From seemingly crushed draft dreams, Arie Schoenmaker set to make AFL debut

Less than seven months after conceding his AFL dreams had been dashed, Tasmania’s Arie Schoenmaker will debut for the Saints. JON RALPH finds out what makes his talent so unique.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – JUNE 08: Arie Schoenmaker of the Saints warms up prior to the round 13 AFL match between St Kilda Saints and Gold Coast Suns at Marvel Stadium on June 08, 2024 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Graham Denholm/Getty Images)

Arie Schoenmaker walked away with tears in his eyes late in last year’s national draft after conceding his AFL hopes had been dashed.

He had gathered together with a group of mates in the hopes a 10-week internal ban for drinking early in his draft year had not curtailed his dreams.

Less than seven months later he will make his AFL debut this week as Launceston coach Mitch Thorp labelled him a Grant Birchall clone given his thumping left foot.

St Kilda famously swooped in from nowhere to secure the draft slider with the third-last pick in the draft at selection 62.

It was Thorp who put him back in the draft race when the raw left-footer returned to Tasmanian State League level after that early-season Tasmania Devils Coates league ban.

On Thursday former Hawks No. 6 pick Thorp was ecstatic at Schoenmakers’ news, having often told the Tasmanian draft position means nothing after playing only two AFL games himself.

Schoenmaker will make his Saints debut this weekend. (Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Schoenmaker was picked in the draft as footy’s biggest draft slider, with list boss Steve Silvagni keen to hand him a footy lifeline.

Now Thorp says the world is his oyster even after a summer where he was told to train once a week with the Sandringham VFL team as he worked out how to belong in an AFL system.

He will debut against Brisbane as the fifth member of last year’s draft class for St Kilda.

“He is certainly a scallywag, that is the best way to describe him,” Thorp said on Thursday.

“In his early days he was pretty green and immature. He found his way out of the Devils with that ten-week ban and he certainly got the ‘short back and sides’ when he came back to Launceston. To his credit he put his head down and bum up and he became a good teammate because the senior guys helped him.

“He kicks the ball as well as I have seen a young bloke at training. He has done some things where you wonder how it is possible.

“As a comparison Grant Birchall is a good example. They are both Tassie boys and he’s someone I played footy with. Colby McKercher is another one as an elite left foot kick but Arie has that penetration. I saw stuff at training where he would kick 70-75 metre drop punts that not many are capable of. He is such a graceful kick.”

Schoenmaker slid down the draft order. (Photo by Kelly Defina/AFL Photos/via Getty Images )

Thorp said Schoenmaker had barely spoken to St Kilda in the lead-in to the draft, which is why he was so disconsolate before being taken with the third-last pick early in the 60s.

“We had been to the gym a few times and the club that was interested would change, but I don’t think he ever thought it would be St Kilda, to be fair. So on the night he thought it was all over. But it was Stephen Silvagni who really wanted him at St Kilda.

“I told him I was taken at pick 6 and I didn’t grab my chance. He was really open and vulnerable when he got the 10-week ban but we gave him clear direction on what we were looking for. He didn’t need to set the world on fire, he just needed to be a good contributor to the team. And he went far beyond that.”

Originally published as From seemingly crushed draft dreams, Arie Schoenmaker set to make AFL debut