Demons co-captain Jack Viney on the AFL finals, coach Goody and the SANFL’s 19th-man saga
FORMER North Adelaide junior Jack Viney is preparing to lead the Demons into a preliminary final but will still be barracking for the Roosters in Sunday’s SANFL grand final.
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HE MIGHT be the Demons’ co-captain, but Jack Viney’s heart still beats true for his junior club, North Adelaide.
Speaking from Melbourne ahead of the Demons flying to Perth to play West Coast in Saturday’s AFL preliminary final, Viney said news of the SANFL’s 19th-man saga had well and truly made its way to Victoria.
But while he wasn’t versed enough on the controversy to make a measured comment, he did say that because he’d spent two years playing for the Roosters in their under-18s side, he couldn’t help but be pleased to see the red and the white in Sunday’s grand final.
“I probably can’t comment on it because I don’t feel like I’ve read up on it, I’ve only heard about it from others, but if North Adelaide is there playing in the ‘granny’ then I’m happy,” he said.
Viney — who followed in his dad Todd’s footsteps to the Demons and was drafted in 2012 — lived in Adelaide in 2009 and 2010 when his father was an assistant coach at the Crows.
He attended Prince Alfred College for Years 9 and 10 and became the second Year 9 student to ever play with the school’s first XVIII footy side. His career at the Roosters involved playing one reserves game (no league games because he was only 16) and a “fair bit of under-18s”.
While he still returns regularly to Adelaide to see family, Melbourne is well and truly home and he’s relishing seeing his team perform so well this season.
“Most of the stuff clubs do is all judged by performance and by success, so at the start of the year, we were the club that had missed out on finals in a disappointing way and people continued to question the football club and the players within it,” Viney said.
“There was a bit of apprehensiveness around what Melbourne were going to be able to produce this year, but it hasn’t really affected us in how we’ve gone about our business.
“We understand we’re a young side, a coachable group wanting to get better and improve every day … it’s good to see we’re starting to gel together and achieve some success.”
He’s hoping that success will continue with a win tomorrow.
“We have a good understanding of what makes us play well and I think we’re getting more and more confident about being able to execute that on game day.”
Prior to the Demon’s finals’ campaign, Viney played only seven matches this season, while he recovered from a stress fracture in his foot. But he’s been able to dust off any speculation about a lack of match-fitness and is hungry to get his team into their first grand final since 2000.
“I’ve spent more games in the coaches’ box than I have out on the field, which has provided an opportunity to see the game from up there and improve elements of my coaching and leadership from up top and I’ve really cherished that,” he said.
“It’s been a challenge, but also a rewarding one and has helped me finding my feet coming back into the side.
“(Now) I’m the most confident I’ve felt in years in my foot and my body.”
That time in the coaches’ box has allowed him to see head coach — and former Crows captain — Simon Goodwin up close.
“I personally think Goody’s an unbelievable coach, just his game sense, but also being able to marry that with his relationship with his players … it’s great to spend more time with him in those high-pressure environments and see how he operates and I’ve certainly learnt a lot from him watching him go about his business.”