Above: Dandenong Stingrays graduate Jarrad Grant, far left, accompanies fellow top draftees on a stroll at Telstra Dome.By Paul Pickering
THE childhood dreams of four Dandenong Stingrays became reality on Saturday morning, when the fledgling footballers heard their numbers called in the AFL National Draft.
Towering teens Jarrad Grant (pick five) and Jarrad Boumann (48) will join 2006 Stingrays graduate Andrejs Everitt at the Western Oval, hoping to form the strong-marking forward partnership the Bulldogs have long coveted.
Meanwhile, 188cm midfielder/forward John McCarthy will head to Collingwood’s Lexus Centre and imposing key-forward Scott Simpson will join the reigning premier Geelong.
Grant, who attended the draft at the AFL’s Telstra Dome headquarters with his mum Caroline and sister Brydie, said he was delighted to be joining his best mate Everitt at the Bulldogs.
“Having someone you know there helps a lot. He’s passed on some information about what goes on and how it all works,” Grant said.
The 192cm Frankston forward, who averaged the most contested marks in the TAC Cup this year, said the pre-draft hype about his selection was nothing more than an amusing prelude to Saturday’s event.
“Most of my mates would send me texties early in the morning saying that I was in the paper again, but I didn’t take too much notice,” he said on Monday.
Despite carrying the key position hopes of many Bulldog fans, Grant says he is keen to dismiss the expectations and concentrate on the things he can control.
Boumann, who cuts a striking figure at 196cm and 89kg, listened to the draft on the radio at home in Narre Warren South.
His father Craig reflected on the anxious wait that preceded the Bulldogs’ third-round selection.
“We sat at home and listened to it on the radio,” he said.
“Sitting there waiting for his number to come up, it was like winning Tattslotto.
“It had his mother in tears, just the jubilation and relief that all the hard work wasn’t put to waste.”
Boumann’s selection was also a satisfying moment for his under 18 coach Rik Crook, who tuned in to the draft broadcast from work on Saturday morning.
“He always had the potential,” Crook said of the gifted youngster, who played centre half-forward in the Eagles’ 2006 flag-winning team.
“Because he’s so tall, it was just a matter of maturing, and he’s done it pretty well.
“He’s always had the gears to take the game by the scruff of the neck.”
For Boumann, draft day was an emotional cocktail of relief and excitement.
“It was a bit of both I suppose, but more excitement – once my name got read out – to just get stuck into it,” he said.
While Boumann supported St Kilda as a kid, he admitted to being a little star-struck with some of the senior Bulldogs during Monday’s first training session.
“It was a bit intimidating, but it seems like a good environment with good people,” he said.
Stingrays regional manager Darren Flanigan was eager to congratulate Dandenong’s bumper crop of youngsters, but admitted to being slightly surprised that bottom-age talent Steven Gaertner was overlooked.
Flanigan, however, had little doubt that Gaertner’s stocks would rise with another solid season at Shepley Oval.
