AFL draft 2017: Dandenong Stingrays talent manager Mark Wheeler on the making of a draft hopeful
FRIDAY’S draft will grab the attention of the nation for one day but for TAC Cup talent manager Mark Wheeler, it’s the culmination of countless hours of work over the past four or five years. Here’s what goes in to moulding an AFL prospect.
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AS A TAC Cup talent manager, this is one of the harder weeks on the football calendar.
Your 2018 group of 80-plus players are in the second week of pre-season training and aiming to be one of the 60 players on next year’s list.
Meanwhile the class of 2017 is anxiously waiting for Friday’s national draft, in anticipation of living out boyhood dreams.
In the past few weeks the players had huge pressure — completing exams, work if they are already school leavers, and dealing with parents, families and friends all asking them the same question: “Who is taking you?’’
They’ve been told, “You’re a gun, you’ll be drafted’’.
Sleep is elusive for players, parents, managers and myself.
We’ve been quizzed so many times by so many AFL clubs trying to find that small point of difference or ascertaining whether a player has a hidden problem.
My mentor, Darren Flanigan, taught me one thing — tell the truth, no matter what. It’s your reputation on the line and clubs always find out.
As someone pointed out to me when I was coming into the role, we are in an opinion game. It starts with something special that you or your recruiting team see in a local game. You then re-evaluate, send others to watch, challenge them in different positions to see how they cope.
If they’re good enough, you invite them to the next age bracket, developing the off-field brand — load management, gym, medical, goal setting, physical testing, tracking growth and weight patterns and watching hours of footage of themselves playing football.
You spend time on a slight change in one or two things to make them better, while praising them for all the positives. It’s a balancing act.
You need a big team of specialists and the TAC Cup does this well. Twenty-plus coaches, a dozen or so recruiters, four to six for strength and conditioning, four physios, two doctors, 12 trainers and 20-odd support staff, along with as many placement students you can get your hands on to help you operate 42 weeks of the year.
We first start looking at players in their 14th year — the base of your pyramid. We let them play with minimal coaching to see what they have been gifted with.
When I go on the plane heading to the draft in Sydney, I’ll sit with Stingrays coach Craig Black, operations manager Peter Dye and a few of the assistant coaches.
Craig and I both joke with our wives that we probably talk to each other more than we do with them and that’s why we’ve been married so long. They never see the funny side of that!
I am not nervous yet. But in the first year or two of the role I didn’t cope well. I have learned with some years of experience that draft night will be out of my control.
These boys and the team I have built around me have been in preparation for the draft since the players were identified as “potential’’ TAC Cup players.
Most were in the Under 14 programs, a majority were in the 16s but there are always a few late-developing types who you identify in their 17th or 18th year.
Nick Haynes was one of those late developers, along with Nick Newman and Darren Minchington. All were spotted playing in the Nepean or Peninsula football leagues.
Believe it or not, we weren’t at the games that day to specifically watch them, but couldn’t go past them by the time the game ended. All remarkable stories — but I’ve got many names I believe were good enough for the next level, but an AFL club didn’t see what I saw.
Is it luck that someone from the Stingrays was there that day? No, because we have a great relationship with our region clubs and schools. There are more than a dozen ex-Stingrays players now coaching in the region, with many more who have playing assistant roles or are gun players. They are all quick to contact the club to say we need to watch a certain young fella.
I still get a buzz watching these young men while I am out there recruiting for new talent, as they are all great young men and all left the program better people than when they arrived.
That’s something that ex-Stingrays coach Graeme Yeats was strong on, so I’ve continued that as part of our club trademark. Graeme is still in the region, coaching one of the clubs that we have a great relationship with, Edithvale Aspendale. He is still offering players to the Stingrays who he thinks are good enough for TAC Cup football.
Each year you like to have at least four players make it on to an AFL list. This year Craig and I have the lofty expectation of seven or eight names being read out on Friday night.
I have been asked many times in the past 12, 24 months — by AFL club recruiting staff, list managers, sport science members and those who may have been tracking our players through games, statistics, schools and social media accounts — to reflect on our “draftable’’ types.
We have three players invited to the draft night. Usually it means the AFL believes through its networks that there has been enough club interest to suggest they should fall in the top 15-20.
Again, it’s not an exact science here as each year there are a few surprises as the drama of the draft unfolds and happy faces turn to frowns and anxiety levels soar with that little doubt creeping in: “He’s not getting drafted’’.
Over the years I would have said I’ve mellowed a little. But deep down I am thinking, “How dare they, what a load of s**t, my player is better than that position in the draft order’’.
