Rhys Stanley had to do some toughening up at Berri but it put him on the road to an AFL grand final
Rhys Stanley had some toughening up to do as a 17-year-old ruckman playing country footy but it prepared him for a long and winding road to Saturday’s AFL Grand Final for Geelong.
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It was 3am in Melbourne when Rhys Stanley’s manager eventually made contact with the young ruckman in America to present him with the most important decision he would need to make in his career.
Stanley was in the US on an end-of-season trip after playing 19 games with St Kilda in 2014, the most of his five seasons at the Saints, and with a year left to run on his contract he wasn’t planning on going anywhere.
But when the Cats came knocking somewhat unexpectedly in the trade period, they needed an answer that Rous wasn’t able to give them.
This was before WhatsApp was commonplace on phones and Stanley didn’t have a US sim card with him so Rous sent him a message on Facebook and just had to hope he would check it.
Fortunately he did and so Rous sat on his couch at 3am to ask Stanley whether he wanted to move to Geelong.
“That year there was a quick conversation mid-season from Geelong to ask about Rhys, but nothing more was said until the middle of the trade period,” Rous said.
“Rhys was in America and had nothing on his mind other than coming back to keep working as a forward at St Kilda because he hadn’t played a lot of ruck.
“He’d had one year under Alan Richardson and they traded out Ben McEvoy the year before so had a tendency to trade some guys out with value and the change of environment where Geelong was contending (for a flag) and he could get the best out of himself was compelling.
“They (Geelong) spoke about where they saw his football going and at St Kilda he was very much playing deep forward which had its challenges.”
A Skype session was then hastily arranged with Cats coach Chris Scott and both parties agreed to pursue a trade which would eventually see Stanley and Pick 60 go to Geelong in exchange for Pick 21.
Six years and 75 games later, Stanley has finally cemented himself as Geelong’s No.1 ruckman and is one game away from a premiership as he prepares to play in Saturday’s grand final against Richmond.
“I really respect what he’s done throughout the whole journey and it has been that, but in the midst of it all he’s played some outstanding footy and his best is very, very good and he’s matched it with the best. His spread worries some of the AFL’s best ruckmen,” Rous said.
Much of what Geelong fans are seeing from Stanley in the ruck now wasn’t forged at St Kilda or even his SANFL club West Adelaide but at Berri in South Australia’s Riverland.
Peter Safralidis was 24 when he first played with Stanley at the Berri Demons and is still playing at 37.
“My wife taught him so I knew him for a couple of years before we played footy together,” Safralidis said this week.
“He came into our side in 2007 and was a tall, young, athletic kid with lots of potential and he spent a fair bit of time in the ruck for us that year but it’s fair to say he received a bit of toughening up.
“We had a pretty hardcore coach who knew a bit about the AFL system and he just rode Rhys really hard.
“Every time Rhys had a little injury or a sore back the coach said ‘well that’s nice, you’re going out there to ruck again’, the coach was an ex-ruckman so he knew a fair bit about the craft and positioning and really pushed him through the pain barrier to get fitter and stronger.
“It was good for him in the end, he had a pretty good year and finished top five in our best-and-fairest and then went to Westies the next year.”
Now 29, Stanley is still a country boy at heart. Married to Kirsten they have two children, Jagger and Sloane, and have bought a farm outside of Geelong as part of the plan for life after football.
“He’s an amazing dad to young Jagger and Sloane but there is no doubt that his wife Kirsten has played a huge part in his career,” Rous said.
“Her support has been enormous and I’ve seen huge growth in Rhys since they met. She gave birth to Sloane in June and weeks later she’s flying across to Perth and then into the hub in Queensland and just gets on with it.”
WEST Adelaide initially wanted Stanley to move to the city from Berri in 2007 after coach Andy Collins spotted him at a country training session.
“We tried to get Rhys to the football club as a 17-year-old and I remember going to the Riverland and taking a session of the junior footballers,” Collins said.
“You can imagine how excited I was as a coach to see him running around.
“I wanted him to come down straight away and finish his schooling, he was a pretty good sportsman and not just in football, but his family and coach at the time thought it was best he stay there for another 12 months.
“So when he finally came down, and so did his sister who was a really good netballer and went to Henley (High School), Rhys ended up playing a couple of senior games and in particular one game against Woodville-West Torrens we played him at full forward and he just jumped on heads, I’ve still got those highlights.
“If anything he was such a nice young man, he had to realise that he was 200cm for a period. He’s such a good athlete that he could probably have played most positions on the field but because he was 200cm he was asked to play big.
“It was not so much the mongrel side but the technical side of the physical part of the game.
“I reckon St Kilda got him pretty cheap (Pick 47 in 2008), John Beveridge liked the clips I sent through, and that was the start of his journey.”
Stanley’s journey to this Saturday’s AFL Grand Final has been far from smooth. He didn’t play a senior game in his first season in 2009 but showed off his athleticism by winning the grand final sprint at the MCG, and after his first three seasons he’d still only managed nine games at AFL level.
But he strung together 12 games in 2012, 18 in 2013 and 19 in 2014 as the Saints continued to experiment with him as primarily a forward who could ruck, not the other way around as Geelong would see it.
Those early years, being made to earn his stripes even at Geelong, and dealing with injuries and criticism have all built Stanley’s resilience and a willingness to help other young players at the Cats.
“He grew up a little bit in that era at St Kilda where there was a small divide between older and younger guys and he’s taken that on board as he’s getting to the later stages of his own career, giving a lot to the younger guys and always willing to help,” Rous said.
Collins said it was no surprise that Stanley had produced his best footy as a ruckman.
“I think people didn’t know if he was going to be a key forward in the mould of right now a (Tom) Lynch would be a comparison (at Richmond), or a ruckman,” Collins said.
“He was so good on a lead and a good mark, so athletic with his speed, and I don’t think he realised which one he was.
“It’s very clear now that he’s become one of the best ruckmen in the league.
“He’s a wonderful kid, he’s got great family values and he’s a really nice person. Everyone talks about his athleticism but he’s really matured as a footballer and he’s understanding what he’s physically capable of.”
Stanley was overlooked for Geelong’s team in Round 1 this year as they went with Darcy Fort and Esava Ratugolea instead.
But he returned in Round 2 and has only missed because of knee and groin injuries, rucking with help from Mark Blicavs while averaging a goal a game (10 goals from 10 games).
Some of his better performances in recent years have come in finals including last year when he was left out for the qualifying final loss to Collingwood then returned for the semi and preliminary finals where he had 18 disposals and 24 hit-outs against Richmond’s Toby Nankervis and Ivan Soldo.
Now set for the biggest game of his 143-game career, he will have no shortage of support from those watching on televisions across the country.
“I don’t sort of support clubs, I support players,” Collins said.
“So (this weekend) I support Rhys and Patty Dangerfield who also played at West Adelaide, but of more recent times at Williamstown our poster child is Kane Lambert.
“I really wish the best for Patty and Rhys and Kane and I know one of them will be really happy.”
The boys at Berri will also be watching closely.
“I’ve got no love for either team, says Safralidis who is a Crows supporter.
“But we’ll barrack for the Cats so we can say Rhys has won a flag and there’s a Berri boy on the big stage.
“I keep an eye on Rhys and Kaiden Brand who is also from Berri and at Sydney now, and it’s funny when those guys play against the Crows I really don’t know who to go for so we’ll be going for the Cats on Saturday.”
