Determined James Tsitas makes the grade after being added to Gold Coast’s list
From sleeping with a footy, to getting up at 4am and almost missing a flight to his wedding, James Tsitas’ long road to the AFL has been all about hard work and passion.
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EACH morning before he went off to the most important football training sessions of his life, James Tsitas’ alarm would go off before dawn.
Always enthusiastic, Tsitas would rise from bed about 4am to host an online personal training class for his own business The Fitness Cheatcode.
Just like the near decade-long journey to make it to the AFL, Tsitas just kept on putting in the work, no matter the obstacles.
“He gets up at 4 in the morning but he loves that too, he loves the people and his business,” Tsitas’ mother Barbara Kearney said.
“He does it after training as well.”
Single-minded, Tsitas just kept doing what he had to to get closer to his dream, whether that was in footy or fitness.
He spent January training head-to-head for the final spot on the Gold Coast Suns list with Nathan Freeman, a top-10 draft pick who had his chances in the AFL before at St Kilda and Collingwood.
When he was finally told on Saturday he had snared the final spot with the Suns, it was the culmination of a journey that began at Grovedale, ran through stops with Geelong VFL, multiple NTFL clubs and SANFL club Woodville-West Torrens.
“He is like a dog with a bone, he just wouldn’t give it up,” Kearney said.
“He never played the victim, he just kept going. He went to the Northern Territory and excelled up there, he went to the SANFL and got the Magarey (Medal) and that was nice but his main thing was getting to the AFL.
“I would be quite content with that in the SANFL but that (AFL) was his dream and he went for it.”
“SMACKING BUM”
TSITAS was born obsessed with footy, like many youngsters he would share his bed with a Sherrin.
“He still would if he didn’t have the pet dog and (wife) Indi with him,” Kearney said.
“He always had (a footy) in his car and at family do’s he would have one in his hands, which was a bit annoying at times.
“They used to do the Auskick and he played, I think it was under-9s when he was about six (years old) and he was smacking bum there.”
A young stud at Grovedale, the do-it-all midfielder dominated as he moved through the age groups, before making a strong impression at the Geelong Falcons and playing for Vic Country.
A Geelong Advertiser draft preview in 2013 labelled Tsitas as a 60 per cent chance of being picked up.
“Jimmy is more a midfielder who’s got huge endurance and an AFL club might see him as a run-with player,” then-Falcons talent manager Mick Turner said.
“He’s no certainty to go (in the draft) but he’s a great player.”
Tsitas was overlooked in the national draft and then weeks later in the rookie draft.
While Kearney was disappointed for her son he told her “it’s going to make me try harder”.
Grovedale coach Daniel Fraser worked with Tsitas when he was an assistant at Burdoo Reserve in 2019 as the midfielder folded back after being cut by Geelong VFL.
The 24-year-old was then locked in to his belief he was good enough to make it.
“I think he always thought he was good enough and he thought ‘If I have to work harder for that opportunity, I will do that’,” Fraser said.
“He definitely didn’t give up on the dream and it definitely shows to the kids out there that if you have a couple of calls that don’t go your way, don’t give up on the dream.”
MAD DASH FOR A BIG DAY
THE news this month that Tsitas was going to be an AFL footballer was the second big moment for the 26-year-old in two weeks.
A testament to his focus on earning his final list spot, he had to be pulled off the training track on the Gold Coast to make a flight for his wedding, and to see future wife Indi for the first time in a month.
“Thankfully (head of personnel) Brad Reid took me off the track because I would have missed my flight,” he said.
“If I missed the flight and missed our wedding, I don’t think she would have been happy.
“ ‘Reidy’ got me off the track and down to Coolangatta and back to Geelong, and I got married and then I was straight on a flight back on Sunday for training on Monday.
“I’ve been with my partner a long time now, she knew how much it meant to me and how much it meant to the people around me. Thankfully we had a really good weekend, it was unbelievable: the wedding.”
Kearney said she could not wait to get up to the Gold Coast and hopefully see her son make his AFL debut and she has her eyes on the next major life achievement.
“I said to him, ‘what is next? Got married last week, got (signed by the Suns) this week, maybe some grandbabies?’ ” she said.
