomed.
As the match begins, some appear to enjoy the higher stakes - midfielder Jack Viney is one. At one point he is wrestling his best friend and Country midfielder Ollie Wines, putting him in a headlock (he sends his mate a text after the game apologising.)
Viney does everything at full throttle: he makes it clear he doesn't want to spend too much time on the bench, and at training kicks balls as hard and fiercely as possible, even if it means it could strike a teammate who gets in the way.
As Country presses to within two points, Viney comes off the ground for a rotation and raps lyrics from a Tribe Called Quest song. He attracts a few surprised looks, but things carry on, and Metro, through a goal to O'Rourke and then another to forward Hunter, pulls off a 15-point win.
Things quickly turn to recovery. The players pile onto the bus and head to Geelong's Eastern Beach, where they strip down and head to the icy water. Soon they come across several jellyfish the size of dinner plates. After some persuading, fitness coach Andy Thomas calls off the session, and says they will get in the pool back at Vibe. Captain Vlastuin and Boyd suggest they should still do the recovery in Geelong given the short break between Friday's game and Wednesday's clash with WA, but Thomas says it's a welfare issue.
On the return trip, the players scan the game's statistics and read the online reports. Temay's effort on Whitfield gets plenty of plaudits (he had 24 disposals and Whitfield 13), but he ignores it.
This is a key to Metro's campaign.
There's a sign at Visy Park reading 'Leave your ego at the door.' In April, Grbac made them walk through it one by one to make sure they understood that notion. It clearly made an impression.
THE FINAL four days of the carnival are perhaps the most demanding of any in the championships. After the game against Country, the Metro players again stay overnight at Vibe, and the next afternoon have a parents' luncheon. They get Sunday off footy, although Billings and McDonald are in North Melbourne's rooms after the Kangaroos' win over St Kilda.
On Tuesday the AFL holds its education sessions in function rooms at Etihad Stadium. The day begins at 8am with a photo shoot, for which defender McBean (nicknamed 'Slug' because of his aversion to punctuality) arrives 15 minutes late to much mirth among teammates.
After that, Metro and a number of other state teams start their education sessions on the AFL's respect and responsibility program, illicit drugs and doping. Corr even gets on stage to demonstrate a drug test. Most players have heard it all before, but they understand these are things they need to know.
"Their greatest challenge at this stage is to adjust what their idea of a young bloke is, and to be an adult a lot younger than they might like," says Grbac. "But in the end we're talking about special animals. We're not talking about kids who are mainstream."
A psychological test follows that requires each player to answer questions that will help to reveal his personality. AFL clubs have access to the results.
On the tram to training afterwards, midfielder Mitch O'Donnell (who took days off work as a plumber to attend) jokes he wasn't sure whether to say he was a fan of action movies or romantic comedies.
After a light training session, the players have dinner delivered to the rooms, but the atmosphere is tense. In one corner, they can see Grbac, Welsh, Liddle, Thiele, and forwards coach Chris Stuhldreier picking the team.
It is a Metro policy to pick 25 players for the final two games, and that each player must play at least one of those games if fit. It means three players from the win over Country need to be dropped for Daniher, Wood and Christian Salem to come in.
Things being considered are form, age, opportunities and team balance. Who the AFL recruiters want to see plays no part in the decision, despite phone calls to the selectors.
McBean, Stewart and Lennon are the outs, but even when they receive the news Welsh talks to them about how they can improve after the carnival. The three players are disappointed, McBean and Stewart more visibly than Lennon, who knows he has next year to impress.
In the team meeting at Vibe, the backline group is asked to describe why it likes playing with each other. Earlier in the year, McDonald and Vlastuin had a run-in and scuffle during a TAC Cup game, but by the end of the champs, their mutual respect as the team's half-backs was clear.
A video package of highlights from the Country and South Australia wins is shown, but rather than big marks and great goals it's about tackles and shepherds, teammates picking each other off the ground, and Vlastuin's courageous spoil against South Australia, which some suggest set the tone for Metro's revival.
"This is about everything that makes you a footballer," Grbac says. "It's about everything you've been taught in your football life. It's about doing these things tomorrow. And if you do that, you might surprise yourself."
THE first thing the players pick up on at Etihad Stadium as they prepare for their 'Grand Final' is that the scoreboards are switched on. There's nothing better than a novelty.
Preparations quickly ramp up when they get in the rooms. Inside a meeting room, backline coach Brent Thiele stands in front of the whiteboard, with 22 Metro players, plus emergencies, coaches and staff, sitting in front of him.
He flicks his pen, stares some players in the eyes, and makes his point. He says they have created something in the last seven weeks, "but the story's not written yet, is it?" Thiele says. "The story is not written yet."
The players are told it is a game they are playing for people other than themselves. After four years, Welsh is in his last game as Metro coach. He is hoping to advance his coaching career at VFL or AFL level, with Calder Cannons coach Marty Allison to take over next year. Allison was a senior assistant for Metro as part of the succession plan.
Throughout the first quarter, which Metro dominates, there is no mention of the score on the bench. There's plenty of talk - Plummer relaying messages word-for-word, David Villarosa making sure rotations are ready every seven minutes, specialist coach (and Richmond forward) Brad Miller directing the forwards.
Metro is up by 41 points at half-time, and Western Australia's surge in the third term - it kicks six goals in a row - comes out of the blue. On the bench Alyce Wilcox, the team's mental skills consultant, notices some bad body language creeping in. She tells the bench players to get their heads up and to spread that message when they get out on the field.
It seems to work. Jaksch is moved onto damaging WA forward Jesse Hogan, Salem kicks a couple of goals to provide some breathing space, and Daniher kicks his fourth goal from a set shot, letting out a roar that reverberates around the stadium. Metro is crowned division one champions, winning by 25 points.
After the on-field presentations - Hrovat is named Metro's MVP - the players trickle down the race. A group of teenagers hangs over the fence and yells and cheers for Billings. Everybody thinks they're his mates; he doesn't know them.
Once inside, families flock into the rooms. They sing the theme song (to the tune of North Melbourne's), and sing it again when Daniher, O'Rourke and Hunter return after doing some TV interviews. The bond between teammates is clear. "The most enjoyable part has been all the new friendships and relationships I've made that I think I'll have for the rest of my life," Billings says.
Despite coming from different backgrounds, and having different levels of ability, almost every player shares the same lessons out of the championships - about expectations, elite standards, time management, expedited adulthood, managing scrutiny, becoming famous, dealing with the media, meeting new people, appeasing new coaches, and travelling interstate.
And all players, with championship medallions now dangling around their necks, will share something tangible, too.
"You'll see each other, on AFL fields, on VFL fields, anywhere, and remember this day, and remember that you were a part of this together," Welsh says.
Callum Twomey is a reporter for the AFL website. Follow him on Twitter at @AFL_CalTwomey.
