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Keidan Coleman chasing childhood dream
At just ten years old, future draft hopeful Keidan Coleman packed his bags and travelled halfway across Australia in hope of fulfilling his Australian Rules Football dream. Now, Coleman finds himself among a select group of 85 youngsters assembled on the turf of Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium for the 2018 NAB AFL Draft Combine this week and just over a month removed from finally accomplishing his life-long dream.

Coleman was born in Katherine, Northern Territory, about 300 kilometres south-east from Darwin. After discovering the sport at a tender age, Coleman knew it was something worth pursuing but in a region populated by a mere 6000 people, there was little AFL infrastructure to utilise and more relevant to Coleman, not Under 10 side to play for.

Instead, he moved to Brisbane to live with his Aunty and began playing with the Wynnum Vikings in Brisbane’s South. “My mum knew I loved footy, so she sent me down to Brisbane to live with my Aunty. I got into school and started playing junior footy,” Coleman told aflq.com.au. “It was my decision to move to Brisbane. I went there for a holiday over Christmas and I really liked it, so it was a good experience and good fun to move to another city. “Mum knew I loved footy and knew anything that makes me happy was a good thing, so we made it happen.”

Despite making the move at a young age, Coleman wasn’t nervous to relocate but admitted he did miss some aspects of life in the Top End. “I enjoyed it up there. I have a lot of family members up there. There was very good weather, and I always enjoyed hunting. That’s something I don’t get to do here in Brisbane,” he said. Family was still with him in Brisbane though, and they played an instrumental role in his rapid progression as a junior footballer.

After excelling with the Vikings and winning the premiership during his Under 12 season, it was his Uncle who suggested Morningside as a likely destination to further his career on the southside while his Aunty also played a significant role of her own. “She has done everything for me to be honest. She would take me to training and to games. Anywhere I’d need to be she’d be there. She’s very supportive,” Coleman recounted.

Since moving to Jack Esplen Oval with the Panthers, Coleman climbed up the division and joined the Brisbane Lions HHFK Academy several years ago. This season was a breakout year for the 18-year-old who featured for the Lions in the NAB AFL Academy Series as well as his inclusion in the Allies throughout the NAB AFL Under 18 National Championships.

Coleman was also given an opportunity to learn from his potential teammates through eight games with Brisbane in the NEAFL including the Lions’ only finals appearance against Aspley.

There, he was able to forge rapports with a handful of Lions players in preparation for the pointy end of the season. “Tom Bell messaged me after the season and mentioned that I had a good first year at NEAFL level and I did some wonderful things, but he also said the work wasn’t over yet.” “I played a few club games [with Morningside] after the NEAFL and he came down and watched a few games. “I always saw him after the games and he gave me a bit of feedback which I was very pleased with.”

Earlier this week, Coleman and the remainder of the Queensland invitees arrived in Melbourne for the Draft combine. That moment, arriving at the stadium for testing, proved to be an awakening of sorts for Coleman, who said he has finally realised just how far he had come since the decision to leave Katherine eight years ago.

“It was a bit exciting to be honest when we rocked up at Marvel Stadium knowing my footy journey has taken me here. Now that I’m here I’m a bit nervous.” “It’ll mean everything [to be drafted]. If they did choose me, it’d be a blessing and real humbling experience.” Coleman is one of four Queensland products at the draft combine in 2018 ahead of the NAB AFL Draft in late November.
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I love Kiedan's story and determination to make it, not too dissimilar to Cedric's.

I hope he finds his way onto the list, even as a rookie, sounds like a driven young man.
 

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jackess said:
Doesn't he have a couple of youngsters living with him as well?
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Not sure about now but the other article I read on here today (the one about his coming back for feedback two weeks after being delisted) mentioned that Rayner and one other (Wooler?) had stayed with him when they first arrived and also how he had switched his mental focus on how he could best help the younger ones develop rather than just on himself and improved his own game in the process...
 