THE CLOSEST TSITAS CAME TO GIVING UP ON DRAFT DREAM
NEW Gold Coast Sun James Tsitas has recalled the closest he came to giving up on his dream as he settled in to his new colours.
Tsitas, 26, has been training with the Suns for a month but had his first run on the track as an official member of the club’s AFL list on Tuesday, after he was told on Saturday he had snagged the club’s final spot.
The former Geelong VFL captain looked back on a brief stint with GFL club Grovedale in 2019, after he was cut from Geelong, as the closest he came to giving up his dream at the top level.
But when he met with Tigers coach Daniel Fraser at the end of that season, he was ready to give himself another shot and would soon head to a wildly successful stint with SANFL club Woodville-West Torrens.
“When I was playing local footy a couple of years ago, of course you think (it might be over) but I am pretty stubborn,” he said.
“I knew my talent and even though I was playing a couple of levels below (the AFL) I thought I am just going to try and push and play the highest level I can and if that does get me to the AFL, fantastic. But if it doesn’t, I know I tried my best and I am playing at the highest level I can so I would be happy then.”
Tsitas was in direct competition with former top-10 draft pick Nathan Freeman for the final spot at the Suns and said it was difficult working alongside the player who could cost him his dream.
“It is a tough situation for both of us, I actually really like him as a bloke but it was hard for us because we were competing for the one spot,” Tsitas said.
“I think he is a fantastic guy and we actually get along but it is hard to form a relationship because the stakes are so high. I wish him all the best and hope he does get on an AFL list.”
DETERMINED TSITAS FINALLY GETS HIS CHANCE
A determined midfielder who simply wouldn’t take no for an answer, a decade of hard work has paid off for Grovedale’s James Tsitas, who has been signed by the Gold Coast Suns.
A former Geelong VFL captain and Magarey medallist with SANFL club Woodville-West Torrens, Tsitas did everything asked of him over the past 10 years, after he was first overlooked at the 2013 AFL Draft.
The Suns announced his signing officially on Monday but the hard nut told his mother Barbara Kearney on Sunday night he had been given the chance to live his dream.
“You know you always think it will happen and then when it does it is so surreal, I just couldn’t get my breath,” Kearney said of the phone call.
“If you looked up persistence, his picture would come up. It has been such a long journey but an enjoyable one.”
The hard-headed Tsitas kept pushing even when Geelong decided to cast him off after a successful VFL tenure.
After playing half of a GFL season back with Grovedale, Tsitas sat down with then incoming Tigers coach Daniel Fraser at the end of 2019 and confirmed he was going to keep chasing his dream.
The pathway led through Woodville-West Torrens – where he was a joint winner of the Magarey in 2021 and part of a premiership side – to earning a list spot with the Suns after being invited to train with the club last month.
“When I took over (as coach) I went and sat down with him and had lunch and asked where he was at, he was at a bit of a crossroads then because he had just finished up with Geelong,” Fraser said.
“I asked him what his plans were and he said he wanted to continue on and press on with his dream.
“He said to me from day one he wanted to play at the highest level he could, he would always return to Grovedale but he didn’t think (his dream) was quite finished.
“Full credit to the guy, a lot of people have told him ‘No he is not good enough’ and he just said ‘I am not going to accept that. I am going to keep going and give myself every opportunity’.
“I have probably never seen from the outside anyone want to prove so many people wrong and he finally did that today and full credit to the bloke, he deserves everything that comes his way.”
Tsitas is the latest in a string of recent players to reach the AFL from Burdoo Reserve, following the likes of Ryan Abbott (Geelong and St Kilda), Gryan Miers, Blake Schlensog, Mitch Knevitt and Cooper Whyte (all Geelong) to be picked up since 2016.
“We have always been pretty strong on pushing them through if they are good enough and (the recent draftees) is a good thing for the club, it shows the way for the juniors,” Tigers president Michael Schulze said.
While training with Gold Coast and contending with former top-10 draft pick Nathan Freeman for the final spot on the Suns’ list, Tsitas kept plugging away with his own personal training business.
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