Sam Walsh leaves little doubt he’s ready to be the No.1 AFL draft pick
Even while finishing his VCE exams and preparing for the AFL draft, Sam Walsh proved everything that’s been said about him - outstanding character, born leader, mature beyond his years - with a simple text message.
Draft news
Don't miss out on the headlines from Draft news. Followed categories will be added to My News.
HOW do you get hold of Sam Walsh?
He’s set to be the No.1 draft pick so in keeping with the AFL world he’s about to be a part of, getting to him is certain to be a complicated process.
Do you go through the AFL? Geelong Falcons? Manager? School? Parents?
PHANTOM DRAFT: WHO WILL YOUR CLUB DRAFT?
RANKINGS: BUCKY NAMES HIS TOP 50 PROSPECTS
CHOICES: WHO WILL BLUES TAKE WITH NO.1 PICK
YOUNG GUN: BLUES CAN’T GO WRONG WITH WALSH
“Ring him direct,” Falcons general manager Mick Turner says.
Sorry.
The former Geelong great has seen a lot of superstars go through his system over the past couple of decades but he has Walsh at the top of the tree which says a lot.
“He’s very receptive, he gets requests all the time but he’s a very, very good kid,” Turner says.
A text message is sent. Within an hour a reply is returned with a promise to ring the following day which he does.
He has his final VCE exam on Monday but can get the family together for a photo on Tuesday afternoon.
Over the next couple of days there are even updates with his brother unavailable because of work experience and then his father can’t make the scheduled time because of work commitments.
Walsh couldn’t be more apologetic. If first impressions mean anything the kid is a lock for No.1 and that’s before we’ve even met.
Everything you’ve heard about him is flowing through already. Outstanding character. Born leader. Ultra professional. Mature beyond his years.
He doesn’t disappoint in person either as he welcomes us into the family’s Ocean Grove home which he shares with his two younger brothers, Henry (whose 16 and already 203cm) and Tom, and parents Wayne and Jacque.
The NFL is on the TV and he’s been glued to it for three hours as one of the games of the season between the LA Rams and Kansas City Chiefs has unfolded.
“I love my American sports,” he says.
He’s a New York Giants fan and in the NBA it’s the New York Knicks but he hasn’t been to the Big Apple yet. That’s at the top of his wish list, well, it’s second just behind becoming an AFL footballer.
Whether that is with Carlton or the Gold Coast, he’s not sure yet.
The Blues came for a visit a couple of months ago at the end of the TAC Cup season and interviewed him again at the AFL Combine but he hasn’t heard anything since.
While the world might be against the Gold Coast, Walsh doesn’t mind heading north.
“I would be happy to go anywhere,” he says. “A lot of clubs you see can turn things around pretty quickly particularly if you’re positive going into it.”
Walsh has been touted as No.1 for most of the year and did nothing during the season to impact that rating given he won the Falcons best-and-fairest, was Vic Country’s most valuable player at the national championships and won the Larke Medal as most outstanding player in the Division 1 carnival.
At 184cm he’s a perfect midfield size who can play inside and out with his endurance a standout.
It’s quickly becoming apparent that there are lot of ticks in a lot of boxes when it comes to Sam Walsh.
“You forget sometimes, as you think he’s got a handle on it and then you go, ‘Oh that’s right he’s still only a kid’,” Jacque says. “He has organised everything because he handles it so well.”
Walsh has always been around football. He grew up in Cobden where his father was coach and saw local lads Gary Rohan and Ben Cunnington make the grade.
The family then moved to Darwin for three years where he made the under-12 state team - which also included Geelong’s Brandon Parfitt - which started his run of making squads.
It wasn’t until the under-16 nationals when the penny dropped that if he was to fulfil his AFL dream then improvements had to be made.
“I wouldn’t have seen myself in the top 15 players after that 16s carnival but I had glimpses throughout the carnival where I thought I could match it with the best,” Walsh explains.
“After that for me it has been about doing a lot of stuff outside of training, the extras that I feel as though others wouldn’t do.
“They stress to us not to cook your body but even if it’s flexibility stuff or core stuff, just little things that I like to do that won’t make me too fatigued during the season and leave me still feeling strong.
“I think it is all those little things which have helped me throughout the journey to gradually get an edge and improve my game.”
On Wednesday night Walsh has his Year 12 valedictory dinner at St Joseph’s College where he was required to do a speech.
Naturally the speech had been sorted days ago. Organised, professional, mature … sounds like a No.1 draft pick.
Originally published as Sam Walsh leaves little doubt he’s ready to be the No.1 AFL draft pick
Tiger delight as North pays heavy price for final draft night pick
On a night where little caused a surprise, North Melbourne waited until the last moment to pull a stunner, paying a significant price and taking an even more significant risk.
Why Crows wanted the kid who really wanted them
In the build up to the draft, rival clubs were split on what the Crows would do – take the homegrown talent or the powerful Victorian. But the decision was about far more than that.