Draft history: 2006 NAB AFL Rookie Draft 2nd round selection (Western Bulldogs) No. 27 overall.
Junior Clubs: Cairns QLD / Maroopna.
At 19, Jarrod Harbrow is in his second year with the Western Bulldogs and wears No. 40.

Jarrod started his football with South Cairns, in Queensland, but when it became clear he had serious footy talent, he came down to Shepparton, in Victoria his father’s hometown. Here he played TAC Cup (Under 18) football with the Murray Bushrangers. After the season, he went back to Cairns and got injured playing footy up there. This upset his draft hopes, as he couldn’t do the tests as well as he otherwise would.
Fortunately, the Bulldogs picked him up in the Rookie Draft. Now Jarrod’s fitting in well at a club where the indigenous players support each other, on and off the field and training track. In 2007 Harbrow surprised with his exceptional pace and agility, and has since shown that he is very determined.
Jarrod’s ambitions for 2008 are to play as many games as he can, because coaching staff and players have told him he has the talent and dedication to cement a spot in the team. He had a good pre-season this year and is determined to do all he can for the team.

Go Jarrod.

Leroy Jetta wears no 7 for Essendon, where he's making a big impression in his first year, after being drafted from South Fremantle in the WAFL.
Leroy first played footy in his hometown of Pingelly, WA, population 50.
As many good players must, he left home to pursue his career. In Perth, AFL-experienced coaches like Ashley Prescott, Dale Kickett and Kevin Mitchell coached him at Clontarf Academy.
In 2007, he played 7 games with South Fremantle’s seniors and showed so much talent and potential, he was drafted by Essendon in the same year.
Growing up, the young Leroy’s hero was Andrew McLeod of the Adelaide Crows. As it turned out, he played his first game for Essendon against the Crows and was sent on to man up against his childhood hero. At the time, he found this ‘pretty scary’.
In fact, Leroy found the step up to AFL pretty hard, as he didn’t do much training in the break before pre-season training. But he learnt the lesson and is now dedicated to thorough preparation.
Leroy names his parents as his biggest influence because they drove him to training and games and encouraged him every step of the way.

Leroy's rise has been as fast as his speed across a footy field.
With dedication and a little luck, he'll be wowing fans for many years.

How the heck did the Melbourne clubs miss out on Rhan Hooper? From 8 to 13 he played his footy at the Silverton Bears, a junior club in SE Melbourne that's produced several AFL payers, including James Gwilt of St Kilda and Chad Morrison, Eagles and Magpies.
Anyway, Rhan is enjoying his footy career at Brisbane, and values the mentorship of Chris Johnson and Darryl White (whose old number 33 he wears).
Growing up, his heroes included any indigenous person who achieved great things, from Cathy Freeman to Michael Long.
At one point, he took a 'time out' from football, but since his return has earned his team's renewed respect through dedication and positive attitude.
When he finally hangs up his boots, Rhan wants to be remembered as a hard worker and as a man who achieved every goal he aspired to.
Keep a close eye on the progress of Rhan Hooper!

At 22, Raph is in his fourth year at St Kilda and now wears guernsey number 16. This is a dream come true for, when growing up in Darwin, he barracked for the Sainters. Furthermore, while he was still playing for St Mary’s his brother Xavier (X or the X-Man) was already running around with the Saints. When he was actually drafted to the club of his choice, it was the icing on the cake. An earlier highlight in his football career was a trip to Ireland with the best 30 young players from around Australia. He found it very rewarding to travel and compete, with this elite group.

Raph's greatest dream now is to play in a Premiership and be part of St Kilda’s growing and ongoing success.
Ideally, he sees himself playing out his career at St Kilda with brother X, and finishing on the highest note he can.
If he could go back and give himself some advice as a pre-AFL teenager, it would be to never take things for granted, like physical fitness and injuries.

Always look after your body is Raph’s core belief.

Originally, Malcolm Lynch hails from the Tiwi Islands, off the coast of the Northern Territory. He played his early junior football in Darwin, with Southern Districts. While he then went to school in New South Wales, he reckons growing up in the sports mad community where AFL was No. 1 was a big motivation.
As the Bulldogs is very much a community club he felt at home pretty quickly, especially as he had some Indigenous boys for company from day one. This meant he enjoyed a smooth transition into the top level of footy in the land.
A big buzz was playing his first AFL game in front of friends and family at Marrara Stadium in Darwin.

