EFL 2018: South Croydon young gun Frank Anderson remains focused on AFL dream after overcoming hip dysplasia

AFTER overcoming a genetic hip condition that ruled him out of the game for two years, a star midfielder from the Eastern Football League has caught the attention of AFL scouts.

AFTER overcoming a genetic hip condition that ruled him out of the game for two years, a star midfielder from the Eastern Football League has caught the attention of AFL scouts.

Meet Frank Anderson, the rising South Croydon star who won the EFL Division 1 and 2 Young Gun of the year in 2017.

He has come on again this season off the back a coming-of-age finals display that helped lift the Bulldogs to their first top-tier premiership.

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Anderson was recently made the Vic Metro captain for the biennial game against Vic Country. Not a bad achievement for a 20-year-old.

There’s now talk AFL clubs are taking notice of the star midfielder.

Vic Metro coach Brian Royal hadn’t heard of Anderson until May, but he knows about him now. “I saw the (EFL) interleague game (and) I thought there was a bit of class about the young fella,” Royal said.

Congrats to @aflvic Vic Metro players ⁦@eastmalvernfc⁩ Chris Carey and ⁦@SouthCroydonFC⁩ Franks Anderson who were voted best players in the #bushvburbs clash with Vic Country pic.twitter.com/31irCV9mIp

— Steve Teakel (@SteveTeakel) July 8, 2018

“He’s a beautiful mover, never goes to ground, really composed in the congested sort of situations and uses the ball really well.”

Anderson was among Vic Metro’s best players in the 25-point defeat, a shining light in a gloomy day at Ballarat’s Mars Stadium.

Royal said he had mentioned Anderson’s name “in my travels to a couple of people who I know in AFL clubs”.

“The more I got to know him, obviously through coaching over the last month, the more I thought he had some potential to go on and certainly play at a higher level,” he said.

“Whether that be VFL or AFL, that is up to Frank and people in higher places, but I certainly think he has got the potential.”

Frank Anderson with South Croydon 2009 premiership coach Paris Harvie after the Vic Metro and Vic Country game. Picture: Phil Lovell

But for a player of Anderson’s talent, Royal was left wondering why he had “missed the system” and hadn’t “gone to the next level”. He added: “at the moment”.

A genetic hip condition meant Anderson spent two years on the sidelines, missing “those critical draft years at 16 to 18”.

The kid from Croydon was on a waiting list for hip dysplasia surgery for 30 months to realign his bones and muscles.

“I couldn’t run after consecutive days, I’d get too sore, I couldn’t sit down for more than 30 minutes at a time without getting too sore,” Anderson said.

“It hugely impacted how I was playing sport so I just threw it away, concentrated on my studies, did really well at school.

“We finally got it (surgery) done during my Year 12 year at the end of the year (2015), got it all fixed so it has just started recovering now, now it’s all back together and finally, finally playing how I used to back in the juniors.”

The Bulldogs junior made his comeback to the game in 2016, having a stint with Casey Demons in the VFL development league before returning to Cheong Park.

“I just didn’t get a good run at it, I didn’t do a full pre-season and it’s hard coming off two, two-and-a-half seasons without playing and going straight into a VFL system,” he said.

“You’re behind the eight ball straight away and it was an easy choice to come back to such a good club. South Croydon has been my home since six so it was a really easy decision.”

He flourished under the watch of former coach Leigh Adams to play a key role in South Croydon’s fairytale flag.

He’s now under the eye of Bulldogs mentor Luke McCormick. The two share an interesting journey.

McCormick delisted Anderson twice — once when he was coach of the under-12s state team and again when he was an assistant at Eastern Ranges.

Frank Anderson looks for options in the 2017 Division 1 grand final. Picture: Davis Harrigan

“A good attitude, a driven young man, probably didn’t have the polish with the ball use, that was the main thing,” McCormick recalled of Anderson at Eastern.

“He’d come from a lot of junior footy where he was the main ball winner and used to just get the footy through the middle and sort of bash it forward (but) that’s the area of his game he has taken to a whole new level.

“He’s always been able to run with the ball and try to take them on too much but now he knows when to give and get back.”

McCormick said Anderson’s maturity (he now runs his own Croydon gym business with girlfriend Alice) had allowed his game to develop to the point where he could go to the next level.

“I think he’s got the attributes, yes, the way his game is evolving, the speed and power that he plays with but also the ball use that he now has,” he said.

“I can see why (clubs would be showing interest), put it that way, and that happens a bit these days, AFL clubs are looking at local footballers, but he’s certainly got the attributes, I think, to play at the next level.”

Anderson said he still harboured draft ambitions.

“That’s definitely what I’m working towards, I’m trying to get better and that is definitely at the forefront of my mind at the moment,” he said.

“Obviously I’m playing at South Croydon at the moment and we’re flying so obviously I want to be part of success this year and then after the season, who knows what could happen.”

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