Master Geelong recruiter Stephen Wells can't dodge the plaudits

STEPHEN Wells loves his family, the Geelong Football Club, quick, clever footballers, golf and the city of Geelong.

Meet Stephen Wells, Geelong's chief recruiter.

STEPHEN Wells loves, in no particular order, his family, the Geelong Football Club, quick, clever footballers, golf (handicap of seven) and the city of Geelong.

He hates only one thing: any suggestion the Cats should erect a statue in his honour when he finally walks away.

Yet when your recruiting feats over two decades are extraordinary, publicity and plaudits are hard to dodge.

Wells, who this week notches his 20th draft in charge at Geelong, is the kind of no-nonsense, elite football staffer the Cats churn out with monotony.

Without fanfare, the 54-year-old has peeled off one blinding draft selection after another, despite Geelong having the fewest top-10 picks in the competition in the past decade.

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Wells does it all. He puts together packages of elite talent such as in 1999 (Joel Corey, Paul Chapman, Cameron Ling and Corey Enright) and 2001 (Jimmy Bartel, James Kelly, Steve Johnson and Gary Ablett).

He nails early picks, despite never having had a selection higher than seven. The list includes Joel Selwood (No.7), ­Andrew Mackie (7), Travis ­Varcoe (15) and Corey (8).

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And, with the help of the Cats' football department, he plucks miracle selections from nowhere, including Shane Mumford, ­Matthew Egan, James Podsiadly and Mark Blicavs.

Plenty of rivals, coaches and players laud his recruiting genius.

"Everyone thinks he's just a nice guy, but he's highly competitive,'' dual Cats premiership coach Mark Thompson said.

"He is just very thorough, very tenacious and puts in the work - and that's why he gets the results. We worked well ­together. He needed me as much as I needed him. I needed the good players, but he needed me to make them as players.

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"1999 and 2001 were just incredible results. He proves you can do it. Early picks are great, but it doesn't mean you can't do it from the back of the draft."

Ling, a famously chubby full-forward from St Joseph's who became one of the AFL's great leaders after being taken at pick 38, agrees.

News_Image_File: Cameron Ling on the run

"He is one of the nicest guys you will ever meet in the world and one of the most caring and thoughtful, but he is also one of the most competitive,'' Ling said.

"He just loves Geelong - the city and the football club. He's a Geelong person. Everyone who meets him loves him."

Even rivals such as Gold Coast's Scott Clayton are quick to sing his praises.

"Look, he is just such a high-quality man,'' he said. "In this ­industry it's no holds barred. You argue and debate and compete like hell, especially around trade time, but his word is his word, and he is a great football person.

"Geelong are the complete package. They take some risks, but they back their program down there. He brings in good people and he knows the market, and everyone that goes to Geelong ends up being a better player.''

A quality but self-confessed "slow" footballer with Geelong West under coach Billy Goggin, he played for West Adelaide and on the Gold Coast before finishing football at 23 to concentrate on recruiting.

He holds the Geelong Cricket Association record of 237 games, playing for Newtown and Chilwell, and is a regular golfer off his single-figure handicap with Geelong players at Barwon Heads course Thirteenth Beach.

Geelong recruiter Bill McMaster groomed Wells and effectively handed responsibility to him in 1994 before stepping aside for the 1995 season.

He said Wells' sporting ability had helped his recruiting.

"He has a sporting brain,'' McMaster said.

"He has a very singular way of picking players. He doesn't take everyone else's opinion, and he has a mind of his own. He sees things about players that other recruiters think are good and Wellsy says, 'That's not for us'. And it generally turns out right.''

Wells' team is small but trusted, and includes John Peake (who went to St Kilda but quickly returned), Michael McMahon, part-timer and former schoolteacher Peter Casey, and a string of trusted talent-spotters across the country.

He is big on statistics and watching vision of individual highlights, as well as attending up to five games a weekend.

One of Thompson's favourites is Max Rooke, who never played in the elite system and had a father in Casterton who sent every AFL recruiter a letter pleading his son's case.

Wells did the homework and landed was rewarded with a pit bull of a footballer.

Ling loves the story of Harry Taylor, who was recruited as a 21-year-old from the WAFL only weeks after All-Australian defender Egan had his career destroyed by a foot injury.

Taylor was taken at pick 17, with other clubs never having heard of a player who would go on to dominate Grand Finals.

News_Image_File: Harry Taylor tackled by Cyril Rioli.

"He has got us some absolute champions,'' Ling said.

So why hasn't another club poached him - especially in a culture in which former coach Terry Wallace says list managers should be paid as much as senior coaches?

Many rivals have tried in his 29 years at Geelong.

"I grew up across the road and loved the club before I got here,'' Wells said.

"The club has been so good to me that I have never had any reason to go anywhere else."

Ling, who might never have been drafted if Wells hadn't witnessed one of his rare games in the midfield - a day he picked up 38 possessions - spoke of that loyalty.

"I would be surprised if they hadn't (tried to poach him)," he said. "But he loves the place and has the club's best interests at heart. It's not about furthering his career or boosting his ego.

"That's why he hates people pumping him up. The great thing about him is he is just someone doing his job as best as he can for the footy club.

"It makes him a pretty special person to have around.''

THE BEST SELECTIONS OF GEELONG RECRUITER STEPHEN WELLS

(Chosen by Jon Ralph)

1. Corey Enright. No.47 in 1999 national draft.

A steal given he has three premiership medals and five All-Australian nominations. From South Australian town Kimba, few clubs knew of him but Wells did.

News_Image_File: Corey Enright marks.

2. Darren Milburn. No.48 in 1995 national draft

This was Wells' first official draft in charge, and he took the 292-gamer, Steven King and, at pick 75, Clint Bizzell. Bargains.

3. Cameron Ling. Pick 38 in 1999 national draft

Ling was a full-forward who spent his last TAC Cup year playing different positions to boost his draft value. Became a triple premiership player and premiership captain.

4. Harry Taylor. Pick 17 in 2007 national draft

Others would have taken the East Fremantle defender, but Wells knew he could flourish. Took him when the Cats desperately needed a key defender.

5. Max Rooke. Rookie elevation 2002

The Casterton kid's dad wrote a letter to every recruiter. Only Wells followed up. His chase-down 2009 Grand Final tackle on Raphael Clarke typified his bull-at-a-gate spirit.

News_Image_File: Max Rooke

6. Paul Chapman. Pick 31 in 1999 national draft

You could swap this selection for fellow Norm Smith medallist Steve Johnson, taken at pick 24 in 2001. Chapman's brother had died recently but Wells knew he was mentally tough enough to be a star.

7. Andrew Mackie. Pick 7 in 2002 national draft

Mackie played lots of schoolboy footy at Adelaide's Sacred Heart, and some scoffed when he went at No.7. But he has risen to great heights.

8. Mathew Stokes. Pick 61 in 2005 national draft

The gun junior from Darwin's Palmerston footy club was unlucky not be drafted in 2002, but Wells kept monitoring him. After a super year in the SANFL in 2005, he swooped with a late pick.

9. Stephen Motlop. Pick 39 in 2008 national draft

Freakish skills, top-line pace. Didn't have the physicality but Wells could afford to take a risk there, confident of Geelong's culture

10. Matthew Egan. Pick 62 in 2004 national draft

The former tennis player came from suburban footy and played VFL for the Cats. Wells selected him but the VFL side was critical to his development.