Tweet
WHEN Brett Goodes makes his debut on Saturday night, the football world will wonder at this most unlikely feel-good story.
A 29-year-old brother of an AFL superstar plucked from his job as a Bulldogs welfare manager to lock down a spot in defence for the club.
They would make movies about in America: in fact, they have - think Blindside, or Mark Wahlberg as Philadelphia Eagle Vince Papale in Invincible.
Little-known details of his belated elevation to the big time reveal the Goodes story loses little in the comparison.
Goodes survived battles against established players Matthew Bate and Brent Prismall, the club's hesitancy in taking a 29-year-old while in a rebuilding phase, and a nerve-racking AFL draft in which he watched on knowing precisely who was ahead of him in the Dogs' estimation.
He sat at home knowing if Josh Prudden was not taken by the Dogs at pick No.50 they would snare the Murray Bushrangers midfielder at pick 71. There would be no room for a rookie pick for Goodes.
Even if things turned out, Goodes would be taking a pay cut from his club role and VFL wages, down to the minimum rookie wage of $49,200, plus match payments.
He would become a listed AFL player only at December's rookie draft, with the seed of a dream sown just weeks earlier, not in Footscray, but London.
Bulldogs coach Brendan McCartney knocked Goodes off his metaphorical feet after the club's exhibition game against Port Adelaide.
"Have you maybe thought about having a run around with us?'' he asked.
Back in Melbourne, the coach pulled list manager Jason McCartney aside and let him in on the secret.
Ex-Kangaroo star McCartney takes up the tale.
"Pretty much on the first day back Macca grabbed me and had a quiet word about what he had said to Goodesy over there,'' McCartney says.
"He was so well respected by the players, and we know he could also play the game. Macca said, 'I will get you to train', and he just blossomed.
"We didn't know how he would hold up, but from day dot he started running with the midfield group, and we found out he had really good endurance.
"He is tough and competitive and a great kick of the footy. I had watched him a lot during the year watching our young guys play at Willy, but to be honest I thought he was just good for that level.
"But he has dropped 5kg (others say 8kg) and what played into our hands was our list profile.''
Eight of the 10 players brought in during the 2011 draft period were kids, and another five selections from the 2012 national draft were babies.
There were still the established challengers, including Melbourne's Bate and Essendon's Prismall.
One by one Bate and Prismall tested themselves at Whitten Oval, both seasoned players, and younger.
"Matty Bate trained with us, and then Pris came, having knocked back a deal with Port Adelaide, so they were quality characters and great footballers,'' McCartney says.
"But the longer Brett trained, the stronger he got. He beat all comers. The other guys trained well, but he just shone out.''
Goodes might have felt he had done enough, but then another roadblock - aggressive midfielder Ed Lower decided against taking Fremantle's one-year deal.
Lower joined the Dogs as a free agent, and there was one fewer spot available for Goodes.
The Bulldogs had 50 players on their draft wishlist. If any one of them was still available at pick No.71, Goodes was back to the VFL.
"I remember ringing him from the Gold Coast on the night of the draft and talking him through the possible scenarios,'' says McCartney.
"He had a couple of names he wrote down and he knew if he heard them early and not late, he was still in the frame.''
Prudden was there at pick 50 and the Bulldogs pounced, Goodes breathed a sigh of relief back home on the couch in Melbourne, and weeks later - after the Herald Sun broke news of the impending coup - he was officially a Western Bulldog.
"We threw absolutely everything at him,'' McCartney says.
"Sometimes you feel like a hard bastard, because it's like coaching your son. Maybe you go harder on them, because you don't want to give them favours, but he has come through with flying colours.
"All the way through we kept him across the scenarios, including the financial situation, but he had followed this dream for so long.
"He wasn't going to give up.''
Link
Comment