EVERY footballer running around in local competitions around the Geelong region next year should take heart from this week's AFL rookie draft.
The names James Podsiadly, Ben Johnson, Danny Stanley and Jarrod Kayler-Thompson should serve as an example that no matter how old you are, if you combine ability with the right attitude, your AFL dream is still achieveable.
For all the criticism the AFL cops over the constant changes it makes to the competition and the rules of the game, it should be congratulated for introducing the rookie list more than a decade ago.
Without it, the likes of Mal Michael, Sam Mitchell, Dean Cox, Nick Maxwell and Max Rooke would have never got an opportunity to chase their AFL dreams.
Johnson and Kayler-Thomson are former GFL players who were overlooked as 18-year-olds in the national draft when in the system with the Geelong Falcons.
Kayler-Thompson headed west to develop his game in the WAFL while Johnson's form with Geelong's VFL side in 2009 made him realise he was more than capable of possibly handling the step-up.
There are plenty of youngsters who have gone through the TAC Cup over the last few years and believed their opportunity for an AFL career had passed after being overlooked in the national draft.
They should use Podsiadly's career path as an example of how persistence pays off.
At 28 he has been thrown a lifeline by the Cats, who have listed him as a mature-age rookie.
He had spent time at four AFL clubs over the past decade - Essendon (1999), Collingwood (2001) and he trained with Richmond and the Western Bulldogs prior to the 2006 season.
Despite these knockbacks, he kept kicking bags of goals in the VFL to leave the door slightly adjar on the possibility of another chance.
That door finally swung open again for him on Tuesday.
With two new sides from the Gold Coast and Greater West Sydney set to join the competition, clubs will be looking to top up their lists with more and more players who have senior experience.
Podsiadly had some words of advice for the young players overlooked in this year's drafts not to give up on their dreams.
His journey, along with that of Kayler-Thompson, shows that the state league competitions around Australia are viable options in keeping their AFL dreams alive.
"If you are a young kid and an AFL club does have an interest in you, you'd want to go to their VFL-aligned club," Podsiadly said.
Geelong's VFL coach Dale Amos said the Cats program has developed AFL players such as Matthew Egan, Jason Davenport and Shane Mumford in recent years.
"I think it's an endorsement of the program ... guys that turn up with the right attitude and with a little bit of ability have potentially got opportunities to go on."
Bradley Green, Geelong Advertiser, 17 December, 2009
Last Modified on 27/11/2010 08:24