What happened before, during and after the draft for the Lukosius and Hately families

The families of Jack Lukosius and Jackson Hately reveal the whirlwind 24 hours before, during and after the national draft that saw them join the Gold Coast Suns and GWS Giants.

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It was a matter of where not if Jack Lukosius and Jackson Hately were drafted on Thursday night and their families have revealed what happened in a whirlwind 24 hours that led to them joining the Gold Coast and GWS.

Thursday, 9.30am

The Lukosius, Rozee, Rankine and Hately families flew to Melbourne from Adelaide while the Valente family were flying in after Luke’s graduation at Rostrevor College where he is school captain. In Melbourne the players were met by the AFL talent manager Kevin Sheehan for media commitments and the families were on a bus to the Sebel apartments at Docklands.

Nick Hately: “As a family we’d wanted this to happen for a while but the day was reasonably calm, and going over together with four families of the kids who’d played a fair bit of representative footy together was great to share it with them all.”

Rob Lukosius: “It was what we’d been building towards for the last two years all of a sudden happening so it was quite exciting.”

Jack Lukosius with mum Heather, dad Rob and sister Abbey. Picture: AAP Image/Russell Millard

Thursday, 3pm

Gold Coast coach Stuart Dew meets with the Lukosius family at their apartment while the Hately’s meet with Jackson’s manager David Trotter at a Docklands cafe.

RL: “We had a couple of meetings with clubs who were briefing us on what we thought might happen and how things might play out. We’ve had the Gold Coast come to our place before but they were mainly recruiters, so we had (coach) Stuey Dew and other guys we hadn’t met come to our apartment.

“I hadn’t met Stuey before, I’d obviously heard a lot about him and I ended up speaking with him a fair bit. All my preconceptions were pretty true — he’s down to earth and seems to be a pretty good guy.

“They gave us some information then asked if we wanted to know anything, it was a two-way street. They couldn’t give us any certainties, they didn’t know if Jack was going to get taken by Carlton, so they just said ‘look if he’s there at two, we’re going to grab him’.”

NH: “We caught up with Jackon’s manager but didn’t speak to any clubs directly in the afternoon. But from some of the questions the clubs were asking his manager, you got a sense of which ones were keen.

“There’s a whole lot of restaurants and coffee shops near the apartments and they were full of families and managers and players, with these 23 or so kids, it seemed like a small handful were meeting directly with clubs — the really high early picks — and everyone else was having conversations with managers.”

Thursday, 5pm

Players and families attend a function at Marvel Stadium where they were briefed by the AFL and AFL Players’ Association over finger food before entering the draft room after 6pm.

RL: “It was a bit different to what I was expecting, I thought we’d be seated at tables which is what I’d seen previously, but it was more walking around and talking to people.

“They asked us (Rob, wife Heather and daughter Abbey) to sit down in our allocated seating and we were sitting in the front row with the Walsh’s so it was a bit daunting.”

NH: “From talking to clubs and reading mock drafts, we thought there was a window of 4-5 picks and in Jackson’s case there were three clubs that had done the most homework, the Giants had been speaking to us quite a bit and we were impressed with them all along.”

Thursday, 7pm

When Sam Walsh went to Carlton with Pick No. 1 there was no doubt that Lukosius was off to Gold Coast at No. 2 along with Izak Rankine at No.3. Hately had to sweat through 13 picks before the Giants took him at No. 14.

Lukosius in his Gold Coast Suns guernsey. Picture: Dylan Burns (Getty).

RL: “There were a few nerves but the pressure came off when Walsh was taken at pick one, there was five minutes interviewing him and by the time that happened it was a fait accompli that Jack would go at two so we could relax and let it all unfold.”

NH: “You do get more and more nervous. We knew his name wasn’t coming out in the first six or seven picks so you’re calm, but once you get into that next window where the name might be coming the heart rates increases dramatically.

“This is a national competition and if you want to chase your dream of being a professional sportsman this is what happens, so the interstate thing wasn’t a factor for us. It would be fabulous to stay home and watch him play but this is the way the system works, so it was excitement and relief.”

Thursday, 10pm

Both families attend separate functions with their respective clubs where they met senior coaches Dew and Leon Cameron and the club’s welfare staff.

Hately in his new GWS colours. Picture: Daniel Pockett (AAP).

RL: “We had to go and retrieve him from out the back and go to a function with the Gold Coast Suns. They had a restaurant around the corner booked and there was quite a big complement of people with all their recruits and families.

“Going through the AFL academy Jack was well aware that it’s a national competition and he’s just keen to give it a crack. I think it will be great, a total difference to Adelaide where he’s been under the microscope pretty heavily the last 18 months, he can just go and relax and concentrate on his footy.

“Gold Coast seemed very positive, Stuey Dew has his own list and can create his own culture.”

NH: “The Giants had a room at a hotel across the road from Marvel Stadium and put some food and drinks on and got the families together. They did it really well, I was impressed at how quickly they made you feel part of a footy club and wider footy family.

“Leon Cameron was there and all their welfare people and they talk you through what happens from here.”

Friday, 5.30pm

Players and families were due back in Adelaide and will spend Saturday packing before flying to their new homes on Sunday.

Jackson Hately with dad Nick and mum Melinda before the national draft. Picture: Matt Loxton.

NH: “Jackson will do some packing on Saturday then one of the Giants welfare guys is going to fly over and then back with him to Sydney on Sunday.

“But Jackson is a unique case because his school graduation is on Wednesday, so he’ll fly back to Adelaide for that, then go back to Sydney again that night to continue pre-season training.

“You go from the great unknown for so long then it all happens very, very quickly.”

RL: “We’ll catch up with family and friends and at the same time he’s got to get ready to leave. I don’t think there’ll be a last minute trip to Schoolies.

“They offered us to go up there with him but I think we’ll let him go on his own and train for a few weeks, then they do a camp to New Zealand and that will lead into their Christmas break and he’ll be back home.”

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