THE ROOKIE DRAFT - FAIRYTALE OR FOLLY?

THE ROOKIE DRAFT - FAIRYTALE OR FOLLY? by Whispering Jack

There are too many success stories coming out of the AFL Rookie Draft for us to ignore what was once treated with disdain by many AFL clubs.

Of course, Melbourne hit the jackpot from the very start when Craig Cameron snared Daniel Ward, Mathew Bishop, Russell Robertson and James McDonald in the first rookie draft in 1997. The first name he called was Nathan Bassett who was injured before what would almost certainly have been a senior call up and was subsequently traded to Adelaide where he had a stellar career.

Many clubs in those days regarded rookies as nothing more significant than young kids coming in for a short period of work experience but all that's changed now. The likes of Dean Cox, Aaron Sandilands and Nick Maxwell have all played significant roles in the modern game. Robert Campbell rose from rookie to premiership ruckman for the Hawks in 2008 while the rise of James McDonald from a humble last pick rookie who was almost not selected at all to the ranks of captain and dual club champion and a career spanning 251 games over 14 seasons is the stuff of fairytales. There are many others.

The fruits of the hard work of the various club recruiting departments are now regularly demonstrated by some handy rookie selections and the icing on the cake for the rookie draft has been the introduction of mature age rookies. The most recent successes of James Podsiadly and Michael Barlow are cases in point and while rookies might still be hit or miss propositions, the success stories and their impact on the game means they can no longer be ignored.

Melbourne was a major player in last week's 2011 Rookie Draft when the club took six selections - Daniel Nicholson (University Blues VAFA), Michael Evans (Claremont WAFL), Kelvin Lawrence (Peel Thunder WAFL), Cameron Johnston (Geelong Falcons TAC Cup), Robert Campbell (Box Hill Hawks VFL) and Tom McNamara who finds himself back on board.

The pen pictures of the Melbourne rookies have been posted on the club website Dees pick Nicholson, Evans, Lawrence, Johnston, Campbell and McNamara and since I know very little about them I'll defer to the wisdom of Matt Burgan and to these You Tube masterpieces of

The first four players selected are all medium sized players who appear to be capable of filling roles in defence and up forward with some midfield capacity thrown in as well. The effect is that the picks seem to form a good counterbalance to the four talls selected in November's national draft. Campbell is the big man the club was chasing while McNamara, previously an All Australian at Under 18 level, has been given another chance at the club after three seasons on the primary list.

I confess that I know little of the draftees but Nicholson is most admired for his achievements in his two seasons since coming to Premier Section VAFA club University Blues as an 18 year old from St. Pats College, Ballarat. Last year he won the club's Best First Year player award while this year he gained accolades in representative games and was the competition's rising star award winner amid glowing reports from many movers and shakers in amateur circles.

The player who interests me the most is Robert Campbell. Melbourne worked hard over the past two months to get a tall ruckman and was reportedly interested in North Melbourne's David Hale but missed out on getting him after he threw in his lot with Hawthorn. The search continued and ironically, it ended when the Demons selected the injury-prone Campbell with its second last selection (# 75) in the rookie draft. Along the way he had been overlooked by the Hawks and the new Gold Coast franchise which could have taken him under a rule that allowed the Suns to pick up uncontracted players previously with other AFL clubs.

Adding to the irony of the situation was the fact that Cameron Bruce was picked up by Hawthorn on the same day in the Pre Season Draft. The vacancy on the Demons' Veterans List created by Bruce's departure had opened up an additional rookie spot from which they can automatically uplift a player onto the primary list and straight into the senior team so Campbell now has a fairytale second chance at the club for which his whole family has always had an affinity.

"We all used to be Melbourne supporters so everyone is pleased," Campbell's father, Ian, said after Robert was drafted. Mother, Annette, won the AFL Players' Association Mother of the Year award in 2009. Everyone talks about this terrific family and what a great bloke Robert Campbell is but there's a lot more.

Campbell retired a year ago because he felt his body could no longer handle the rigours at the elite level. He was struggling with degenerative knee issues compounded by an infection following an arthroscopic operation. Mentally and physically, his career was over and, in announcing his retirement, he was being honest with his club and honest with himself. He could have taken a contact and perhaps struggled to get a game but he didn't want that.

So the Rutherglen raised footballer went about his physical rehabilitation and preparation for what was, in all likelihood, life after football. He applied himself, worked hard and persisted with a fitness program that included running, swimming, boxing and riding and he came out of it weighing less and feeling fitter than ever.

Campbell couldn't turn away from football altogether and he tried his hand to coaching and mentoring young ruckmen with the Hawks and their VFL counterpart. Halfway through the first year of his "retirement", he felt it worth trying a comeback of sorts at Box Hill. He ended up playing nine games in the last half of the season, six of them with the seniors including three finals. He didn't set the world on fire but everything was coming together and his ruckwork was more than handy in a team that fought its way into a Preliminary Final against the competition's ultimate premier. His body told him he was ready to return; he just needed to find a new home.

Campbell first came to my attention in 2000 when playing for the Murray Bushrangers TAC Cup side alongside Justin Koschitzke who was taken by the St Kilda Football Club in the 2000 AFL Draft at pick number two. I had been alerted about a Murray player named Campbell with links to the Melbourne Football Club. Burly defender Des Campbell had two stints at the club in the 1970s and his son Brad played one game in 1994 before returning home to the bush. Now another son was starring for the Bushrangers. Blake Campbell was taken in late in the second round of the National Draft by Carlton and had a brief AFL career of 11 games as a midfielder/forward so I wasn't too upset at the fact that he wasn't eligible to play as a Demon under the father/son rule.

Meanwhile, Robert Campbell (no relation) was taken by the Hawks at 27 in the Rookie Draft of the same year. He made his debut with the Box Hill in 2001 and was a member of their VFL Premiership following which he was elevated to Hawthorn's senior list. He made his AFL debut in 2002 and so began his first fairytale that culminated in his being the senior ruckman in his club's 2008 premiership team. Despite first incurring knee problems in 2005, he was considered the Hawks' best big man and in the prime of his career. His role in the premiership was pivotal but the issues with his knee returned and 12 months later it was almost over.

It's been a long journey to the Melbourne Football Club and Campbell says he "feels great". While he looks great too, there's still a question mark as to how far he can go at his new club. What role will he play there?

Much of it is open to conjecture and while nothing can be completely ruled out, it's quite possible that he might fulfil a back up ruck role to Mark Jamar. However, could also fill a role for the club in defence or attack and with his premiership experience, he will be invaluable as a mentor to Melbourne's developing young big men in Jake Spencer, Max Gawn and Jack Fitzpatrick. The conventional wisdom being bandied about is that because he kicked only 25 goals in his 116 games with the Hawks he can't fill the big forward role envisaged by those who believe that having such a player is now mandated by the new substitute rule but I'm not so sure that this type of thinking is correct. For starters most of his games were as a ruckman but he was also used in defence where you don't kick too many goals.

There are no guarantees when we're dealing with #75 in a rookie draft but the new slim line fit version of Robert Campbell might surprise us all by reinventing himself and becoming the forward that the club sought in Hale. After all, the preparation he has undertaken to get him where he is now has seen a change in body shape that might be suited to that role of changing between forward and ruck while the Russian is resting. And his presence in that young forward line along with the younger, lighter bodies of players like Liam Jurrah and Jack Watts could yet become crucial in Melbourne's future campaigns.