Dee-licious

A CROWS' young gun is making a name for himself as someone who can cope with the knocks, says Scott Walsh. In junior football, he was known as "Nugget". In basketball circles, he was "Mongrel". Now, at West Lakes, Aidan Riley is Adelaide's "Pigdog". As unflattering as all three nicknames seem, they reflect a common theme in the Crows' four-game greenhorn who is already making waves as one of the competition's hard men. Just ask colourful commentator Brian Taylor, who has already singled out Riley as one of his favourites, gushing during a call: "He likes doing the dirty things no one else wants to do, Aidan Riley. He takes the rubbish out, greases the car, cleans the fireplace; they reckon he's that sort of guy." The image was crystalised two weeks ago in just Riley's third AFL appearance, when he speared himself at Geelong ruckman Brad Ottens - 20cm taller and 20kg heavier - with a crushing tackle more at home in a rugby league State-of-Origin clash. But growing up in NRL heartland Wollongong, as a West Australian-born kid with Australian football in his blood, "tough" and "courageous" weren't always tags thrown at the lad who brushed the Sydney game of league for the minority code crudely dubbed "GayFL" in some pockets north of the River Murray. "I remember one teacher turned around and called him a wimp because he wasn't going to play rugby league," father Peter said this week. "That's the attitude - `what's wrong with you, you're not playing rugby league, you're playing that girl's game'. I had to take the teacher aside and politely point out that it had nothing to do with Aidan's courage or stamina, and if he had a problem with it, to speak to his parents." It has been a 12-year ride - against the odds, defying his location and bucking the popular practice of schoolmates - for Riley to become an overnight AFL success. The story goes something like this: WA-born kid takes up Auskick after his family moves to Wollongong; limited number of junior teams means he plays under-10s as a seven-year-old; talent recognised as a 12-year-old with selection in a Sydney Swans junior academy; accepted at Illawarra Sport High School as a top basketball prospect; Dad has to coach school footy teams because school refuses to teach the "girl's game"; plays first senior match in Sydney league as a 15-year-old; consistently selected at regional representative level until spotted by Crows' recruiter Matt Rendell and snapped up under the NSW scholarship program. In doing so, Riley became the first player from Wollongong - Australia's ninth largest city - to land on an AFL list. "He's just got a trait in him that's come from the family - they're fighters," mum Sharon said. Peter added: "We've always been AFL supporters. "But the understanding and exposure to footy here in Wollongong isn't like it is in Adelaide or Melbourne. That's the thing we were pleased about when he got the scholarship and rookie spot with the Crows." Riley's parents moved from northwest WA town Karratha to Wollongong, 100km south of Sydney, when Riley was a toddler. Both were West Coast fans - Sharon a converted member of Richmond's faithful, owing to her father having played there when he was younger. Like most kids, Riley tried every sport. As a youth he even made a train-on squad of 30 for Illawarra's regional soccer side, the Wolves - only because his mates had bet him $5 he wouldn't front. He admired rugby league legend Andrew Johns and Swans captain Brett Kirk - two figures whose influence shone in backyard scraps with Peter and younger brother, Connor. "Competitive, I'd say," Peter said of those early imitation grand finals. "That tackle on Ottens was a textbook tackle. "We were doing that stuff in juniors here. The difference is he's now got the build to do it. He's always been an aggressive player but the Crows have done a lot in giving him the skills and high-level coaching he needed." "We only ever had the one broken window - and Peter did that," Sharon joked. But Riley excelled at footy and basketball, at times spending Friday nights and Saturdays attending hoops carnivals across NSW before returning home for Sunday football commitments. "We must have covered thousands (of kilometres)," Peter said with a laugh. "There were some weekends when we'd drive 500km to Albury, do the basketball there on Friday night and Saturday, jump in the car early Sunday morning and drive 600km back to Sydney for an AFL game." The Riley family car is still racking up the miles - Connor is emerging as a baseball talent, but a carnival in Tamworth last month was cut short when the news came through that Riley was set to make his AFL debut in the Crows' Round 19 Showdown clash with Port Adelaide. "We got the call on the Friday, while we were on the seven-hour drive to Tamworth," said Peter, who works as an ABC radio breakfast announcer in Wollongong. "We were on the phone all day and wore out two phone batteries trying to find a way to get to Adelaide for Aidan's first game. Connor made the decision he would not play in his finals because he wanted to go to Adelaide for his brother's debut. We went to Aidan's jumper presentation and Michael Doughty introduced us and told everyone we'd flown in from the east coast especially for it. He said how his brother had given up his baseball finals in NSW to be here - so Connor piped up, `yeah, so you better do something good today'." It was Riley's basketball talent that fast-tracked him into his sports-specific high school - and onto the hardwood where teammates dubbed him "Mongrel". Like fellow Crow and housemate Kurt Tippett, he could have gone either way. But in his middle teens, after a dose of shin splints, doctors advised Riley he was doing too much. It was time to pick one sport and run with it. "I had a bit of trouble with my knees and shins when I was younger and they told me I was playing too much sport, that I couldn't keep doing all the training for basketball and football," Riley said. "The doc said you can't do it, so I had to make a decision." Riley arrived at West Lakes in time for the 2010 season as the Crows' second NSW scholarship experiment, behind key forward Taylor Walker. As a rookie, he was only elevated to playing status earlier this year through Adelaide's growing long-term injury list. He was immediately dubbed "Pigdog" - a moniker he believes he inherited as a replacement for departing midfielder Rob Shirley. "I was a bit unsure about it, but the year I got drafted was the year `Shirls' left and they were looking for someone else to call Pigdog," Riley said. "I guess it was the way I was going about my footy in the pre-season that they gave it to me." Riley said after making an impression early in his career, his next aim was to build promise into a long AFL journey. "For me, I'd love to be able to finish off the last two games of the year with the Crows, and then I've just set myself a bit of an off-season goal to come back in as good a nick as I can and have a really good pre-season," he said. "I missed most of last pre-season with injuries. "But I want to come back really sharp and have a strong pre-season and give myself the opportunity to play as many games as I can next year."

