AFL draft: South Croydon midfielder Frank Anderson hopes for selection
A young gun who helped guide his club to a maiden top-flight premiership could ascend from local footy ranks in this week’s AFL draft.
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Former South Croydon coach Leigh Adams remembers the game fondly.
Not only was it the Bulldogs’ first Division 1 finals win in club history, but it was the match that confirmed the emergence of Frank Anderson.
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South Croydon trailed two-time reigning premiers Balwyn by 19 points at three-quarter time in last year’s Eastern Football League qualifying final, only to finish 17 points to the good thanks to a best afield showing from Anderson.
The 21-year-old has this season caught the attention of AFL scouts, attending the state combine and interviewing with four clubs during the year.
Adams has strong recollections of that performance that helped deliver South Croydon its first Division 1 premiership under the watch of the former North Melbourne hard nut.
“I just remember him clearly a few times in that second half coming through the contest at speed and just winning it off the taps and using that step of his to get around blokes and kicking the ball long inside 50,” Adams said.
“I think he did it on four or five big occasions in the last quarter and I think he ended up with about 30 (disposals).
“That’s particularly when I spoke to a few people I knew in the AFL system and just said, ‘I think this bloke has got what it takes to make it’.”
Adams said the powerful midfielder had the traits to rise from the local football ranks to the elite level.
“His side step, to be able to do it pretty much standing still, is a fair effort,” he said.
“He’s got great endurance and great skills as well I think — underrated probably how good his skills are.
“He’s probably got the perfect prototype AFL body just about now because he is pretty strong now, definitely quick and agile but he has that good fitness base behind him.”
Anderson said his performance against Balwyn was a result of the work he had put in with Adams and the Bulldogs coaching staff in the lead up to the 2017 finals.
“A few games even before the finals started I was playing quite good footy and I didn’t really think anything of it to tell you the truth,” Anderson said.
“I knew I was capable and I was just trying to get the best out of myself at that time.”
Anderson caught further AFL attention when he captained Vic Metro this year before an ankle injury restricted his output in September.
He said his explosiveness would help take his game to the next level.
“I think my speed and power through that movement will help me,” he said.
“I think my hands are quite sharp and I think my foot skills aren’t too bad as well.”
South Croydon coach Luke McCormick said Anderson had added more “polish and poise” to his game in 2018.
“He used to not be able to hit those targets at full speed after being able to get away from a contest, which now he can,” McCormick said.
“His first step is elite and that’s the qualities you want — someone who can win the footy and run away from a contest with it and use it and that’s what I think they like.”
The AFL draft will be held across November 22 and 23.
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