He enjoys all aspects of football, from the weight training to the clinics and of course the games themselves.

Malcolm played his early footbal on the wing and down forward, but thinks he is well suited to play in the mid-field. His aim is to do his best to become a regular week in, week out. With a positive attitude like that - and having just turned 20 - number 39 for the 'doggies has a big future ahead of him!

While Albert Proud wears number 2 for Brisbane, he describes himself as a Melbourne Western Suburbs boy, who grew up in Braybrook. Albert’s mum was from Thursday Island and his dad from WA. At 15, Albert moved to Queensland and started to shine in the world of AFL footy. He was the first Indigenous player to captain the Queensland Under-18 side … and captain it to the championship, no less.

Typically, he was dreaming of the ultimate football success of playing at AFL level, even when he was kicking a ball around when he was six. He’s well into making that dream come true. On debut, in 2007, he felt relaxed and drew positive attention for a first gamer. However, Albert says he thought about his second game too much and didn’t get much of the ball in his second game.

He is pleased to be compared with Byron Pickett and he'd be happy to be as good as Pickett was at his peak.

Albert has a very positive attitude and is determined to do his best and to do all the hard work demanded of him. That way, whether he’s successful or not, he’ll be satisfied that he did all he could in pursuit of his ambition.

He's been at Carlton for 4 years. As he's only 21, he should be delighting and amazing the fans and media for a few years yet! As a youth, he played 2 years with Port Lincoln in S.A. and 2 years in Kalgoorlie, Then he played a year with Templestowe in Melbourne's suburbs.

He was taken in a pre-season draft by Carlton. Their original plan was to get Trent Noble, a ruckman of around 200cm. However, Richmond beat them to the punch and they took Eddie instead, despite the height difference.

Early in his time at the Blues, Corey McGrath was one of his mentors. A strong feature of Eddie's game is ferocious tackling and intense pressure in the forward line. He has learned if you play with this intensity, goals tend to follow.

He's enjoying Carlton's resurgence and his ambitions are to play finals footy get into a Grand Final ... and win it!

Cyril Rioli caught the eye from game one. He’s already won the Rising Star Award in 2008 and kicked a goal that could nearly be Goal of the Year. Recruited from St Mary’s in the Northern Territory, Cyril comes from a famous footballing family that includes Maurice Rioli and Michael Long: quite an AFL pedigree.

In his first game, he racked up 14 possessions and a goal. The main difference he’s noticed between his junior football and AFL is the level of fitness required and the number of set plays. At Hawthorn, he is amazed and happy to be playing with such champions as Buddy Franklin, Chance Bateman and Mark Williams. The big thing he likes about Melbourne is ‘having a bit of money’.

His current goal is to play every game in 2008. Even if he doesn’t, it’s a fair bet he will enjoy a long, successful and spectacular AFL career.

When Nathan Lovett-Murray is on top of his game, there are few more exciting sights in footy. He first played at Heywood, Western Victoria and eventually arrived at Essendon via North Ballarat Under-18s, the Collingwood rookie list, the Bendigo Bombers and WIlliamstown.
He's now played 67 games with the number 42 on his back. His arrival at Bendigo was made possible by the Michael Long Scholarship.
As a young player, he had Dean Rioli as mentor and 'big brother', roles he now plays for young Bombers like Leroy Jetta. Right now, there is a tight-knit group of 8 indigenous players at Essendon. His big thrill was playing in front of 92, 000 fans at the G, but another significant highlight is the annual Dreamtime Game against Richmond. His toughest assignment was being put on Adam Goodes in peak form, in his Brownlow Medal year. Like most young footballers, Nathan sees his ultimate dream is to play in a premiership and to be a member of a successful team.

As a youngster, Shannon Cox barracked for Essendon and he liked Gary Ablett, Michael Long and Gavin Wanganeen. Now he wears number 12 for Collingwood, after being taken in the 2005 rookie draft. At first, Shannon kicked the dew off the grass playing with the reserves at Williamstown, the Magpies affiliate club at the time. He was used to this as he was playing with South Fremantle reserves when drafted. Shannon ran onto the ground for his first Collingwood match in round 3, 2007, playing Richmond in front of 75,000 screaming fans. After playing in front of around 200 at Fremantle, he found it nerve-racking, but focussed on what he was there to do.