Yes, I wear my heart on my sleeve. Old school football people may call it a little white line fever. Me, I say I just love what I do and believe in the players, staff and our processes, so I will also stick up for it.
We’ve been “educating’’ players since their 16th and 17th years that “it doesn’t matter where you go in the order, the higher the pick, the more expectation you carry’’.
You need your name called out, then you must build up trust and reward with the AFL club to get a game. Getting drafted is one thing, getting an AFL game is another.
We’ve produced more than 100 players for the AFL and two this year for AFL W, with Georgie Gee and Bridie Kennedy etched in the history books as our first drafted female players, as Justin Leppitsch was for the boys in 1992.
There is a lot of talk around about Luke Davies-Uniacke (LDU) being a potential No 1 pick. He’s been given a lot advice along the way by many “experts’’. We’ve told LDU to try to filter it and listen to the key messages. He, along with many others in this draft pool, has had 15-plus coaches this year. He’s finished VCE at Haileybury, and will soon work through the transition of being a student and, in the calling of his name, an AFL player.
He is joined by his great mate in Hunter Clark, who has also been given the same balancing advice. The last of the musketeers, Aiden Bonar, holds a special spark for me.
There is no need to retell the story — journalists have been all over it in the past seven weeks — but if you look up the word persistence and belief you’ll see a smiling Aiden Bonar next to the definition.
His story with me goes back to when he was in his three-peat era for Seaford Junior Football Club. He dominated and won games off his own boot. He was destined for my program and things were tracking fine until he did an ACL in Bendigo as a 16-year-old.
My belief in Aiden was strong, so as a club we paid for him to attend the Under 16 Carnival in Queensland with me so he still felt part of the team. This would have been hard for him, but to me it showed his character.
The second tear was different, but Aiden grew in confidence and impressed me so much that as soon as I started talking with clubs in late January I said I have a potential top-10 player who will return in June.
I would always finish by saying, “When you interview our players ask them who is the hardest and best player you played with or against in the region — you should get the same answer.” Aiden Bonar.
We have 15 players who showed enough to get some attention from AFL clubs this year. They all won’t get drafted but all go into the night with a small “what if?’’.
The hardest part of the night happens when the draft concludes. Craig and I dive for our phones consoling players and parents.
The players are in shock, disbelief or are sitting there playing the “what if?’’ game in their heads. Mum and dad can be angry — angry for their son, that his dream and goals haven’t been met.
You remind everyone that it’s a roadblock we spoke about during goal setting. Control what you can control.
This is where the years of the Stingrays’ off-field education starts to kick in. They’ve been told from day dot that “football is plan B, what is plan A?’’
Education-work and life is plan A. Even if you get drafted your AFL football career can be over quickly. I still think the industry average is 3.5 years as a drafted player.
In the past few months we’ve conducted exit interviews and organised induction nights with VFL clubs where the players, even those who have been inked by all the draft experts, have been working towards the next part of their football career.
We’ve also taken calls from players and parents asking for advice on where to play next year if things don’t work out. The VFL is always the first thought, but you also talk about how hard that is too, so we get them to work through the answer themselves by giving them leading questions: What are you doing for work or school? Where’s that situated? Travel, home life, gap year, local football ... they’re all considerations.
You also remind players and parents of the word “wellbeing’’. The use of third parties such as Headspace and Beyondblue is available if it becomes too hard. Our players understand the importance of talking. These days this area of the program takes a lot more time than 10 years ago.
You finish with the players and parents, then start talking with player managers and some AFL club recruiters you can get an answer from. Is he a potential rookie?
Coming back as a potential 19-year-old is near impossible for these boys. They’ve played at the country’s highest Under 18 level so now they play with the men in the VFL or seniors football.
Most of our Stingrays players play senior football from the age of 17 so it’s not a big issue for them.
My wife and family live the ride with me. Many years ago they learnt that as a talent manager you almost spend more time with the players than sometimes your own sons and daughters. It’s a particular sacrifice that frequently takes its toll personally throughout the weeks, months and years.
When the draft is over the Stingrays staff venture for dinner around 10pm. I thank Craig and his team and we analyse the night, sneak in a light refreshment or two and the banter usually becomes a little louder.
But we’re pretty quickly turning to the 2018 season, with 80-plus Under 18 players, 66 Under 18 TAC Cup Girls and 50 Under 16 boys to focus on. We’re determined to do the best for them, and to help them to reach whatever goals they’re chasing.
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