AFL draft 2018: Dandenong Stingray Sam Sturt is racing up the charts

SAM Sturt didn’t get a game for his under-19 club side at the start of the season. Now he’s being touted as a top 30 pick in the AFL national draft.

IT’S all happened in a hurry for Sam Sturt.

When he played his first match in the TAC Cup in August he was considered an AFL draft smoky on the basis of his performances in school football.

Now he’s regarded as a near-certainty, to judge from the contact clubs have made with the Dandenong Stingray.

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One recruiting manager apparently said last month that Sturt could go in the top 30. His stocks have only risen since. Some lift-off from AFL national talent guru Kevin Sheehan has helped.

“I never thought anything like this would happen,’’ Sturt, 18, was saying on Monday night. “At the start of the year I was just playing footy for fun.’’

In fact, he wasn’t playing football at all in the first round of the season. He had not trained with the Mt Eliza under-19s and missed out on a game. In October the same lad will attend the AFL draft state combine.

Sam Sturt with Stingrays coach Craig Black at Shepley Oval last night.

Former Melbourne star and VFL coach Brett Lovett has had a part in Sturt’s unlikely rise.

Lovett coached the 189cm left-footer at Peninsula Grammar in 2017 and again this season.

He was so taken with Sturt that he alerted Stingrays talent identification manager Mark Wheeler to his talent.

Peninsula had an eight-match season this year and Sturt mixed his school football with club matches for Mt Eliza, five in the under-19s for 25 goals and one in the seniors. His performances in the AGS brought him attention from a handful of AFL clubs.

A promising batsman with Premier club Frankston Peninsula, he also trained with the Victorian Country under-19s.

He’s still in the Vics squad, training most Sundays ahead of a trip to Barooga in the school holidays.

“Last year he was a fairly thin kid who played a bit on the wing and a bit up forward. There were glimpses of his talent,’’ Lovett said.

“He showed he could take a really good mark for his size — he’s really strong in the air — and was very clean on the ground and he could kick a nice goal. They were the sorts of things we saw last year.

“This year he’s probably that bit taller and stronger and we played him up forward and he had a good season.

“He’s a very nice kick. Typical of a left-footer, he seems to be able to find a bit more space and he’s got good penetration in his kicking and also good finesse. He’s got enough speed to put a gap between himself and the defender.’’

Sam Sturt receives his Frankston Peninsula First XI cap from coach Keith Jansz.

Part of Lovett’s role at Peninsula Grammar is to give feedback to the Stingrays on players attending the school.

Late last year he suggested Sturt “might be worth having a look at’’.

However, the youngster put his summer focus on his cricket for Frankston Peninsula, where he was selected for two First XI matches.

Sturt loves cricket — “It’s been a big part of my life, I’ve played it seriously since under 11s’’ — and it explains why he has never done a football pre-season training program.

But after the buzz of the past few weeks he’s concentrating on football, thankful for the push from Lovett and the exposure of his late-season games with the Stingrays.

In three matches he’s kicked seven goals, and he jagged three Morrish Medal votes in the final-round match against Sandringham Dragons.

Sturt said the jump from school football to the TAC Cup was pronounced.

“The intensity is a lot higher than what I was used to,’’ he said.

“The thing that stands out the most is how unselfish everyone is, how the players pass off to teammates in better positions.’’

Brett Lovett has pushed up his Peninsula Grammar player Sam Sturt.

He said Lovett had introduced him to “play backline, forward, a lot of structure as well, which they don’t normally teach you at under-19 and under-17s’’.

As for AFL recruiters, they have introduced themselves to Sturt in the past month. “I’ve had a few meetings and have a few more scheduled, which should be good,’’ he said.

Asked if he had wanted to play league football, he said: “I never thought I’d get the opportunity to consider footy but I’ve always wanted to be a professional sportsman, whether that be cricket or footy or athletics.’’

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Wheeler said Sturt had a “natural flair’’ about him and it was easy to see why he was exciting scouts.

“He’s Taylor Garner all over,’’ Wheeler said. “The way he attacks the footy and jumps at it — he’s got no regard for his own safety at times — beautiful left-foot, kicks it well, he’s quick.’’

Tough, too, he said: Sturt burnt his foot at his part-time job the night before his second match for the Stingrays but decided he was OK to play.

Lovett said Sturt’s arrival to the TAC Cup scene was timely given the Stingrays, minor premiers, were in the finals.

“He’s going to have some chances to show what he can do at that higher level,’’ he said. “From what I’ve seen over a couple of years, he’s got a lot of ability, the young fella.’’

SEE WHERE YOUR CLUBS COMES IN THE 2018 AFL DRAFT ORDER