Local AFL draft hopefuls Andrew McInnes (above) and Arryn Siposs (left) will endure a nervous wait to have their names called next Thursday. Pictures: Stewart Chambers
By Paul Pickering
FORMER Devon Meadows junior Andrew McInnes and Hallam Senior College student Arryn Siposs are among a strong contingent of Dandenong TAC Cup graduates set to figure in next week’s AFL national draft.
The Stingrays program will almost certainly frank its reputation as one of the country’s finest footy factories when the draft selection meeting takes place at the Gold Coast Convention Centre next Thursday.
Towering forward Tom Lynch (Sorrento) – a likely top-10 selection – is among an elite group of nominees invited to attend the draft, while Stingrays co-captains Luke Parker (Langwarrin) and Mitch Hallahan (Sorrento) have also been touted as first-round prospects.
A handful of their team-mates – including draft camp attendees McInnes, Siposs (Beaconsfield) and Jake Batchelor (Frankston Bombers) – will also endure a nervous morning in front of TVs and computers as they wait for their names to be announced. Stingrays region manager Darren Flanigan believes there’s a realistic chance that the 2010 crop could break the club record for most players recruited onto an AFL list.
The Rays have had six draftees on three occasions, most recently in 2000, and could be looking at a similar figure being either drafted or rookie-listed this year.
Two players, Adam Treloar and Dylan Shiel, have already been signed by Greater Western Sydney under the new club’s list concessions and Todd Elton may join them as early as this week.
“You’d like to think that the six that went to the draft camp would be reasonably certain of getting on a list, whether it’s a main list or rookie list,” Flanigan said.
“So if we get those six, plus the three that go to GWS, that’s a club record in itself.”
Lynch is almost certain to be the first Stingray called next week, having been widely rated as the second best key-position prospect – behind Gold Coast-bound South Australian Sam Day – in the draft pool.
McInnes, a TAC Cup Team of the Year defender who played in Vic Country’s triumphant National Under-18 Championships campaign, looks to be a second or third-round prospect.
Siposs has made a meteoric rise, having played his footy for Beaconsfield in the Dandenong and District Junior Football League last year, before emerging as a mobile, strong-marking forward at TAC Cup level this year.
He’ll be hoping to join fellow Hallam Senior College AFL program graduates Ryan Bastinac, Tom Gillies and Shane Savage on the big-league books.
That would represent a great achievement for the specialised program, which also nurtured former Stingray Dylan Roberton, who has made a promising start to his AFL career at Fremantle.
