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Words: Dale Kickett
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March 7th, 2008
CLONTARF OLD BOYS START RED HOT
The 2008 AFL season brings a lot of hope, expectation and a little sadness for some of Clontarf Football Academy’s ex-members, who are about to embark on this years challenges.
Clontarf Football Academy old boys Brad Dick (Collingwood), Dean Dick, Leroy Jetta, Patty Ryder, Ash Prescott (Essendon), Michael Johnson (Fremantle), Nathan Krakouer (Port Adelaide) and Brendan Stack (Western Bulldogs) have all represented their clubs with distinction so far in the Nab Cup pre-season competition.
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All academy staff would like to wish Brad Dick a speedy recovery from his knee injury he suffered against West Coast in Albany. Dick played in Collingwood’s first pre-season game against Adelaide and is the first ever Clontarf old boy to play in Dubai. He will miss the 2008 season but will be back bigger and better in 2009.
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Port Adelaide’s Nathan Krakouer has impressed his club so much recently; they extended his contract for two more years. As with Port Adelaide, Fremantle and Western Bulldogs have both bowed out of the Nab Cup, however Johnson and Stack are both set for promising 2008 seasons.
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The Bombers have four ex-members going from strength to strength and are looking to give the AFL season a fair shake with Dick, Jetta and Ryder all set to play major roles in the team. Former Clontarf and Claremont league coach Ash Prescott is assisting Matthew Nights and will help guide some of his young charges from the CFA.
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Ryder, 20, who spent time at Midwest (Geraldton) and Clontarf academies before being drafted by Essendon in 2006, is eager to start the season and believes fitness is the key to improving as an AFL player.
“I am fit and ready to go,” he said. “After playing 30 home and away games I can tell any youngster you have to be really fit to keep up with everyone.
“But once you are fit, then you can weave your magic.”
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Jetta, 19, is keen to impress selectors after injury limited the Pingelly recruit to only a handful of games in his first season at Windy Hill in 2007.
“Last year I struggled with injury but this year I have a good pre-season under my belt so its all good at this stage,” Jetta said.
Balancing nutrition and an intense training schedule is the most challenging aspect of AFL football, according to Jetta.
“Getting your eating right so you can train four or five times a week, at full intensity is hard and took me a while to change.
“Every game you know 40 or 50 thousand people are watching you so it’s a great experience,” Jetta said: adding “I want to be playing my best footy, which means eating right, training hard and doing the little things.”
So to all the young men embarking on another year of schooling and football at Clontarf Academies, when you are watching some of those young men on the big screen, always remember, they too were once in your position, dreaming a dream.
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