DEMYSTIFYING TOM SCULLY

DEMYSTIFYING TOM SCULLY by Whispering Jack

The Western Bulldogs were raging hot flag favourites after they won last year's NAB Cup competition but they barely limped into the penultimate week of the AFL finals series when it mattered and, in truth, they were probably gone well before the start of September action. Injuries played their part but they simply didn't get better as the season wore on. In fact, they got worse.

So much water flows under the bridge during the course of a year that it would be foolish to take much away from the spectacle of last night's opening round robin of the AFL's preseason competition.

Still, the events in Adelaide provided some more promising glimmers of hope for the Demon faithful following a week of mixed signals, disappointment and uncertainty about Tom Scully's future at the Melbourne Football Club beyond 2011.

The buzz over summer was all about the pending emergence of the Demons as their bevy of early draft picks matured. Injuries to James Frawley and more recently to Cale Morton have damped the spirits a little but the Tom Scully story that won't go away was starting to hurt - until Adelaide.

Adelaide saw exactly what the future holds for the Melbourne Football Club.

A bigger, stronger Jack Watts showed the skills, the brains and the physical attributes that made him a number one pick. He will only get better.

Jack Trengove showed the attributes of a ten year power midfielder that had him tantalisingly close to being a number one pick. He will only get better.

Jack Grimes showed the class and the polish that vindicated the club's decision to trade a past number one pick for the opportunity to secure him. He will only get better.

Liam Jurrah wasn't picked in a national draft but was first selection in the first draft in which he was available being the 2009 pre season draft. Last night, he lit up a stadium full of Crows and Power supporters with his incredible natural powers. He will only get better.

Then there's Lucas Cook - the club's first round selection from last year's national draft who really showed something for the future. Not this year but in a couple of year's time, this kid could be part of something special playing on the Melbourne forward line, a twin tower to Watts with Jurrah floating in the wings. He will only get better.

There's a lot more. The individuals I've mentioned constitute only the pointy tip of the football iceberg. The game is about more than the 46 individuals that make up your playing list. It's about developing a premiership team and the seeds have been sown for two or three years to achieve that end. It will still take some more time yet.

So where does that leave Tom Scully?

The nineteen year old midfielder is one of the most talented players to come to the club but there's so much more to him than pure talent. He's a young man personally driven to achieve success. You can see that he approaches everything with a level of professionalism and intensity that belies his age. He has prepared himself meticulously and even made great sacrifices for the sake of his career. In a short space of time, he has earned the respect and attention of the football world as well as the right to command the reputedly massive offers rumoured to have been made for his services.

All this has come about not only through his own endeavours alone but also thanks to a terrific support system provided by family and friends in outer suburban Melbourne. Scully is still a teenager and while many of his age and younger are shipped out of their home for the sake of their careers, this usually happens when the choice is out of the hands of the player. In my view, to take him away from his own special supportive family group at this age and to relocate him to a foreign environment in a completely new franchise starting at ground zero would be fraught with danger as far as the young man's development is concerned.

Scully has a great future in front of him and the dollars will be there wherever he goes but, as we saw clearly this week with the verbal stoushes between Kevin Sheedy and Eddie McGuire, the new franchise in Greater Western Sydney is more akin to a circus than a professional football club. Sheeds is just as much the showman these days as the coach - the spruiking has even involved recruiting a rugby league player as its main act. Is this a football club or a freak show?

Circuses come and go from town to town but for circus performers, there is no place to call home; the most skilful tent boxer can only dream of wearing a world champion's belt.

And that's the choice for Tom Scully and his management. West Sydney and the sawdust of the circus tent or Melbourne and the MCG.

Last night demonstrated clearly that Tom's home is at Melbourne. Here, he can really be part of a team with a future where he and his mates will only get better and where he can fulfil his destiny as the consummate footballer.