My one and only national carnival with Vic Country in 1997 didn’t last very long – I broke my hand in the last quarter of the first game against Vic Metro.
I was playing at centre half-back and I went to spoil the ball but I punched the back of my opponent’s head.
I was only 17 at the time so I had another year to play in the championships, but I was fairly disappointed.
It was some comfort to know that I could still get drafted if I looked after my hand and had a good finals series.
Even though I only played the one game, it was the one that mattered for the boys from Vic Country. We always wanted to do our best and doing our best meant beating Vic Metro.
For the boys playing in this year’s championships, it will be impossible to put thoughts of getting drafted out of their minds.
However, it’s important to focus on the team’s success because everyone knows that you play your best footy when you’re in the moment, playing your role and playing for the team.
There’s no doubt that the team that wins the title and plays as a team is going to get more players drafted because of the unit that they are and the success they can have as a group.
It’s like any successful team in the AFL. Look at Geelong, in the past couple of years they’ve dominated the All-Australian team because of their team success.
The prospect of impressing the recruiters will always be in the back of the young players’ minds but I really hope they don’t get too fazed by it.
They’ve been selected for a reason - they can play and they’ve just got to showcase it in these very important few weeks.
Representing your area – whether you get to AFL level or you get to do it at under-18s level – is a fantastic experience.
Families, friends, community members are all proud of people who come from their area and make something of themselves.
In this carnival, all the boys can hold their heads up high. They’re representing different parts of Australia and there’s no doubt there are a lot of proud people watching and having their ears to the ground to hear how they’re going.
While it’s a big event, the boys need to remember that there are other options if they don’t have the best NAB AFL Under-18 Championships.
There are so many other different avenues to getting on to an AFL list, whether it’s through the rookie list or playing in the VFL, SANFL or WAFL.
You don’t live and die by what happens in these few weeks. There are other ways to put your name up there and club football is the best way of doing it.
It’s an important time, the national championships, but it’s not the be all and end all.
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.
