From schoolies to Sydney, Darcy Fogarty and mates celebrate as he becomes a Crow

THE first message Darcy Fogarty got when he was drafted by Adelaide on Friday night was a Snapchat from his schoolmates toasting the news at a pub in Victor Harbor.

Darcy Fogarty is now a Crow after Adelaide selected him with Pick No.12 in Friday’s national draft. Picture: Adam Trafford.

THE first message Darcy Fogarty got when he was drafted by Adelaide on Friday night was a Snapchat from his schoolmates toasting the news at a pub in Victor Harbor.

While they were celebrating schoolies weekend, Fogarty was celebrating the beginning of his own new journey at the AFL draft in Sydney.

The 18-year-old from Lucindale in the state’s south east was selected by the Crows with Pick No.12, moving him a step closer to realising his boyhood dream of playing AFL footy. That he gets that chance while staying in South Australia was a bonus.

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Darcy Fogarty is the one of the newest Adelaide Crows. Picture: AFL Media

“I heard from a few mates at Lucindale and a few at Victor Harbor — they were all at a pub at schoolies and sent a few Snapchats,” he said.

“I don’t know if I would have been there if I wasn’t in Sydney, I would have been at home watching it (draft) pretty nervously.”

Some draft experts were surprised to see Fogarty slide outside the top 10 and the Crows were happy to swoop with their first pick.

They then took fellow South Australian Andrew McPherson with their other pick at No.40.

“It was pretty nerve racking, I didn’t have an idea of where I was going until my name got called out so I was over the moon for the opportunity the Crows have given me and hopefully I can do my best in repaying them,” Fogarty said.

“I was lucky enough to get a lot of texts from players and it was all surreal, they were all welcoming and excited.

“(Don Pyke) said to enjoy the moment, it only comes once and he’s excited for me to be on board and I’m pretty excited to get into it.

“Tex congratulated me, welcomed me to the club, it was nice for him to take the time out of his night to ring me and have a chat.”

Fogarty gives the don’t argue in an U18 match at Adelaide Oval. Picture: Roger Wyman

Fogarty played four league games for Glenelg in the SANFL this year but had his season cut short in August due to knee surgery, but he has declared himself ready to go for day one of pre-season training this week.

“I’m back into full training now and it’s going well, I’m doing kicking and agility and everything so I’m lucky enough to be right for Monday hopefully,” he said.

“It was pretty relaxed surgery and I spent four weeks without doing any gym or running, but once that came up I had a lot of range and movement so could do squats and leg weights pretty early on and slowly build up the strength.

“Probably the endurance is what I need to improve on and it’s all exciting that I’ll have the best crack at improving that with hopefully an uninterrupted pre-season.”

Fogarty grew up supporting Geelong and like most football fans watched last year’s AFL Grand Final as Adelaide was thrashed by Richmond.

“I watched it and I’m sure everyone at the club will hit the track hard and set the bar high so it will be hard to try to keep up with them but we’ll see how we go and I develop as quickly as possible,” he said.

The big-bodied midfielder who stands 192cm and weighs 92kg flew home to Adelaide last night still pinching himself at what had happened 24 hours earlier.

“It’s all been pretty surreal, once the name was finally called out it was like a weight lifted off my shoulders and I could relax after that,” he said.

“I think we’ve got a few family members in Adelaide (to catch up with), hopefully I”ll see my brother-in-law and all that so it should be pretty special when I get home.”

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Originally published as From schoolies to Sydney, Darcy Fogarty and mates celebrate as he becomes a Crow