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Footscray VFL ?running machine? Lachie Sullivan finally chasing down his AFL dream
The statistics suggest it, the coach confirms it.
Footscray VFL captain Lachie Sullivan is putting together the sort of season bound to attract the attention of AFL recruiters.
Almost the best player in the comp, one scout says. He seems to have found another gear this year.
The unassuming Sullivan will make no comment on the recruiter's first assertion but is happy to agree with the second: that he has taken his football to a higher level after a best and fairest-winning 2022.
His numbers bear it out. From 15 matches, he has averaged 30.2 disposals, 6.5 tackles and eight clearances.
He is sixth on the possession leaderboard behind Jacob Dawson, Callum Brown, Jean-Luc Velissaris, Tommy Gribble and Boyd Woodcock, ball hogs all.
I reckon my impact has been a lot greater this year," Sullivan, 25, says. I think I'm doing more with the footy, which is what you always want, and we're winning games too. I feel like I'm getting better every year, to be honest."
His supporters at his home club, St Kevin?s in the Victorian amateurs, agree.
When Footscray had a bye this year, Sullivan went back and played at Skobs for the first time since the 2019 grand final. He had 37 possessions.
He was best-on-ground by a country mile and then another two miles after that, St Kevin?s stalwart Nick Sweeney says with a laugh.
I think he had 27 contested possessions that day.
I've never seen anything like it in a long time at that level. And it?s a pretty serious level of football
Since returning as a reserves team in 2014, Footscray has had a string of players drafted, including Mitch Hannan, Will Hayes, Billy Gowers, Anthony Scott, Robbie McComb, Ryan Gardiner, Jordan Boyd and Ben Long.
Sullivan 100 per cent wants to follow them.
It was always a childhood dream to play at the highest level, he says. I definitely want to. Just have to keep playing well, I guess. I feel like I'm close
Much closer than in his first VFL stint.
That was at Port Melbourne, where he went after playing in the Oakleigh Chargers 2015 TAC Cup premiership.
Even Port supporters would struggle to recall him; he regularly missed selection for the reserves team in the Development League.
Sullivan admits he was unfit and unmotivated.
I was pretty cast, he says. I didn't really enjoy it, to be honest.
Lack of fitness. A bit of immaturity probably. I probably thought I was better than I was. Coming out of the APS and TAC Cup, you kind of think you're amazing. And then you realise you're not. I don't think I realised what it took to be a VFL footballer in terms of fitness and effort.
Sullivan went back to St Kevin's and was part of Shannon Grant's premiership team.
His performances prompted Stewart Edge, then an assistant with Footscray but now the head coach, to recruit him to the Doggies in 2018.
Sullivan battled to get a game in his first season. The VFL team had a group of established players and he had to wait in line and be prepared to play on every line.
It was tough to get a spot, he said. I played a lot of high half-forward and random spots on the ground.
But the selectors went with him regularly in the second half of 2019.
When the VFL resumed from Covid in 2021, Sullivan was named captain of the Bulldogs.
Came as a bit of a shock, he says. I was probably a bit young. I definitely learnt a lot. It definitely made me the player and person I am today
The Scray were 10-0 when the season was called off.
The new skipper made a duck-to-water transition to the position, coming fourth in the best and fairest, 12 votes behind the winner, McComb (whom the Bulldogs rewarded with selection in the rookie draft).
Sullivan, an East Malvern junior, won it last season, when he was also named in the VFL team of the year and came fifth in the JJ Liston Trophy.
He says he has steadily gained two things at Footscray: fitness and confidence.
He likes the feeling of being fit.
You've actually got to enjoy that aspect of it, which I do, he says. You do the pre-season but you've probably got to do more if you want to enjoy playing.
You're never going to enjoy it if you're not fit. Probably the last three or four years, I've enjoyed my fitness and always wanted to do these sessions because I know the benefits.
The fitter you are, the better you play. I like the idea of being a good runner. I want to try to keep improving that, make it that one point of difference.
He makes hay while the sun shines, building his fitness over summer and maintaining it during winter.
As for his confidence, Sullivan knows he is up to the standard and can influence matches.
He does it mainly through relentless running.
He's a running machine, the admiring Edge declares. Every week he knocks out 14 kilometres and four kilometres of high-intensity running. There is no AFL player who comes into our team and runs further than that. So he covers the ground extremely well, exceptionally well, and he's good with ball in hand.
He calls Sullivan a quiet achiever, who without fuss or fanfare gets in the best players most games.
He just gets it done, leads by example, and he's a ripping young guy Edge says.
The Bulldogs like to pick up players from their VFL team; they added another Footscray player to their list in the mid-season draft, selecting former Magpie Caleb Poulter.
Is Sullivan, an electrician, next?
It's all about circumstance and what the club needs, he says.
They've had a strong midfield the whole time I've been here. I understand why they haven't taken me. I think if you're good enough, someone will take you. It's all about luck and circumstance.