Viceregal said:
Not sure about now but the other article I read on here today (the one about his coming back for feedback two weeks after being delisted) mentioned that Rayner and one other (Wooler?) had stayed with him when they first arrived and also how he had switched his mental focus on how he could best help the younger ones develop rather than just on himself and improved his own game in the process...
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Wooler and Rayner stayed with Swanny when they got up to Brisbane.
 
Dylan12 said:
Keidan Coleman chasing childhood dream

colemanwebarticle2018.jpg


I love Kiedan's story and determination to make it, not too dissimilar to Cedric's.

I hope he finds his way onto the list, even as a rookie, sounds like a driven young man.
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I was really impressed with my admittedly very limited look at this bloke in the NEAFL.

Worth a punt IMHO.
 
Tassie4ever said:
I was really impressed with my admittedly very limited look at this bloke in the NEAFL.

Worth a punt IMHO.
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I get the feeling we really like this kid. He had a pretty good go tin the 2s after the champs and seemed to improve steadily through the season. Wouldn't surpise to see him bid on and matched late.
 
https://www.aflq.com.au/footy-the-only-sport-for-mcfadyen-as-draft-draws-close/

Footy the only sport for Connor McFadyen as draft draws close


Posted on Thursday, 11th October, 2018

By Ant Wingard @AntWingard

Brisbane Lions Academy member and draft fancy Connor McFadyen wouldn’t be alone as a prodigious talent in two sports throughout his teenage years.

Along with his nous as a tall goal-kicking midfielder, McFadyen rose to prominence as a gunning cricketer and it was there where a professional sporting career loomed most prominent.

A consistent all-rounder on the cricket oval where he bowled at first drop and batted in the high middle order, McFadyen enjoyed success with the cherry in part due to the guiding ways of his father Brian, who is the current High-Performance Network Lead at Cricket Australia.

Among his accolades, Connor shone on the cricket pitch as a junior and was selected in the Australian Under 16 side.

He featured prominently for Queensland at Under 15, Under 17 and Under 19 level where he produced figures of 3/30 from five overs as a 15-year-old and 3/50 from nine overs against the Cricket Australia XI as a 17-year-old.

But like most dual-sport athletes, McFadyen was forced to make the decision and eventually, he chose the Sherrin over the Kookaburra.
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Good to see Lachlan Johnson coming up to Brisbane and doing a pre-season with the club along with Casey Voss (who was already known to be coming up).

Hope all the boys get around Lachlan so if he has to make a decision in 12 months that he’ll elect to go F/S to the Lions.

Put it this way, the Lions would’ve done way more for Lachlan and his development than Essendon has done, which shows how farcical the NGA is for indigenous kids such as Lachlan and Jarrad Cameron.
 

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Dylan12 said:
Good to see Lachlan Johnson coming up to Brisbane and doing a pre-season with the club along with Casey Voss (who was already known to be coming up).

Hope all the boys get around Lachlan so if he has to make a decision in 12 months that he’ll elect to go F/S to the Lions.

Put it this way, the Lions would’ve done way more for Lachlan and his development than Essendon has done, which shows how farcical the NGA is for indigenous kids such as Lachlan and Jarrad Cameron.
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I spotted Austin Harris as an 11yo at the u12s state carnival in Townsville years ago. He is from Cairns, in the Suns academy, now billeted on GC on a scholarship. Won 'World team' selection this year as well as QLD u15s. Is highly regarded by academy. So yes, you can pick em from way out to be in the mix at the sharp end.

Another to watch; Dylan Patterson. 11yo (sept) National Athletics carnival 2018 100-200m sprint. State in 6 events. Broke 9 records at his Little Athletics club on Sunshine coast this year. Played for SC in u12s state carnival this year and picked up by Lions academy as an underage u12. Ball magnet, Neat skills, fast, athletic.​

Dylan turned 11yo in sept. From memory that makes him youngest ever in Lions academy.
 
Another Kid to watch; 16yo this year. Aspley junior, James 'Jimmy the jet' Packer. Missed out on u15s QLD school side in 2018.

