FIRST DAN

[Demonland 73,140]

FIRST DAN by KC from Casey

Demon Rookie Daniel Nicholson from University Blues in the Victorian Amateur Football Association is starting to look at home on an AFL list.

In just his third game for the Melbourne VFL affiliated Casey Scorpions, the twenty year old put in a stellar performance. Asked to mind North Ballarat's 2009 J. J. Liston Medallist, the dangerous Myles Sewell, he kicked the opening goal of the match, collected 13 kicks, 20 handballs and took five marks on his way to best afield honours in what was his finest display in the short time since he was picked up by the Demons at No. 14 in last December's AFL Rookie Draft. His opponent had little impact for the team that owns the competition's last three premiership trophies and Casey won easily by 56 points. Co-incidentally, Nicholson wears the Scorpions' number 56 guernsey.

Dan Nicholson's pathway to the AFL was different to what is considered the norm these days but, with the compromised drafts resulting from the entry of new franchises, clubs are looking in old/new places from which to source their footballers.

The amateurs used to regularly produce quality footballers to the VFL competition before the game went national and the TAC Cup feeder competition was set up but these days, it's less common to hear of players taking the path through the VAFA where Nicholson spent two years after graduating from St. Patrick's College, Ballarat.

Originally from Derrinallum in Victoria's Western District, Nicholson's father sent him to study at St. Pat's where he played with the firsts and also won an Ballarat Football League under 18s premiership with East Point but he missed out on making the North Ballarat Rebels' TAC Cup squad.

He moved on to further study in Melbourne in 2009 where he joined University Blues and from there, the young speedster's career has blossomed.

Even the circumstances of Nicholson joining the amateur club were unusual. He had taken a walk about Princes Park when he stopped to watch the team's training session and was invited to join in on training. By the Saturday, he had signed up with the club and by the end of the season, he had played for both the VAFA Under 19 and Under 21 representative teams. The following year, he was made captain of the former, was attracting AFL scouts with dominant performances in the amateur's Under 23 team and won the 2010 VAFA Rising Star award while many observers considered him to be the best player in the competition.

Age journalist Paul Daffy wrote of an Old Melburnians player called "Turbo" who, after having the job of tagging Nicholson, was looking for a new nickname. In another game against Old Xaverians, he "burned off opponents from the wing to the top of the goal square, only to be denied the chance to kick the goal of the year when he was pinged for running too far" - AFL clubs cast net far and wide in search of that special talent.

The pundits had the 183cm, 76kg, defensive flanker and midfielder pegged as an outsider for the national draft but Nicholson had to be content with first round selection in the rookie version three weeks later. He tasted the game at its highest level with a brief run in the NAB Cup and has been coming along nicely at Casey. Last week's game at Eureka Stadium marked a triumphant homecoming for Nicholson and fellow Ballarat youngsters Lucas Cook and Tom McDonald.

It's still early days in Dan Nicholson's career and he has plenty of improvement to come. As a rookie he needs to patiently await an opening onto the senior list in competition to a number of talented youngsters at Melbourne but one suspects that in the not too distant future, he'll be donning the red and blue and wearing a number much lower than 56.