The statistics suggest it, the coach confirms it.
Footscray VFL captain Lachie Sullivan is putting together the sort of season bound to attract the attention of AFL recruiters.
Almost the best player in the comp, one scout says. He seems to have found another gear this year.
The unassuming Sullivan will make no comment on the recruiter's first assertion but is happy to agree with the second: that he has taken his football to a higher level after a best and fairest-winning 2022.
His numbers bear it out. From 15 matches, he has averaged 30.2 disposals, 6.5 tackles and eight clearances.
He is sixth on the possession leaderboard behind Jacob Dawson, Callum Brown, Jean-Luc Velissaris, Tommy Gribble and Boyd Woodcock, ball hogs all.
I reckon my impact has been a lot greater this year," Sullivan, 25, says. I think I'm doing more with the footy, which is what you always want, and we're winning games too. I feel like I'm getting better every year, to be honest."
His supporters at his home club, St Kevin?s in the Victorian amateurs, agree.
When Footscray had a bye this year, Sullivan went back and played at Skobs for the first time since the 2019 grand final. He had 37 possessions.
He was best-on-ground by a country mile and then another two miles after that, St Kevin?s stalwart Nick Sweeney says with a laugh.
I think he had 27 contested possessions that day.
I've never seen anything like it in a long time at that level. And it?s a pretty serious level of football
Since returning as a reserves team in 2014, Footscray has had a string of players drafted, including Mitch Hannan, Will Hayes, Billy Gowers, Anthony Scott, Robbie McComb, Ryan Gardiner, Jordan Boyd and Ben Long.
Sullivan 100 per cent wants to follow them.
It was always a childhood dream to play at the highest level, he says. I definitely want to. Just have to keep playing well, I guess. I feel like I'm close
Much closer than in his first VFL stint.
That was at Port Melbourne, where he went after playing in the Oakleigh Chargers 2015 TAC Cup premiership.
Even Port supporters would struggle to recall him; he regularly missed selection for the reserves team in the Development League.
Sullivan admits he was unfit and unmotivated.
I was pretty cast, he says. I didn't really enjoy it, to be honest.
Lack of fitness. A bit of immaturity probably. I probably thought I was better than I was. Coming out of the APS and TAC Cup, you kind of think you're amazing. And then you realise you're not. I don't think I realised what it took to be a VFL footballer in terms of fitness and effort.
Sullivan went back to St Kevin's and was part of Shannon Grant's premiership team.
His performances prompted Stewart Edge, then an assistant with Footscray but now the head coach, to recruit him to the Doggies in 2018.
Sullivan battled to get a game in his first season. The VFL team had a group of established players and he had to wait in line and be prepared to play on every line.
It was tough to get a spot, he said. I played a lot of high half-forward and random spots on the ground.
But the selectors went with him regularly in the second half of 2019.
When the VFL resumed from Covid in 2021, Sullivan was named captain of the Bulldogs.
Came as a bit of a shock, he says. I was probably a bit young. I definitely learnt a lot. It definitely made me the player and person I am today
The Scray were 10-0 when the season was called off.
The new skipper made a duck-to-water transition to the position, coming fourth in the best and fairest, 12 votes behind the winner, McComb (whom the Bulldogs rewarded with selection in the rookie draft).
Sullivan, an East Malvern junior, won it last season, when he was also named in the VFL team of the year and came fifth in the JJ Liston Trophy.
He says he has steadily gained two things at Footscray: fitness and confidence.
He likes the feeling of being fit.
You've actually got to enjoy that aspect of it, which I do, he says. You do the pre-season but you've probably got to do more if you want to enjoy playing.
You're never going to enjoy it if you're not fit. Probably the last three or four years, I've enjoyed my fitness and always wanted to do these sessions because I know the benefits.
The fitter you are, the better you play. I like the idea of being a good runner. I want to try to keep improving that, make it that one point of difference.
He makes hay while the sun shines, building his fitness over summer and maintaining it during winter.
As for his confidence, Sullivan knows he is up to the standard and can influence matches.
He does it mainly through relentless running.
He's a running machine, the admiring Edge declares. Every week he knocks out 14 kilometres and four kilometres of high-intensity running. There is no AFL player who comes into our team and runs further than that. So he covers the ground extremely well, exceptionally well, and he's good with ball in hand.
He calls Sullivan a quiet achiever, who without fuss or fanfare gets in the best players most games.
He just gets it done, leads by example, and he's a ripping young guy Edge says.
The Bulldogs like to pick up players from their VFL team; they added another Footscray player to their list in the mid-season draft, selecting former Magpie Caleb Poulter.
Is Sullivan, an electrician, next?
It's all about circumstance and what the club needs, he says.
They've had a strong midfield the whole time I've been here. I understand why they haven't taken me. I think if you're good enough, someone will take you. It's all about luck and circumstance.
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