TWELVE months after Shaun Mannagh was plucked out of the VFL by Geelong, Riley Bice has become the latest Werribee star – and Ovens and Murray Football League product – to land in the AFL as a mature-age recruit after Sydney selected him on Thursday night.
After picking Northern Knights forward Jesse Dattoli and Norwood forward Ned Bowman in the first round of the 2024 Telstra AFL Draft, the Swans used No.41 to select Bice with their third pick.
The 24-year-old starred for Albury either side of the coronavirus pandemic before deciding to have one last crack at state league football after playing three games for Greater Western Sydney at the end of the 2022 season.
Bice joined Werribee in February, was picked in round one and never looked back, starring across half-back to help the club win its first premiership in 31 years, finishing fourth in the best and fairest after being named in the VFL team of the year.
Sydney first tracked Bice when he played for the Murray Bushrangers in the Coates Talent League in 2017 and 2018, before monitoring him closely at Chirnside Park across the second half of this year.
"He was one we looked at throughout the year. He wasn't there mid-season (as a consideration for Sydney), but his back half of the year was really strong," Sydney list manager Chris Keane said on Thursday night.
"It is a really good story, actually. He is a story of persistence and the different pathways and ways you can get on to a list.
"We think he is an AFL player in his own right; he has great AFL attributes that we really like. He has significant speed off half-back, he sees the game quite well, he can kick it and can change angles. We think he is a really good complement to what we've got back there."
Mannagh made his debut for the Cats in round one as the sub and then went back to the VFL a fortnight later, before playing the final 10 games for Chris Scott's side, including both finals, where he kicked three goals against Port Adelaide in the qualifying final win on the road.
Keane believes Bice will be gunning for a spot in John Longmire's Opening Round side against Hawthorn on the first Friday night of the season, but competition for spots will be fierce in a team that reached a Grand Final for the second time in three seasons.
"You don't put any limitations on that type of player," Keane said. "Obviously, he is a more mature-age player. He understands, I think from a football sense, the game a bit more than your typical 18-year-old. And that's due to the fact the game the 18-year-old is playing is different to what we see at VFL level.
"He is every chance to play (in Opening Round), but we have a pretty strong team, so if he has to bide his time, we will wait and see."
Sydney opted not to match a bid for Swans Academy product Joel Cochran at pick No.47, with the tall defender landing at Collingwood.
The Swans chose to wait and select Riak Andrew, the younger brother of Gold Coast's budding star Mac, at No.55 instead, although Keane admitted it was a difficult decision to make.
"It is always a tricky one, but first and foremost we're really happy for Joel that he got an opportunity with Collingwood and gets on an AFL list, which is great, more broadly, for a national competition," he said.
DRAFT TRACKER Full highlights, stats of your club’s draftees
"The northern academies are obviously working and bringing in talent throughout the AFL on different lists, which is great. At the end of the day, we were comfortable with how many names we had left and the players we rated highly. Fortunately one of them in Riak got through to us."
While Werribee star Dom Brew was overlooked, Werribee had another mature-aged draftee on Thursday night with Melbourne selecting 24-year-old Aidan Johnson in a late surprise at pick No.68.