Anyway, Packer is quick, is a rep xcountry and middle distance runner, is about 6 foot already. Good hands above his head and on the ground. Tackles solidly and hard at a contest. Smothers well and always makes a 2nd-3rd effort.
 
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The junior age groups are full of players getting overlooked due to inherent bias in selection processes. Talent will generally start to reveal itself by U16, but you can't help wonder what would be happening if the overlooked players would have extra development opportunities. must be extra hard in regions like the Darling Downs and Wide Bay.
 
The academy is a bit of a running joke in my opinion. How have the number of draftees improved since the academy? What is the readiness of these kids entering the system like in comparison to pre academy days? I think we will find little to no change, is it actually worth the investment? The money would be better put into local clubs and then the Lions having access to those kids.
 
Part of the maturity process required in Queensland is in coaching and administration. There will always be disgruntled kids/parents due to selection of rep teams because someone inevitably gets cut who doesn't think they should have but it seems a bit more systemic/institutional up here. I think that's because the sport is still trying to catch up in terms of professional pathways and we've got a lot of well-meaning but very amateur people involved. Even the Academies, which are designed to overcome these systemic issues, create a fair bit of angst at local levels for overlooking some talented kids for the "athletes".

Footnote - was very difficult to resist the urge to make James Packer jokes!
 
acuguy said:
The academy is a bit of a running joke in my opinion. How have the number of draftees improved since the academy? What is the readiness of these kids entering the system like in comparison to pre academy days? I think we will find little to no change, is it actually worth the investment? The money would be better put into local clubs and then the Lions having access to those kids.
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I think you'll find that the number of Queensland draftees has increased significantly over the decade prior to the academies.
 
GEEitLONG said:
The academies have absolute power over the draft/career potential of players. How could a kid in an academy zone be drafted without going via an academy?(Lions and Suns) If a kid was good enough to be drafted, one of the academies would claim him. Even if the kid didn't want to be in the academy they would still have power over him. That is absolute power. Not sure if that is a good thing...
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The rest of your write-up is pretty interesting but I don't believe this is right. If a kid chooses not to enter an academy, there's no way to force him in. Even though the rep squads are now done by "academy", the Giants had non-academy kids in their's because it includes the Riverina - and those kids need to be in some rep squad. A player in the Brisbane zone declining to join the academy should be treated similarly especially if, as you say, he's good enough to be drafted. Not joining an academy will stunt a kid's options because he won't get that same exposure but that's an inevitable consequence of the decision in question.

However, with my realist hat on, there might be some positioning of "if you don't sign up we don't look at you for the rep squads". The examples so far have all been to the contrary, e.g. the Riverina Giants, the younger Himmelberg, Lachie Weller, etc, but unfortunately there's just that kind of nepotism in a lot of levels of footy so I can't say it'd never happen.
 
acuguy said:
I think you'll find the increase in drafting of players is in line with the increase in kids participating in the sport.
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Is that cause or effect? Part of the stated aim of the academies was to increase participation because of local role models and a more concrete pathway to their local club.
 
dlanod said:
Is that cause or effect? Part of the stated aim of the academies was to increase participation because of local role models and a more concrete pathway to their local club.
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An interesting stat is historically, looking at QLD state u12s carnivals, only 1.5 boys per year from that group of 250 get drafted. That's 3 every 2 seasons. I remember looking that up a few years ago. Those numbers may have changed. I was looking at status pre academy.

What that shows is the rest of the boys who got drafted didn't play rep u12s. An example would be Wylie Buzza. He trialled and got in the Darling Downs u15 schoolboys AFL team for a lark, Just to get some time off school. He liked it. Had the academy not been in place a good argument could be made he never would have been drafted. He never played u12s.

By the Academy casting its net wide, it is probably going to cater for most of the kids who have historically fallen through the net, and those that historically went on to improve over time and got drafted after not making u12s rep sides.

I think we will see a spike in academy boys drafted for the simple reason directly attributed to picking up boys who are now 14-15-16 who missed out on u12s rep stuff that have shown improvement. Kids mature at different rates. By casting the academy wide they are now catering towards that improvement.
 

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