That dream turned into a weeklong reality for Jack Fitzpatrick when he trained with the Collingwood Football Club during the preseason.
Fitzpatrick has played the last two seasons for the under 18s Western Jets and had the opportunity to train with Collingwood for a week through his scholarship with the Australian Institute of Sports.
“I was supposed to train with the group earlier this year but I suffer from chronic fatigue syndrome so I only could participate on a minimal basis,” Fitzpatrick told collingwoodfc.com.au midway through the week.
“I was disappointed that I didn’t get the full experience so I called Deka (head recruitment manager Derek Hine) and he said he could get me a week with the club during the preseason.”
Fitzpatrick arrived at the club on Monday and has had two sessions on the track with the team.
“The drills are fairly similar. The basic ideas are the same. The difference is the speed of the sessions and the skill level is considerably higher.”
It’s also not every day that you can have a chat with the President of the football club, Eddie McGuire.
“I was looking for Luke Beveridge (development manager) and I couldn’t find him so I walked past an office and I heard a very familiar voice and I walk in and it’s Eddie McGuire. My eyes almost popped out of my head.
“It was great to speak with Eddie. He wanted to know who I was and how I was finding the experience.”
If McGuire fazed the 17 year old, no doubt meeting some of the game’s stars would have had an equalling impact.
“It’s just an amazing experience. You walk into the change rooms and here is Dale Thomas and over there is Travis Cloke. I thought ‘wow’ I am actually going to be training with these guys. It’s almost weird not asking them for an autograph.”
He wasn’t over-awed by every player, Steele Sidebottom played with Fitzpatrick on the Australian under-17 team for a season last year.
“I played a few games with Steele when we were on the Australian under-17 team over in South Africa. It was good to catch up with him here and I hope he does well for the club.”
Fitzpatrick had a strong season for the Western Jets until he was forced to have his appendix removed with two rounds remaining in the season.
“We made the finals and I didn’t think I would play because it only had been two weeks since the surgery.
“The surgeon said on the Friday night that I would be right for Sunday’s game. It definitely wasn’t my best finals game. I was surprised to be even playing.”
The 199 centimetre forward will apply for the draft next year and if his dream turns into a reality, he would love to be selected by Collingwood.
“In an ideal world I would hope to get drafted to an AFL club next year and after a couple of days at Collingwood, I would love to be here.
“You come in here and try to soak up as much information as possible and see how hard you work to make it in this game.
“I will take what I have learned here into my own training and do that little bit more to get the best out of me.”
Fitzpatrick worked out with the team at Gosch's Paddock during the Wednesday training session.