Articles on Aidan: Riley ready to rumble Nov 2013 - Aidan Riley will continue his rehabilitation at the Club. A strong chance to be re-drafted in the Rookie Draft, Riley isnt likely to do any football work until the New Year. Aidan will start doing bits and pieces with the group in January. It was a nasty injury, so itll be a long process, Poulos said. The way hes approached his rehab has been great, you couldnt question it at all. Well keep looking after him.

http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/knightmares-2013-phantom-draft.983436/ If we make it out of the bottom 6 we will have to take him with our first pick atm. But anything lower we should be alright. Helps when the other bottom teams are crying out for a big forward (and there are so many in this draft) and he's a mid for us though.

Very true. But they are based on the info we have at the moment - who knows what Billy will do next season. Erin Wisley-Black was meant to be first round this time last year and in 12 months just didn't come on like the others. Here's hoping Billy does and we get a steal at pick ?

Allir Allir Love his attack and run. 196cm key back who has speed. At 90kg I'd like him to put on some more weight but love him on the list. http://www.afl.com.au/news/2013-10-20/aliir-aliir%C2'>

Seems like what Roos and Melbourne want. Proven player, right age and has some skill.

Hvroat (inside mid) and Towers (Mature Age inside mid) - we would have taken either of these two. Both have played some good games for WB and Syd respectively. But I am happy with Dawes

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2013-10-20/dayle-garlett Wow. Thats a highlights reel. Av16 pos 6 marks in the WAFL

Interesting because I personally thought the Freeman video was much more impressive than Lennon. If you look at the stats Lennon didn't get as many touches. I'd assume he played through the forward line more? So my impression was, he got through the packs well and got the goals but Freeman took the game on and ran through the middle. I loved the footage early on where he was trying to shake his man just to get the touch.

Although it is a good idea and works well for us, If I was St K or Bris I would be looking at getting Jolly for free, which is better than trading us for Russian. Unless Jolly doesn't want to go? I thought I heard on trade radio or one of the papers that St K was talking to Jolly?

That is correct. If you bring in Daniel Cross, that leaves us with no openings. Any word on Magner? I would doubt we would use 57 on a Rookie Upgrade. If we only want 2 from this draft then moving on Pick 57 to improve 40 would be the way to go.

Question - don't we have to use 3 picks in the draft? So giving up pick 9 for Adams means we are putting 40, 58 and 74 as our new kids?

http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/knightmares-2013-phantom-draft.983436/ He (or she) has been documenting drafts for quite a while now over at Big Footy. Updates every couple of week throughout the season based on going to games and speaking to coaches. Generally gets it pretty spot on in the first round.

Collingwood moving to 6 for Bomptelli. Has been reported across the sun, age and afl.

