By Peter Ryan
After meals throughout winter, top-10 draft prospect Aaron Cadman would sometimes look at the protein smoothie in front of him and think he had no room left for it.
Banana was his favourite flavour, but even that was not enough to get him excited about the prospect of drinking.
Aaron Cadman at the AFL draft combine on Friday.Credit: Getty Images
However, as his frame began to grow, and he was able to hold his ground in one-on-one battles up forward for the Greater Western Victoria Rebels and Vic Country, the effort seemed worthwhile.
“At times I don’t want to eat, I don’t want to get that smoothie down, but you realise it’s all for the bigger picture, and it’s the preparation you need to do,” Cadman said. “I feel like it has paid off.”
As an important first step towards making his way onto an AFL list, the combination of hard work in the gym and eating has had an effect as he put on 10-15 kilograms in building a frame that would not look out of place in senior football, something he experienced alongside his older twin brothers with Darley football club.
Cadman, 18, is certain to be drafted and could be the first player picked after making the All-Australian under-18 team and being best and fairest at GWV Rebels. North Melbourne and Greater Western Sydney are interested, but all clubs are impressed.
Aaron Cadman is regarded as the best key-forward prospect in the draft.Credit: Jason South
He is rated the best key-forward prospect in the draft and comparisons with Geelong star Jeremy Cameron have been foisted upon him early. He, at least, uses his left foot to kick.
“It’s a privilege to be compared to those guys, but at the end of the day I am my own player and I can always steal bits and parts of their game and I can add to what I do,” Cadman said.
“There is a bit of expectation ... let my footy do the talking really. I try to keep it out of my head and keep the pressure down.”
He admits, however, that he loves the way Cameron plays as a mobile forward, willing to help out wherever he is needed.
“[I enjoy] the way he works up and down the ground, and he can affect the game up the ground as well as deep in the forward line,” Cadman said.
Cadman is not afraid of hard work either on or off the ground, pushing his opponent to stay with him, while working as an apprentice electrician during the week in his dad’s business, staying grounded and aware of the real world.
He hopes to play a couple of games in his first season, regardless of who drafts him, but knows that is not to be taken for granted. Chats with Port Adelaide’s Zak Butters, who played at Darley and is friends with his brothers, has made him aware that the real work starts when he joins a club.
This weekend he is joining the 67 other budding AFL players attending the AFL draft combine at Marvel Stadium ahead of the national draft, where AFL recruiters expect about 50 players to be added.
Cadman is certain to be one of those players, but he wants to put his best foot forward at the camp to prove to himself, as much as anyone, what he is capable of achieving.
“The two-kilometre [time trial] will be a tough one,” Cadman said.
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