Why Central District young gun Jez McLennan is bucking the trend and wants to join Gold Coast
HIGHLY-rated South Australian draft prospect Jez McLennan has bucked the trend by issuing a ‘come and get me’ plea to battling AFL club Gold Coast.
- The top draft talent ‘you would want to adopt’
- Rucci: Local draft talent fixation could be costly
- Betts fears protege Rankine will land at Port
- Suns expect Crows, Power to gun for their picks
- Bickley: Top draft picks mean nothing
HIGHLY rated South Australian draft prospect Jez McLennan has bucked the trend by issuing a “come and get me’’ plea to struggling AFL club Gold Coast.
While some of his more high-profile under-18 national championship-winning teammates have the Suns — described by Essendon great Matthew Lloyd as having the “worst list ever put on an AFL field’’ — at the bottom of their draft wishlist, McLennan says he would “love’’ to head north.
“I’ve heard all the stories about players not wanting to go there but I'm certainly not one of them,’’ said intercept defender McLennan, who was one of six Croweaters chosen in this year’s All-Australian under-18 team.
“Gold Coast is actually one of my preferred destinations and a place I would love to go to because it’s like a home away from home for me.’’
While gun SA kids Jack Lukosius, Izak Rankine and Connor Rozee — in contention to be taken by the draft-rich Suns with the selections they have at 2, 3 and 6 — prefer to stay in SA or go to a Melbourne club, McLennan has good reason for wanting Stuart Dew's club to call his name.
The 183cm Central District backman — regarded as a possible top-20 pick (the Suns also have selections 24 and 29) — is a mad-keen surfer who has family living at Gold Coast’s Mermaid Beach.
McLennan spends every Christmas with his parents and siblings there, taking to the surf for up to five hours a day.
It is luxury the well-travelled McLennan is denied in SA because he lives in the small Barossa suburb of Vine Vale, which is more than two hours from his favourite SA surfing spots on the Yorke Peninsula and at Middleton on the South Coast.
“I love surfing because when I’m out on the water it’s the best feeling in the world,’’ said McLennan, 18.
“Catching a wave, being out there with the dolphins, it clears my mind and gives me a great sense of freedom.
“I don't get the chance to surf much in Adelaide, so if I happened to be drafted by Gold Coast or Brisbane it would be a great result.’’
Not that McLennan, a Lions supporter who grew up idolising Brownlow Medallists Simon Black and Michael Voss, is taking his football lightly.
He aspires to be the best and has flown up draft boards this year.
SA under-18 coach Tony Bamford, who this year led the Croweaters to their first national title since 2014, said McLennan had been one of his team’s great success stories.
“At the start of the year Jez probably wasn’t among the best 20 draft prospects from SA — now he is in the top six or seven,’’ Bamford said.
“He has grown so much in the past 12 months and is one of those players who seems to thrive at the next level, which is a great sign for him heading into the AFL.’’
Chosen in SA’s leadership group, McLennan followed his All-Australian selection with a strong finish to the year with the Bulldogs, making his league debut against Adelaide in round 15 and playing the last five matches.
He models his game on Collingwood intercept king Jeremy Howe.
“The best defenders are the ones who win the ball first — and Jez intercepts the ball as well as anyone of his age,’’ Bamford said.
He noted that McLennan “isn’t one of those kids that is obsessed with football’ — skateboarding also is a hobby — but that is part of his charm.
“Life's not all football for him but that can be a good thing because some players can be over the top with it but Jez has a really good balance,’’ Bamford said.
Much of McLennan’s balance stems from his upbringing.
Born in Renmark, he spent much of his early life being raised in the Western Australian town of Derby in the Kimberley region and Nepal with his builder dad, Warren, nurse mum, Rachel, and siblings Ruby, now 20, and Louie, 15.
He attended school for seven months in Nepal where Rachel worked as a volunteer nurse and trekked through the Himalayan Mountains before returning to live in the Barossa and joining Central’s junior squads at age 14.
andrew.capel@news.com.au