Cripps or Templeton for mine. There will be defenders left in the rookie draft #43 Gold Coast – Eli Templeton (TAS – Util) Height: 182cm, Weight: 67kg, DOB: 19/08/1995 Recruited from: Burnie Dockers Style: James Kelly Player comparison: Range: 20-50 Profile: Templeton is a high motor midfielder with the versatility to also play forward or back. Has a very light body but despite this has a very advanced game and has dominated throughout his junior footy with his form in the u16s particularly dominant but then has also played plenty of senior footy in Tasmania showing he can mix it with the bigger bodies. Templeton is a very clean user of the footy and uses it well by hand and foot. A real accumulator and has the ability to do some damage with a penetrating kick on him as well as his ability to hit the scoreboard. Templeton can win some of his own ball but given his light frame likely finds a role as an outside player. #44 West Coast – Patrick Cripps (WA – Mid) Height: 188cm, Weight: 88kg, DOB: 18/03/1995 Recruited from: East Fremantle Style: Michael Barlow Player comparison: Range: 20-50 Profile: A familiar name but very different to West Coast’s Jamie as a taller, stronger inside player. Patrick is a relatively late bloomer who has from reports grown 20cm in the past two years which often suggests that there is further upside ahead of him as a footballer. Patrick is an exceptional inside player who reads the ruck taps well and has the ability to win his own ball. For an inside player Cripps is a very good user of the footy with his outside game above average with his spread for the contest good and getting to the right spots but is more a smart runner who while not super slow won’t be a line breaking threat. He’ll need to improve his endurance and add some more penetration to that kick to take that next step but there’s a bit to work with.

Knightmare has updated his draft and look who he has put us down for: #9 Melbourne (Via GWS Activated Compensation) - Nathan Freeman (VIC – Mid)Height: 181cm, Weight: 85kg, DOB: 16/06/1995 Recruited from: Sandringham Dragons Style: Luke Shuey Player comparison: Range: 5-20 Profile: Freeman is an absolute dynamite midfielder. He has that Patrick Dangerfield and Chris Judd type explosion inside the contest. He’s an above average contested ball winner. He’s a guy who has that rare combination of inside game and extreme explosiveness with his pace, agility and sidestep all as good as you’ll see. In addition to that explosiveness Freeman has a real hardness to him with the way he attacks the footy and contest. Also features of Freeman’s game are his ability to take grabs overhead and his 1v1 ability. He can push forward and hit the scoreboard in a big way particularly enjoying those finishes on the run streaming into goal or running to the 50 and going long for the goal. As well as this he’s also an excellent field kick to a target with the ability to hit his targets over a variety of distances knowing his limitations but also at the same time doing some big damage. In short this guy has all the tricks and other than Jack Martin is that only other midfielder I see as a genuine game changer. To improve Freeman needs to firstly find the footy more consistently, he can find 25 disposals one game and less than 10 the next. He can also continue to improve his hands in close and become more of an inside distributor by hand instead of just jamming into onto his boot in close, so he does need to be more aware of what is around him in traffic in those situations where he can’t just burst away. Additionally he also needs to add more of an outside game so that he can find more easy ball outside the contest to boost his disposal numbers.

I'm happy to have resting mids down there. Kent, Blease, Tappy and hopefully Barry might fit the bill. See what we can get late in the draft. Willi Rioli will be there in the rookie draft.

Not sure what we are doing at the moment in trades. None of the Brissy boys have chatted to us. Adams hasnt. Ellis hasnt. Looks like the only one who wants a chat is Shaw =(

I got the phone call about the raffle today from MFC. In the call she said that Sylvia had signed a 3 year deal and Sylvia signed on so should I. Just wondering why this hasn't been reported. Phone call at 2:14pm.

Don't expect Jones to go first round. Just a lot of hype over the past few weeks. It will settle down. He will be there for our second rounder. Dunstan will also be there so here is hoping we do get another pick down there.

Started alright in the TAC cup grand final. Hard at it but nothing eye catching. Boyd however 2 kicks 2 goals

Interesting when they did the draft review over the past 5 years(?) they said they wanted Shuey at 19 and were disapointed not to get him.

Thanks KC. That is not a bad list at all. Gives us some structure up forward and down back.

Going ok. Sort of games you want them playing week in week out.

Toump looking spent but I recon he's put in quite a few kms. Garland back on the ground