Cory is regarded as a verastile player who can hold down key defensive roles, or run around in the ruck.
He finds, as a full-time footballer, that there isn’t much time for himself, but still he works with indigenous kids to encourage them to stay at school, as education prepares you well for most things in life, including AFL football.
Shannon’s advice to children is to set a goal and go for it.

Sure worked for him.

At 21, Richard Tambling is an established Richmond player, having been drafted in 2004. He was recruited from NT’s Southern Districts, where he played senior footy from age 14. He was pretty nervous on debut against Port Power in 2005, dropping 6 marks that he remembers. Richard was raised by his Gran, who took her first ever plane journey to see him play. It was. He says his Gran is his biggest influence, along with James Hird and Michael Long, his Essendon heroes as a youngster. On arrival at Richmond, he was influenced by Greg Stafford and Andrew Krakouer, as well as by coaches and senior players. While he considers everyone he’s played against as a tough opponent, the one who stands out is Saint, Steven Baker.
While he’s copped a bit of stick in the media for being a first round draft pick, he firmly states the only thing he controls is the way he plays. On that, he aims to play 22 games this year, going hard and showing flair, to help his team perform as well as possible. Career-wise, his aim is to give his all as a 200-250 game player.

Recruited from Nightcliff, NT, at no 44 overall in the 2002 AFL draft, Anthony now wears number 18 for the Brisbane Lions. Growing up, he followed his favourite player, cousin Fabian Francis, from Melbourne, to Brisbane to Port Power, the team he ended upbarracking for.
In his early years, Michael McLean encouraged him to pursue his football ambitions, as did his Mum, and Aunt Teresa and Uncle Neil. At Brisbane, rather than be overawed, he was inspired by the greats he was running onto the ground with: Vossie, Darryl White and Chris Johnson in particular.
He underwent a knee reconstruction and, while it was difficult coming back, the doctors, conditioning staff and psychologists, helped him succeed.
The biggest thrill of his career was just being at the Lions, as playing AFL always was his dream while playing junior footy.

Now, Anthony's major goal is to play in a premiership winning team. Importantly, when his career is over, he wants to feel deep down that he gave it absolutely all he could.

Originally from the Tiwi Islands, Austin played senior football at Norwood in the SANFL as well as playing with the Northern Territory Thunder. He came down to Adelaide while still at school, to do a pre-season with Norwood and stayed on to be spotted by AFL recruiters. Although he would have liked another season in the SANFL, Melbourne drafted him as a rookie, which turned out to be very good for both Austin and the club. He was very nervous at first training, but was eased into things by fellow Territorians and/or SANFL players, Aaron Davey, Matty Whelan and Isaac Weetra.

His own view was he would spend a year in the VFL before debuting in the AFL, but fate had it otherwise. Although very nervous in his first game, Austin has made a big impact since. He was surprised and disbelieving, but very proud at receiving his Rising Star nomination. Austin runs the lines, has neat skills good leg speed and can kick a goal. His ambition is to stay in the system for 100, maybe 150 games. A lot of people would say it could be a fair few more.

Shane Edwards was recruited from North Adelaide in the SANFL. He was taken at 26 overall, in the 2006 draft. Now, the nineteen-year-old wears number 10 for Richmond and plays a damaging role in the forward line. Shane didn’t expect to be playing so soon, and was happy playing at the VFL level. However, because of the way the Tiges were travelling, Shane got his opportunity and seized it with both hands, being very happy to play 16 games in his first year. As time goes by, he would like to earn himself a spot in one of the AFL’s more exciting young midfields.

As a youngster, his favourite player was Gary Ablett Senior. More recently - before having to play against Geelong - he was a big fan of Gary Ablett Junior.

Shane says the biggest influence on his game and attitude was exerted by his dad, who knows a lot about footy and made sure his son had his head screwed on tight and didn’t get ahead of himself.

Career highlights so far were his debut match against the Bulldogs and his first game against Adelaide at AAMI stadium, against the team all his hometown mates barrack for.

