New West Coast recruit Dom Sheed says he is one of the lucky ones who was picked up by the team he barracked for at the AFL's National Draft.
His new teammate Malcolm Karpany supported Port Adelaide until a week ago when the Eagles added him to their list.
The pair were introduced to their new teammates this morning.
Sheed, 18, won the Larke Medal as the best player of the under-18 championship playing for WA. The left-footer from Subiaco was snapped up by the Eagles with their first pick of the Draft, number 11 overall.
At one stage he was being touted as a possible top 10 pick, but a foot injury may have caused his slip down the pecking order.
Neither he, nor the Eagles, who gave up their number six pick to snare Brisbane's Elliot Yeo, are complaining.
Coach Adam Simpson will be hoping he can slot in to the midfield. Although Sheed admits that he isn't the quickest player going around, he has no doubts he can eventually get to the top level and is surrounding himself with the right people to allow that to happen.
"I was lucky enough to go out for dinner with him [Simpson] on Draft night because he was over there," Sheed said.
"I had a bit of a chat with him, he said I would probably start with the midfield group and go from there.
"Look, I'm obviously not the quickest bloke, but I like to make up for it in other areas.
"Everyone has to work on something and I have my things to work on as well - obviously my speed and I have to work on my endurance as well.
"Yeah, I kind of just want to follow Matt Priddis and a few of those blokes around and do what they do and put my best foot forward."
Karpany is also a left-footer and was taken and was taken from Woodville-West Torrens in the SANFL with the Eagles second pick, number 31 overall.
He's another midfielder, who doesn't mind going into attack either. His 29 touches, nine marks, two goals and seven inside-50s in the SANFL under-18s Grand Final winning team earned him the Alan Stewart Medal as the best player on the ground.
If he gets anywhere near the heights of the player he admired as a kid, the Eagles may have got a Draft gem.
"Wanganeen, Gav, he was a good player and a role model," Karpany was quick to reply when asked about who inspired him.
He sees himself hopefully playing a similar type of role for the Eagles as Wanganeen did, particularly while at Port.
"Small forward, on the wing, [where there is] a lot of space to run," he said. "Hopefully I can fill that spot – there were a lot of retirees this season – we'll see what happens.
"Obviously it's gonna be a lot harder with Western Australia so far away from South Australia. But it's a good step to learn to be more independent, I guess."
The Eagles left for Broome on Monday for a four-day training camp.
No comments:
Post a Comment