Ex-Dragon Ryan Byrnes to make AFL debut for St Kilda
Sandringham Dragons coach Josh Bourke says the club’s 2019 captain and best and fairest Ryan Byrnes ‘will get everything out of himself’ in his AFL career.
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For a few months people have been asking Sandringham Dragons coach Josh Bourke what St Kilda will get from 2019 draftee Ryan Byrnes.
“He’ll get everything out of himself,’’ Bourke answers every time.
Byrnes captained the Dragons and won their best and fairest last year, prompting the Saints to take him at No 52 in the national draft.
He’ll make his AFL debut on Monday night against Adelaide, and Bourke says he’s certain Byrnes has earned his call-up.
The way he tells it, the midfielder/small forward has had to earn every accolode that his come his way in football.
“I mean this with absolute respect to Ryan, but he’s never been handed anything,’’ Bourke said.
“He’s had to work for everything, and as I’ve been saying to St Kilda supporters, he’ll eke every little last bit out of himself. We heard really good things pre-season about how he was tracking and the way he’d acclimatised to the AFL, and now he’s going to get his chance. We’re really excited for him.’’
Byrnes started last season out of the Vic Metro set-up, but forced his way into the national championships.
He averaged 26 possessions in the NAB League, and figured in St Bede’s College’s breakthrough Herald Sun Shield victory.
In 2018 he had sped through the ranks as a bottom-age player.
Byrnes played junior football with St Paul’s McKinnon. When he was selected to represent the South Metro league at Under 15 level, it was in the ‘Pool B’ team (ditto for fellow 2020 AFL debutant Louis Butler).
“From I can gather he sort of came a little bit out of nowhere in his 17th year at the Dragons … by the end of the year they were picking him and couldn’t live without him,’’ Bourke said.
“When I arrived last year he stood out from day one, to be honest. Clearly he was a very good player. He trained well, applied himself well. He was a little bit stung at that stage that he hadn’t been included in the Metro hub. But he had that resolve to get there. And he did.’’
His strengths?
“He’s powerful, which is a funny word to use for a small forward/mid,’’ Bourke said.
“He’s got a little burst of speed that tends to be able to get him to the outside. He’s got a step and he doesn’t mind traffic. He’s clever with the footy, pretty dangerous around goal, not afraid of the contest, likes working in tight.’’
Bourke well remembers the pre-season camp at Gippsland, when on the last night a few of the players were getting a bit rowdy. Byrnes stayed in the study area, dipping into physics.
“That story probably embarrasses ‘Byrnesy’ a bit, but it shows how he applies himself,’’ the coach said. “He’s one of the more impressive young men you’ll meet. I know all the boys are pumped for him and they’ll be tuning in on Monday and hoping he goes really well.’’
Dragons talent identification manager Mark Wheeler calls Byrnes an “old-fashioned footballer … he finds the football and he uses it really well’’.
He said Byrnes had a dream to play in the AFL “and he wasn’t going to let it go’’.
“He was in a group of our four best trainers. He worked his butt off,’’ Wheeler said.
The Dragons have already had two of their 2019 players debut in the AFL this year, Butler and Fischer McAsey, and Wheeler said it had given the club a lifter at a time when no NAB League was being played.
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