NewsBite

Ryan Angwin the latest prospect from ‘Foster footy factory’

A small town in South Gippsland has produced an impressive list of AFL stars in the past decade — and now it has another player in contention for the draft, and he’s a member of one of its largest families.

Ryan Angwin on the go for Gippsland Power.
Ryan Angwin on the go for Gippsland Power.

Fish Creek enjoyed a splash of publicity when Sam Flanders made his debut for the Gold Coast Suns this year, the latest in a long line of Creekers to reach league level.

But Fishy’s great rival and neighbour Foster has put up an impressive list of accomplished players of its own in the past 10 years or so.

Port Adelaide’s Xavier Duursma is from the South Gippsland club.

Brett Eddy, who had two matches for Port Adelaide, is too.

Then there’s Jack Weston, who was on Geelong’s books as a rookie, and Jordan Staley, who was a St Kilda rookie.

Jake Best never made it on to an AFL list, but he was a prominent VFL player.

Some of the locals have even started referring to the showgrounds, the home of the football club, as the “Foster footy factory’’.

Now comes Ryan Angwin, who is being touted as an AFL prospect after coming through at Gippsland Power last year.

The Angwin family is large and has a long attachment to the South Gippsland town.

Angwin’s father, Rob, played a lot of football for the Foster Tigers. Rob’s brother Jeff was a star in the Phil Cleary-coached 1988-89 Coburg VFA premiership teams, a left-footer with buckets of bravery.

Ryan Angwin takes a kick for Gippsland Power in 2019.
Ryan Angwin takes a kick for Gippsland Power in 2019.

Another of Rob’s brothers, Wayne, works at the Foster Mirror newspaper under editor Robbie Best, Jake’s father; Ryan, 17, presumably gets some ink when he’s going well.

He gave the Mirror something to write about last year when he broke through to play 11 games for Power as a bottom-ager.

Twelve months earlier he missed the cut for the Under 16 squad. He has also failed to make the Under 15 squad.

But Dean Duursma, the father of Xavier and the assistant principal of Foster Secondary College, believes that could only have been because of Angwin’s slight stature, not a lack of ability.

Angwin broke into Foster’s senior team at the age of 15. Last year he missed out on the Tigers’ premiership because he had been selected to play for Power the day after the grand final.

“He’s always been a very silky footballer with a very high footy IQ,’’ Duursma said.

“He’s one of those fellas who just knows where to find the footy. You look at him and he’s always in space. I don’t know how he does it but a teammate gets the ball and there he is 20 or 30m on his own. He’s very smart and he’s a good user of the ball.

“But in those couple of years (he missed the cut) he was very small. He shot up in his Under 16 year.’’

He said Angwin also had a nagging calf problem as he tried out for the Under 16s. “So he was a bit lucky with injury but it was probably more about his physical development than a lack of skill,’’ Duursma said.

Angwin eventually took both rejections – “the very first round of the 15s, the last or second last cut of the 16s’’ – as a spur to do better.

Foster boy: Xavier Duursma send Port Adelaide into attack.
Foster boy: Xavier Duursma send Port Adelaide into attack.

He said missing out on the Under 16s made him realise he needed to put more time into his football if he wanted to prosper with the Power.

“Last year I decided to take it a lot more seriously, just commit more, really get into it training-wise,’’ he said.

“They (Power) gave me a shot, I suppose. And then it turned out to be an all right year. I came out a bit lucky.’’

When Angwin started with Gippy last year he thinks he was about 60kg; a three-goal breeze could have blown him away.

But he’s put on strength by working out at a gym he set up in the shed at home, taking in some of Jake Best’s old equipment. Rob Angwin’s work mates donated weights. “It’s come together nicely,’’ he said. He’s now at 74kg and 184cm.

Angwin was looking forward to his top-age year with the Power and perhaps spending some time in the backline.

Brett Eddy at Port Adelaide.
Brett Eddy at Port Adelaide.

COVID-19 meant the season finished without even starting. But the pandemic did bring one benefit. When the AFL season shut down Xavier Duursma returned home for a few weeks and trained at the showgrounds.

Angwin joined him. Far removed from any glamour, it was a glimpse of the grit that goes into being an AFL player.

“I did all the running sessions with him and skills. It helped me a fair bit,’’ he said. “It was good. It was tough. The sessions were pretty solid. But I managed to keep up with him. That gave me a bit of confidence with my running. It’s been really good to have him on the phone and be able to message him whenever I want, whether it’s about school or footy.’’

Angwin has kept up the sessions at what he called “the Foster footy factory’’ with his pals Lochie Rathjen and Oliver Calcott.

“They’ve got the Geelong footy factory but Foster has been pretty successful in the past few years too,’’ he said.

Maybe Angwin will be the next one to come from it. He said it was “surreal’’ to be spoken of as a draft prospect; he’s had meetings with 10 clubs.

“It’s happened pretty quickly. I’ve just been trying to take it day by day and see what happens and live in the moment, I guess,’’ he said.

It goes without saying he has the town of Foster behind him.

MORE FOOTBALL

WINNIE LAING KICKS ON FOR DRAGONS

AFL DEBUT FOR FISHY'S SAM FLANDERS

Add your comment to this story

To join the conversation, please Don't have an account? Register

Join the conversation, you are commenting as Logout

Original URL: https://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/bass-coast/ryan-angwin-the-latest-prospect-from-foster-footy-factory/news-story/226a6911924648adc857c472cbdaf7fd