These days, Lindsay Thomas is playing some exciting footy for North Melbourne. He’s come a long way from running around with Mallee Park in his hometown of Port Lincoln, South Australia. He came to the Roos via the Port Adelaide SANFL Club. While he had a preference to be drafted by Port Power, his disappointment didn’t last long. After some initial homesickness, he has settled into the Roos camp very well, and is making an impact for them on the field.

Some people have compared the way Lindsay and teammate Matty Campbell harmonise onfield, with the legendary magic of Phil and Jimmy Krakouer during their heyday at North. Lindsay thinks that’s going way too far at this stage of their careers, but says that it’s a great honour for people to be making such a comparison.

His ambition for 2008 is to play every game, and to play finals football.

From a career viewpoint, he’d like to play out his career with the Roos, becoming a 100 or 200 game player in the process.

'Ah, the real footy show' said Matthew at the start of his interview. It's a safe bet that his mates at the Darwin Buffaloes and Woodville-West Torrens Eagles (SANFL) are following his progress on The Marngrook Footy Show, like footy fans around the nation.

Matthew's career at the Dees started well, rolling the Saints by 10 or 12 goals in his first game. Since then, the team hasn't gone so well and, thanks to injuries, he's spent a good deal of time in the stands watching it not go well.

Matthew rates Phil Matera as his toughest opponent, as he kicked 4 or 5 goals on Matthew a couple of times.
Career highlights include his first game and his hundredth. Matthew names his brother as his greatest influence, mainly through sibling rivalry. He always wanted to be as good or better than his brother, who was also a sports person.

Important among his goals are 'winning a premiership would be nice' and also taking out the Best 7 Fairest trophy at Melbourne.

Roger is 27, wears number 43 and is in his 8th year at the Dockers. Before being picked up by the club in the Rookie Draft, he played with South Fremantle, in the WAFL. The move up was harder that he expected. In fact, it was a bit of a shock. On the first training session, there was a 10k run ... something Roger had never done in his life! A highlight of his career was winning 9 straight to make the finals in 2006 . The team ended up in the top four and beat Melbourne in front of Freo's home crowd, before going down to Sydney in the Preliminary Final.

Even though this was a big disappointment, reaching the Prelim and playing Sydney on its home turf was still a major career highlight.

Roger's happy as a back-line player. He likes seeing the game unfold ahead of him and enjoys the challenges.

When his footy career comes to a close, Roger sees himself working in Aboriginal affairs, or helping Perth's Indigenous youngsters in some way. He said "The David Wirrpanda Foundation would be great for me."

Matty Campbell is 21, wears 33 and comes from Alice Springs Pioneers, via North Adelaide.
In answer to the question where he started football, Matty said when he was about 7 in the Auskick program, which was older than some others.
He went to North Adelaide to try himself against the bigger guys in the SANFL. Surprised (and pleased) to be picked up by North Melbourne in Rookie Draft and elevated in 2007 when he played his first game. Now he’s really happy to be playing alongside and competing with Lindsay Thomas and Daniel Wells. He appreciates how Eddie Sainsbury has looked after them, too. He feels the the Roos’ game plan is pretty much the same as North Adelaide, although Dean Laidley is different to Andrew Jarman. He also works closely with Darren Bewick who coached him in the Under-18s and forwards coach, John Lamont. His speed helps him to be a good tackler, nabbing opponents unawares to keep the ball n the forward 50.
He aims to become a guy who is respected and known for putting his heart on the line for the North Melbourne footy club.

Sharrod Wellingham is 20 years old, has been at Collingwood 2 years and wears number 21.

He grew up in Perth City, and was playing for Perth Demons when the Magpies drafted him. Moving to Melbourne was a welcome challenge, because if he’d stayed in Perth his concentration/focus might have been tested by his friends.
Sharrod made his debut in the 2008 Anzac Day game. He reckons it was awesome running onto ground and he couldn’t get smile off his face. It was ‘tingles down spine type stuff’. What’s more, with 17 kicks and 4 tackles the whole thing was awesome fun in front of 90 odd thousand people. He kicked his first goal against St Kilda while playing on legend Robert Harvey … a memory which will stay with him for a long time.
His ideal aim for 2008 would be to maintain his spot in the Maggies’ side and play finals football.

At 23, Mathew has been at the Cats for 3 years and has attracted a lot of attention to number 27.

