How Eagle Harry Schoenberg rose from the wilderness to top AFL draft prospect
From unwanted to MVP, Woodville-West Torrens youngster Harry Schoenberg now looms as a blue-chip AFL Draft prospect.
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A player who didn’t even make South Australia’s initial under-18 squad looms as a blue-chip AFL draft prospect, according to those who know him best.
Woodville-West Torrens midfielder Harry Schoenberg, who had every reason to have a chip on his shoulder when he was not selected in last November’s state training hub, has impressed his teammates so much this year that they believe he should be one of the first Croweaters picked at the draft.
“(Norwood’s) Dylan Stephens should be the first SANFL player taken but the (next) one I’d take is Harry Schoenberg,’’ said SA under-18 teammate and first-round contender Cam Taheny.
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“He wasn’t in the initial 30 for the SA hub but he worked his backside off, played some good footy, worked his way into the under-18 trial squad, made the championships side and then won our MVP.
“From where he’s come from to put himself in a position where he could go high in the draft is a great story.
“He would have been quite disappointed initially and it (his non-selection) came as a bit of a shock to most of us, and the way he responded in such an elite way has now left him in a very good position to be drafted.
“I have just loved watching the way he has gone about things on and off the field.’’
The sheep farmer’s son from Marrabel in the state’s Mid North, 18-year-old Schoenberg came from the clouds to be named SA’s MVP at the national championships.
He was one of four South Australians to earn All-Australian selection, alongside Stephens, Glenelg’s Will Gould and Eagles teammate Jackson Mead, who has been nominated by Port Adelaide as a father-son player.
Compared to former St Kilda and now Geelong midfielder Jack Steven because of his ability to win contested ball and burst out of stoppages, Schoenberg averaged 27 disposals in four games at the championships – second only to West Australian ball magnet Deven Robertson.
“It was a pretty big shock for me,’’ Schoenberg said of his MVP award.
“It wasn’t something I was going into the carnival to win or get All-Australian selection but I am really proud.’’
SANFL talent manager Brenton Phillips said Schoenberg’s ability to work up and down the ground was as good as he had seen from a teenager.
Schoenberg, 182cm and 83kg, said not being picked in SA’s initial hub had spurred him on to greater heights.
“In a way it was probably good because all my footy career I have had it pretty easy, so it gave me a kick in the behind, so I did some extra work,” he said,
“I got picked back into the second hub and from there I kept training hard and playing good footy and the rest took care of itself.”
Originally published as How Eagle Harry Schoenberg rose from the wilderness to top AFL draft prospect