Every second counts
Our Queensland draftees had no time to sit back, kick their feet up, and enjoy their good news over the last week; it was straight to business. As soon as Corey Wagner landed in Melbourne he was pretty much back at the airport, this time on the way to Utah for the Kangaroo’s training camp (it’s a little bit colder over there than Queensland), Mabior Chol was straight on the track alongside Ivan Maric at Punt Road, moulding his ruck work off one of the best in the business, and Josh Smith pretty much ran straight off the plane to the starting line of Collingwood’s 2k time trial (which he finished third in for the record after bolting off at the start). Every second is important in an AFL Club, but our boys have hit the ground running.
Ivan Maric and Mabior Chol (Picture: Richmond FC)
The hard questions
Members of the Queensland Youth Girls Academy members and their parents were given the opportunity to hear about the progress of the proposed AFL Women’s comptition from the AFL’s Head of Female Football, Josh Vanderloo, and AFL Queensland CEO Dean Warren on Monday night. After a bit of a Q&A session, there were a lot of smiling faces in the room, with players genuinely excited about the opportunity in front of them. It’s all starting to become very real. After all, a few of the youth girls will be the face of that competition.
I’m coming home
The Wynnum Vikings have welcomed back Michael O’Keefe with open arms, this time as their standalone senior coach. O’Keefe, known around the traps as ‘Micky O’, originally landed at the Vikings as a player, before stints as an assistant coach and joint senior coach in 2011 and 2012. After three years with Morningside in the coach’s box, O’Keefe has returned to lead the Vikings into battle.
Pre-season cup
The advent calendar now eight days in. There might be a pretty big event on the 25th of December, but that’s not what I’m talking about. It means that the Alpha Sport Pre-Season Cup is just around the corner. Nominations are in, the fixture is being drawn up and the top-notch prize pool is set, so it’s time to start getting serious about footy again. Keep an eye out for all the details in the coming weeks.
The NEAFL just got quicker
Queensland State Academy member Nick Weller could consider himself unlucky not to be AFL bound this year, but it certainly hasn’t disheartened him. Weller, an lightning quick midfield/half-forward, who has only been playing the game for a handful of years, has put his head down, bum up, and got to work at Redland in the last couple of weeks. He looks primed to ready to light up the NEAFL in 2016. I reckon there will be a few blokes running around next year who will get a good look at his heel when he has the footy in hand, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the NEAFL Rising Star award is sitting in his cabinet in 12 months time.
By Andrew Wiles
Follow @andrewjwiles