He, played 3 years at Woodville-West Torrens in the SANFL, being overlooked in 3 drafts before being picked up by Geelong. He had been tempted to go back to Darwin and play footy with his mates, but was told to ‘stick at it’ and is pretty happy he did.
After successive losses to Hawks and Roos at beginning of 2007, the Geelong team was told a few home truths and history shows it was the making of them. Mathew gives credit for Geelong’s resurgence to Brian Cook, Frank Costa and Mark Thompson. And says it makes it easy to go out every week, when you’ve got a coach you want to play for.

He was pretty nervous in prelim final against the Maggies in 2007, but happily got off to a good start by kicking 3 goals. It was his toughest game mentally being close all the way with big stakes to be won or lost. In the Grand Final his knee popped but he was able to play out the game on painkillers.


Mathew’s main ambition is to play out his career with Geelong that has a small town atmosphere he likes … and maybe play a few more games than Ronnie Burns as well.

Patrick is 20 years of age, wears number 30 and been at Essendon for 3 years

Before then, he played 6 or 7 games for East Freo. In Junior footy, he mainly played in forward line and bit in ruck
His heroes were Byron Pickett and Wayne Carey, but Patrick believes the strongest influence his on career is his dad, who was a good footballer who not only taught him a bit about football, he filled him in on life, too.
Patrick wanted to be drafted to Essendon because he just loved Sheeds from first time he met him at draft camp and just wanted to go to Essendon. At the club, Patrick finds it awesome to be among so many indigenous players. They get on very well and can have a laugh. In their free time, go round to each other’s houses and meet up.
When Patrick first ran out in round one of the ‘06 season against reigning premiers Sydney, he was pretty nervous, but it was awesome. When adrenaline pumped in and he started playing it was just amazing.
In 2008, he’s already won 2 Marks of the Year but reckons there maybe a few better ones to come. He goes out there to impose himself on game and opponents by taking the big mark.
Like a lot of players who aren’t Hawks, he reckons his toughest opponent so far is Buddy Franklin!

Jarrod Atkinson is 23 years old, wears 38 and this his first year at Essendon. He wasn’t expecting to be picked up in rookie draft … in fact, he was sleeping that day.
Jarrod played at Rumbalara for about 3 years; coached by Alistair Thorpe and Adrian Hickmott. Last year he played at Bendigo Bombers in the VFL and found you had to be a lot fitter, that there were more structures and you played with a lot of AFL players.

He joined 7 other indigenous players at Essendon and thinks they may get to all play together, if they can all manage to be injury-free at the same time.
Jarrod was pretty nervous during his first NAB Cup pre-season game until he got his hands on the ball, after which time he felt more comfortable.
In his first senior game, he just had a good go at it, although Essendon was flogged by Port Power. He played on Salopek, Motlop and Rodan.
As a young bloke, he barracked for the Dees because his cousin Sean Charles played for them.

Jarrod names Adrian Hickmott as the biggest influe

Josh Hill is 19 and wears number 20 for Western Bulldogs. He’s in his second year there and loving every minute of it
He knew the Bulldogs were drafting him because Scotty Clayton interviewed him a few months before the draft. Prior to coming east, he played football with his High School and with WAFL team Claremont for a year.
Growing up, Josh idolised the great Andrew McLeod, so he found it pretty nerve-wracking when the Bullies played the Crows, in round one.

Back home, he didn’t play state under-18s, just school footy and with Claremont. AFL is faster, more stressful with the involvement of a big crowd, but you pretty quickly get focussed on the football and more detached from crowd.

Josh was excited to get an NAB Rising Star nomination. In some ways, he was more concerned with the next week’s game. But the nomination was still a big thing for him and his family, especially as cousin ex-Eagle Ashley Sampi won it.

The big thing he’s learned in AFL is commitment to teamwork alongside players like Brad Johnson and Scottie West. Josh’s primary aim is to get more games under his belt and improve all aspects of his game, especially tackling. Like eight other teams, right now he’s hoping for a premiership for his club.

