by Whispering Jack

He does exist. He is real and he can play football!

That was my conclusion as I drove back up the long and winding road from who knows where to the warmth and safety of home after witnessing the advent of Jack Watts from junior footballer to a form of senior footballer via the Casey reserves.

Watts ran out with his team mates at 4.00 pm to face off against the boys from the Borough under darkening, cloudy skies. He was tall and blond and while he looked to have benefitted from a summer of weights and pre season work, he still had a fair way to go. This just happened to be the place where his road started.

It was a Saturday afternoon at an oval in a remote godforsaken part of the world as the ball was bounced and it was so bloody cold that I couldn't stop asking myself the question:

"What the hell am I doing here?"

At least I was thankful the old boilers with the sharp tongues, pointy umbrellas and moustaches who frequent North Port Oval hadn't turned up yet. The thought came to me that perhaps they were filming Daniel Pratt and Adam Simpson at one of the ubiquitous Red Roosters that dot the landscape on that long and windy road to Cranny but I digress.

Those who expected Jack to dominate were mistaken. They don't know VFL reserves football for a start. The players around you don't have exquisite elite skills, the delivery isn't always the best, and the talking, the back up, the shepherds and the blocking aren't always there. Casey butchered at least three or four point kick ins that all resulted in easy goals for Port Melbourne. It's those aspects of the game, often taken for granted in the AFL, that aren't there at this level to provide help to young players and it often makes things harder for them.

Jack made a slow, tentative start. He found himself too far under the ball once or twice, flicked the ball to a team mate for what they might call a "goal assist" in basketball and finally got himself a free kick before the siren signalled the end of his first quarter in the little big time.

The crowd was building, the sky was darkening, the lights went on and Ryan Fitzgerald and the Channel 10 cameras rolled into the ground. Jack's debut was about to be highlighted on Before the Game. A quick message home to ensure the programme gets taped for posterity on the IQ. The wonders of modern technology.

Meanwhile, there were other Demons taking part in this game. The oldish war horse Matty Whelan made a bright start, clearing the ball off half back, taking a strong mark or two before he received a knock to the thigh and went off treatment. He came back on to test it out but by the first break, his leg was being iced. His right thigh was bandaged and it was obvious that the frustrated veteran Demon's evening was over.

At the other end of the experience scale Rhys Healey was showing a lot of promise and skill. The rookie from Bendigo was clean with his disposal, went in hard and marked solidly. There were no cameras there for him but he was still able to impress in just his second game after missing out on valuable pre season match practice with a back injury.

Rookie Danny Hughes has had a rough couple of years after showing promise at Sandy in his first coming as a rookie. He was back in his element this evening. One of his team's best for the night, he was alternating up ward with Watts and he almost stole the show when he took what would have been a certain contender mark of the year had it been taken at the Gee or the Geehad. Hughes levitated upward on an opponent's back and catapulted himself into the night time skies over East Cranbourne reaching such a height that it registered on the radar at Tooradin Airport thirty kilometres away.

By this time Jack had scored his first goal in the history of VFL reserves football. It might have been a memorable moment for the few hundred faithful Demon supporting lunatics who were freezing their proverbials off in the middle of nowhere (I'm assured it will be "somewhere" one day when the projected new wave of 200,000 suburban dwellers move into the brick veneers that will one day encircle the place) but this was just a routine goal by most standards. A lead, a mark and a lucky 50 metre penalty when the man on the mark moved a centimetre too far forward as Jack fluffed his first shot at goal. No problems from the goal square however, and a stellar career as an AFL key position forward was well and truly under way!

From then on there was nothing too spectacular. He copped a whack in the mouth, ran far and wide to get possession, did it all very easily and cleanly and looked a class above without dominating. He can do the lot this kid - including taking the ruckwork up ward. Nothing looked too much for him and, at times he seemed to be gliding across the surface. He lunged for a mark close to goal and unselfishly handballed to a team mate in the goal square for a good team goal. He finished with a handy 20 disposals and was getting better as the game went on.

"There's obviously going to be expectations being the No. 1 draft pick but I can't really do much about that," he said after the game. Mostly, he looked as if he was enjoying himself out there and that was the main thing.

There are those out there who don't have the patience to wait for players to be ready to make the step up to the highest level of the sport. I'm told that Brian Taylor was busily making the point on a television programme that most first choice draft picks over the past decade were walk up starts into their AFL teams. He misunderstands that Watts (and likewise his team mate Sam Blease) is still at school, has been on a modified training programme and has a whole lifetime in the sport ahead of him.

Earlier in the day, I took my 4 year old grandson off to his first soccer clinic. He ran around an hour, had fun and reminded me of his father when he was the same age. The same mannerisms, the same glint of enjoyment in the eyes. Who knows where this will all take him in the years to come? Who knows where Jack Watts will be in three years time? The answer lies in how well his career is prepared him and how well he learns and adapts to what he is being taught.

It's now six months into Jack Watts' AFL journey; his first game is over and, from what I saw this evening, he's making his way down the right road. That's what matters!

"Geehad Stadium" - brilliant. Trust it's an original.

  healy said:

"Geehad Stadium" - brilliant. Trust it's an original.

As far as I know it is.

Another enjoyable and informative read WJ. Many thanks from Canberra.