Derek Eggmolesse-Smith on his journey from country footy to the MCG with Richmond
Derek Eggmolesse-Smith has grabbed his AFL opportunity with both hands, leading Richmond for disposals last week against North Melbourne – and his impressive outing didn’t go unnoticed by coach Damien Hardwick.
Richmond
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Maybe it was never being invited to try out for state teams as a kid, or being cut by the Bendigo Pioneers’ TAC Cup squad in pre-season two years in a row.
Maybe it was moving to Melbourne to train with Richmond’s VFL team, then travelling 550km back home to play country footy with Wentworth each week when he missed out on selection.
And when the travel got too much he played amateurs with the Fitzroy Stars.
Or maybe it was in 2016 when Richmond nominated him as a Next Generation Academy prospect and overlooked him in the draft, before finally adding him to their list as Category B rookie a year later.
Whatever it was, something was always driving Derek Eggmolesse-Smith to prove that he could make it.
“He had a lot of kicks in the arse, as far as not getting into squads and so forth,” his former senior coach at Wentworth, Jason Bell, said.
“But he worked his bum off, he was fit, a beautiful ball user and probably tried to do too much at times but he could get away with it because he was exceptional.”
Eggmolesse-Smith – ‘Eggy’ or ‘Dekker D’ as his teammates call him – has done it the hard way to get an AFL game with Richmond, but that’s what makes him appreciate it so much more.
“It’s a good opportunity they’ve given me now, it’s been a long road but an exciting one as well,” he said.
“I hope there’s a big future ahead for myself and my family.
“Damien (Hardwick) has been great, getting around me and asking me to get more of the ball and make good decisions for the team, play to my strengths – which is run and carry and take the game on.
“Ever since I’ve been at the club he’s been telling me to use that left foot and that’s what I try to do.”
Eggmolesse-Smith played all his junior footy at Wentworth, a tiny town neighbouring Mildura on the NSW side of the Murray River.
His under-16 team in 2014 also included Jarrod Brander who is now at West Coast, and Kobe Mutch who is at Essendon, and his coach Jason Wilkie describes him as “always smiling but very shy”.
“But when he played footy he was a completely different person,” Wilkie said.
“He had confidence, he held the ball longer, normally if you’re a shy kid you just get the ball and give it to someone, you don’t want to make a mistake.
“He had the confidence and prowess, and at times he’d run between two and three people they’d be so mesmerised they’d be running alongside him unable to tackle him.
“One day as a 17-year-old playing senior footy he got the ball on the back flank and started running, he ran around in an arc, went to centre-half-back and kept bouncing all the way through the centre and kicked it to full forward.
“He would have ran 150 metres and no-one could touch him.”
His mother, on the Eggmolesse side, is a South Sea Islander from northern Queensland while his dad, Derek Snr, is Aboriginal and played footy at Wentworth, but had a rugby background and once tried out for the Brisbane Broncos.
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“He never told me much about his sporting career,” Eggmolesse-Smith said.
“But he’s pretty much one of the proudest blokes back home now and last year they (parents) came to my second game and brought some family members to the MCG which was pretty special.”
Eggmolesse-Smith made his senior debut with Wentworth as a 16-year-old in 2015 then won the McLeod Medal as the league’s best player in his first full season a year later.
He was overlooked for the Pioneers’ squad two years in a row, but got a call up to play three separate TAC Cup games.
“They didn’t tell me much about it, they just said I was playing some good footy and they wanted to give me a shot but it wasn’t a full season,” he said.
“I was a bit disappointed but at the same time I was having fun playing footy back home.”
Dale “Flea†Weightman presents Derek Eggmolesse-Smith with the No. 43 jumper - the same number he made his senior debut in 💛 pic.twitter.com/qpxDnBJ5wH
— Richmond FC ðŸ¯ðŸ† (@Richmond_FC) July 6, 2019
Wentworth used another of its famous exports in Ben McGlynn to motivate Eggmolesse-Smith to keep going.
McGlynn used to sleep on the couch at the home of Richie Vandenberg – another Wentworth favourite son – while trying to get a game at Box Hill before he was drafted by Hawthorn and later played with Sydney.
“Maybe only once I had to give him a bit of a pep up to keep working hard, but we’ve got Benny McGlynn as the perfect example for them to reflect on,” Bell said.
“We know Benny did it the hard way, came off a rookie list at Hawthorn and it’s a pretty easy sell for us when we talk to those boys.
“Just because you don’t make an under-18 list or an AFL list to start with doesn’t mean it’s all over, you just keep working and to Derek’s credit that’s exactly what he did.”
Going to school at Coomealla High in NSW, Eggmolesse-Smith was initially aligned to GWS’ Next Generation Academy but when he moved across the border to Mildura he became part of Richmond’s recruiting zone and the Tigers pounced.
They travelled to Mildura to watch him play twice and he moved to Melbourne where Richmond staffers Luke Murray and Todd Sigalas later took him under their wing.
“It’s a great result for the program and a source of pride for us all, but I’m just delighted for him, he’s worked so hard,” Sigalas said.
“But also for what it means to the other young kids in the programs and the role model he is because of his pathway.
“He has a very supportive family but he was (a long way away) in Mildura and opportunities have been less than metropolitan areas and that’s a reason the NGA programs are brought in, so kids from remote communities can get those and Derek is a good example of that.”
The 22-year-old made his AFL debut in Round 16 last year and has played the last two games of this season in Richmond’s quarantine hub, to replace Bachar Houli’s run off halfback.
“The night before they flew out to go into the hub I got a call from the recruiting manager saying ‘pack my bags’,” Eggmolesse-Smith said.
“I wasn’t initially coming to Queensland, I was staying home with my partner (Emily) but then I got the call.
“Everything worked out pretty well, she’s up here now and in quarantine in another hotel and gets out tomorrow and I’ve told her to go and see her family before she sees me because it’s a good opportunity for her being from Queensland.”
Last week he led Richmond’s stats sheet with 23 disposals in its win over North Melbourne, which coach Damien Hardwick said was encouraging.
“Derek’s got the ability to play the game, he can find the ball, use the ball really well, he’s just got to find his way in the AFL system,” Hardwick said.
“That’s a positive of us as a footy club, we embrace all those who can play, and we’re starting to see a little bit of that.
“He’s still got a long way to go, don’t get me wrong, but he’s showing some signs.”