‘Micky O’ was drafted number 40 overall from SANFL team Central District, in the 1994 draft, and has been playing AFL for 14 years.
He was Sydney B&F in 1998, All Australian 1997 & 2000, leading club goalkicker 2000 & 2001 and premiership player 2005. In the 2005 Grand Final he kept missing goals he normally would have slotted no worries in the world. But the more you miss, the more nervous you get. Just one of those things. The 2005 GF and other finals against Eagles were among toughest games he’s played.

As a kid growing up in Adelaide his hero was Derek Kickett, who played for SANFL side Central Districts at the time. Micky would get DK to play kick-to-kick with him and his young brother. Later when Micky was drafted to Sydney DK took him under his wing and. helped him fit in quicker than the other young guys. Mickey never thought he’d go on to be the club’s all-time highest number of games. “Got to pinch yourself all the time around here.” Didn’t experience racism from players at all and only one crowd incident in career, but he’s aware how tough Indigenous players did it in years gone by. Today, you just come in and play footy. He reckons the AFL has done a great job in turning things around.
When he’s finished with footy, Mick plans to put in a lot of time helping give Indigenous kids the chance to achieve their dreams.

Jeff is from Tambellup WA where he played some senior footy with his father and some uncles, before being recruited to the Melbourne Demons.
He made his AFL debut in 1995 as an excited 17 year old; who was a bit scared leaving friends and family behind in WA. But the club helped him settle in and he became good friends with Gary Lyon who showed him the ropes and kept an eye on his on-field progress. Jeff, was sort of overawed playing his first game against Geelong, who had played off against West Coast and made a point of shaking Gary Ablett’s hand at the end of the game. He was an AFL rising star nominee 1996, but reckons his best year at Melbourne was 2000, when he was named All-Australian and the team also played off in Grand Final. Jeff played 118 games for Melbourne and kicked 259 goals. He was leading goal-kicker for the club in 1997, 1998 and 2000.
About that time, he decided to go back West for family reasons. With only two WA teams, he found the media could make things a bit difficult to have a private life. Good to play with Troy Cook at Fremantle and help mentor the many young Indigenous players who came through Freo in his 7 years at the club. Jeff says it’s exciting to watch their skills and flair week I week out.

Originally from Wallaroo in SA, where he played soccer, Adam was Sydney’s third round draft pick in 1997, at no. 43 overall.
Growing up in Adelaide, he went to a Central Districts game to help a mate sell hamburgers. After half-time he saw Gilbert McAdam running amok and felt an immediate bond. That was the day his interest in AFL was ignited.
Later, he was spotted in Horsham and the North Ballarat U18s, where he played in representative teams and won a premiership. He played his first game wearing number 37 in 1999, in round 1 against Port Adelaide at the SCG. The team lost, but his mum and brothers were there to see him kick his first goal.
His first impressions of AFL was that it would be hard work, but he loved it, doing 8 weight sessions and 6 running sessions a week … a bit of a shock to the system for a little 17 year old kid coming up from the bush. But he had a lot of support from Troy Cook, Micky O, Robbie Ahmat and Fred Campbell.
Adam was AFL rising star in 1999, Sydney B&F in 2003 & 2006, has a 2005 premiership medal and won the Brownlow Medal 2003 & 2006. And he’s still going strong.
He reckons it would be a great thing to win another premiership alongside the young players who weren’t there in 2005.

Born in Meredith WA, in 1981, Des Headland was recruited from Subiaco by Brisbane in 1998. The 185cm, 90kg midfielder made his AFL debut in 1999. He played in Brisbane’s 2002 Premiership side, which fulfilled the classic childhood dream to play AFL, especially in a winning Grand Final.
In 2003, he returned home to the west, which was a hard decision because he was at a great club with great blokes. But Des wanted to have his young family grow up where he grew up, with family and friends around. When he joined the Fremantle Dockers, it was an exciting time especially as he got to play in Freo’s first final in his first year with the club.
While Fremantle has been a ‘bit up and down’ over his time there, Des sees the club is going to go somewhere under coach Harvey
He really enjoys playing with the indigenous group at Freo that’s known as ‘the brothers’. There were seven when he got back from Brisbane and there are still six. He has a good time mucking around with them on the training track, and getting serious when it’s time to get down to business.
While he reckons all opponents are tough, he ranks Damien Peverill as a tough, shutdown player who’s strong and hard to get away from.

Des’s highlights with Freo definitely have been the finals he played in, winning and losing.