North Melbourne captain Jack Ziebell opens up on the embarrassing pre-draft photo and his early career at the Roos
North Melbourne media manager Heath O’Loughlin has an ace up his sleeve anytime he wants Jack Ziebell to do something. And it all centres around a terribly embarrassing pre-draft photo.
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To all prospective AFL draftees, I urge you to read this and take my advice.
If you’re lucky enough to be considered a good chance to be taken in the AFL National Draft, there may come requests from media for a chat and a photo.
That’s all well and good, but with that may come a photoshoot that will haunt you for the rest of your career.
You see, experienced photographers are well aware that young kids on the brink of joining the AFL will basically be up for anything they suggest, no matter how out there.
I know what I’m talking about.
In the lead up to the 2008 draft, the Herald Sun turned up my family’s farm at Mitta Mitta.
We were walking around and the photographer saw a bathtub and asked me to jump in it and pretend I’m having a drink.
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“Yep, no worries at all,” I said.
At the time I was happy to do whatever to get my head in the paper.
It’s exciting to be a part of it all and you think it must be good news if you’re being asked to pose up.
It all seemed fine when I was 17, but it’s something I’ll regret for a long time.
It pops up every now and then and all the boys get a lot of mileage out of it.
They’re not the only ones.
Our club media manager Heath O’Loughlin pretty much uses the photo as blackmail for me every time he wants me to do something.
Although, I take comfort in the fact that I’m not alone.
I’m not the first wide-eyed youngster and I definitely won’t be the last to fall prey to a cheesy snap.
I’ve seen some crackers over the journey, and it always takes me back to my infamous photo.
My advice would be to think of yourself in 10 years’ time ask yourself what that person think of what you’re doing right now.
If you’ve got your shirt off or anything else that is a little bit out there, be ready for the consequences.
You’ve been warned.
DRAFT NIGHT DELAY
Most kids find out they’ve been drafted when their name gets read out on the live telecast.
I found out I was a Kangaroo by text message.
My draft year was 2008 and it wasn’t on Fox Footy then like it is today, which meant we were all cramming together around the computer livestreaming the draft.
I’d had a bit to do with the Brisbane Lions before the draft and they had expressed interest in taking me at pick No.7.
Mentally I was prepared to be moving to Brisbane.
Then just as Jack Watts’ name had been read out as the No.1 pick on my livestream, my phone buzzed with a text message from my then manager.
“Pick 9 North Melbourne, well done,” it read.
We didn’t know we were on a delay so at first we thought maybe he was having a laugh, but we found out it was true soon enough.
A few selections didn’t go as expected and the Kangas ended up taking me.
I was so excited to be staying in Victoria, but there was one slight problem.
To be completely honest, I didn’t know too much about North Melbourne at the time.
I was a Collingwood supporter as a kid, so I could at the time only rattle off about 10 to 15 North players.
That changed quickly.
EARLY DAYS AT ARDEN ST
On my first day at Arden St, I remember exchanging a look with Sam Wright.
We were drafted together and had played a few games together at the Murray Bushrangers, but we didn’t know each other too well then.
We immediately became best friends as we toured the club on day one.
The facilities, we quickly realised, were not too flash at that time
But what they lacked in flash equipment they made up in their people.
The place felt like home the second I walked in.
I’ve always thought the club has always had a bit of a country feel to it in the way the people are, and that’s never changed.
In my first few days we went down to Wilson’s Promontory for a three-day pre-season camp.
As an 18-year-old kid I wasn’t the fittest specimen getting about, so it was a brutal initiation to AFL football.
I’ll never forget Daniel Wells being the one to really put his arm around me and look out for me.
It’s something I’ll never forget because when you first walk into a footy club it’s a pretty intimidating place.
I’ve always tried to remember that and to make sure I get around all the new faces every year.
TAKE ME HOME COUNTRY ROAD
In the year I was drafted, my dad Gary and I made a pact.
If I managed to get through a season of TAC Cup with Murray Bushrangers and year 12 as a live-in boarder at Caulfield Grammar, then the first weekend free we would head bush.
And we did.
I’m from Wodonga, but we have a family holiday at Mitta Mitta, which is at the foot of the Victorian high country.
Dad bought a shack there about 20 years ago and I spent a lot of my childhood down there.
I’d spend the weekends playing footy and then going to hang out with mates on the farms having a bit of fun.
The town has a population of about 100 people, and it’s a great place to go fishing or get on the motorbikes and go camping.
I’m a country boy at heart so whenever I get the chance I love going home and escaping the hustle and bustle.
I just wish I could do it more often.
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THE COACHES AT NORTH
My first coach at the club was Dean Laidley
I only had him for my first pre-season and he left midway through my first year, but he was unbelievable to me.
He filled me with confidence and gave me an opportunity to make my debut in Round 1 of my first year
He was really positive and helped me with my footy and was a great tactician as a coach, and I’d say he set the tone my career.
Then came Brad Scott, who coached me for almost 10 years.
I’ll always remember him as the one constant throughout a very challenging part of the club’s history.
He was the main instigator of changing the identity of North Melbourne and the outside perceptions of what the club was.
He helped take us from a battler club to one that has all the resources it now needs to then succeed.
For the guys that have spent most of their career with Brad, he filled us with confidence and pretty much taught us all we know as professional footballers.
He had a big impact on not just the players we are today but the people as well.
To be honest I don’t think we probably should have won as many games as we did with the team we had over those years.
A lot of it was down to his ability to coach.
I must admit it was very strange when he left and Rhyce Shaw came in.
I was a first-year player the last time we had a change of coach midway through a season.
For him to be removed out of the environment was such a change, but I honestly don’t think the club could have picked a better person to take that caretaker role.
He had been at the club only for about 10 months before he got that role, but his care for the players throughout that period was immense.
Straight away he just made sure everyone was emotionally OK first and foremost.
He was worried about us as people before he was worried about us as footballers.
That might sound a little strange, but Shawry’s greatest strength I think is he cares about people so much.
For him to get thrust into that role, he did a tremendous job.
He had the players playing for him straight away, and that’s the greatest thing you can have as a coach.
He’s a star.
PUPPY DRAMAS
Away from football, I love spending time with my pup Flash.
He doesn’t leave my side these days, and there is a very good reason why.
I’d only had Flash – who is a German shorthaired pointer for a month – for a month when he was stolen back in early 2018.
We had a footy camp in Tasmania, so I took him home to my dad’s farm to stay for a week.
One day Dad came home from being out and realised the pup had gone missing.
He rang me and said “I’ve lost your dog” and I was a bit rattled.
Flash had ended up at a family home down in Geelong on a farm after a bloke had stolen him and then gave him away to another family.
I lost him for four months, but through the power of social media and Facebook I was able to get him back.
He’s two-and a-half now and I keep him at very close watch.
Originally published as North Melbourne captain Jack Ziebell opens up on the embarrassing pre-draft photo and his early career at the Roos