NAB League Boys: Sandy Dragon Finn Callaghan makes a sparkling start to the season

He’s the son of a Commonwwealth Games runner, and now this young sportsman is taking great strides for the Sandy Dragons.

Finn Callaghan getting busy for the NAB AFL Academy against the Geelong VFL team this season. Pic: Michael Klein

They’re all talking about Finn Callaghan, how he’s made such a sparkling start for the Sandringham Dragons in the NAB League Boys competition and zoomed up draft boards.

They were talking about him in March too, for other sporting reasons and in different seasons.

Callaghan played a big part in Mordialloc’s win in the Cricket Southern Bayside Division 1 grand final, making 54 in a tight run chase.

The premiership lifted Mordi back to the Championship Division, and prompted a message to the News sports desk from a keen bayside sports watcher about the youngster.

It was an alert not only about Callaghan’s innings, but how he was shaping with the Dragons.

The watcher noted that Finn was a Year 12 student at St Bede’s College, that he’d captained the Victorian Under 12 schoolboys football team and that he was great mates with top Dragons prospect Blake Howes.

“Keep an eye on him,’’ the message suggested.

Finn Callaghan at Mordialloc sports ground.

Callaghan enjoyed his season of cricket with Mordialloc.

“Senior flag, great bunch of boys, it was great fun,’’ he said.

He’s been with the club since he was 10 and started in the lower-grade senior teams when he was 14. His First XI debut came last season.

But a few rounds into the NAB League Boys season, it takes no great powers of perception to predict football will be taking the 18-year-old beyond local grounds.

After watching the Dragons play the Western Jets two weeks ago at the Trevor Barker Oval, one recruiter declared Callaghan to be the best player at his club.

He later qualified the comment: “If he’s not the best, he’s not far off.’’

The left-footer played on the ball and had 31 possessions.

AFL talent manager Kevin Sheehan said after the match: “I think there is another level to go with that young fella.

“(He’s got) a bit of Jackson Macrae or Josh Kelly about him I think. Very, very composed, lovely size at 189cm, beautiful athlete, normally uses the ball so well. Again, he has only played about four games at this sort of level. I think there is a lot more to see of Finn Callaghan as the year unfolds.”

Finn Callaghan takes a kick for the Dragons. Photo: Cameron Grimes/AFL Photos

He’d set out his stall in Round 1, against Oakleigh Chargers at Moorabbin. Spectators raved about Josh Daicos and Josh Sinn and Campbell Chesser and Howes.

But Callaghan came to attention with his superb kicking across half forward and his splash of speed.

Running runs in the family. Callaghan’s father, Brett, played a bit of football. But he was an ace athlete, good enough to win the national 400m championship and compete at the 1994 Commonwealth Games.

Callaghan senior had countless kick-to-kick sessions with his son in the backyard of the family’s Parkdale home.

More recently they’ve done a lot of running.

“The sprint training with dad in the off-season has helped me a fair bit, I think,’’ he said.

So too have a few quiet words of encouragement from Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge, whose wife, Dana, is a cousin of Callaghan’s mother, Lara.

Finn was a St Kilda supporter. He switched to the Bulldogs when Beveridge landed the coaching position in 2015.

“I really wanted him to do well,’’ he said. “Within 24 hours of him getting the job I started going for the Doggies.’’

Finn Callaghan had 31 disposals against the Jets. Photo: Cameron Grimes/AFL Photos

Callaghan called Mordialloc-Braeside his junior football home and he was involved in strong teams. A string of his “Mordi-Brae’’ teammates, including Howes, is also on the Dragons’ list, and Justin Davies is going well at Dandenong Stingrays.

“We always used to get beaten by (East) Brighton in the grand final,’’ he said.

They did win one premiership (and in April Callaghan and Howes won a few fans when they returned to the club to welcome its 100 new players).

The Under 12 Victorian team that Callaghan captained and Howes played in won the national championship in 2015, and a lot of the players have gone on to NAB League squads.

Callaghan joined the Dragons as an Under 16 (coached by Jackson Kornberg, now the club’s head coach), and moved on to Under 18 list last year as a bottom-ager.

Off course, the 2020 season never kicked off but he put the spare time to good use, hiring a personal trainer, hitting the gym and putting on some size.

“I focused on leg and core strength, because I was really weak in my legs,’’ he said. “I’ve still got skinny legs. But I’ve got lots more power and that’s been able to help me kicking the ball a bit further.’’

Finn Callaghan and Blake Howes after their Victorian schoolboys selection.

The extra strength came after a growth spurt that took him to 190cm, producing the “lovely size’’ sharp-eyed Sheehan had noted.

Callaghan is aware of the talk about his draft prospects but “I don’t really read much of that stuff’’.

“I look at the AFL app every now and then and if something gets posted I’ll read it but that’s about it,’’ he said.

“It’s not deliberate, it’s just that I don’t think you need to be reading it. Better to keep trying to play good football. Of course you think about it. But there’s a long way to go in the season.’’

Finn Callaghan might keep them talking for a few more months yet.