PART 1
Wednesday, January 8, 2014 – PADDY McCartin is on the athletics track at Melbourne University's Ormond College, working on his running technique.Earlier, he was having a kick-to-kick with his AIS-AFL Academy teammates, after sitting next to assistant coach Brad Ottens eating tacos for lunch.
Hat on, socks up, and arms swinging close to his body, McCartin strides and listens. As a big and strong key forward, he wants to keep sharpening his pace off the mark.
It is hot in the sun, but McCartin doesn't mind. Just being out there is a good thing. The last time the Academy came together for a camp, McCartin spent most of the time watching on, wanting to go home.
That was six weeks ago, when the Academy met on the Gold Coast for a week-long camp in November. The Victorian-based members had left Melbourne on the morning of the 2013 NAB AFL Draft and later that night attended the event at the convention centre, watching names get called and dreams realised.
'I thought 'Stuff this, I want to go home'
McCartin was meant to be there, too. Instead, he felt terrible and watched on television from a mattress on the floor of his living room in Batesford, a small town 10 minutes out of Geelong. The night before had been a bad one.McCartin was diagnosed as a type-1 diabetic when he was nine. It means he has no use of his pancreas, which produces insulin. Without five or six injections of insulin each day, type-1 diabetics can accumulate dangerous chemical substances in their blood. Every night before McCartin goes to sleep, and many times during the day, he checks his blood-sugar levels.
Excited and nervous about the trip the next day, McCartin went to bed with his levels at four or five – a little low, but not too bad. But at 4.30am, his mum, Jo, heard him convulsing and found him slightly unconscious in bed after suffering a seizure.
McCartin's sugar levels had dropped unexpectedly, meaning he had lost his swallow reflex. It was only the third seizure he'd had in the 10 or so years since he'd learned he had the condition.
"The timing wasn't fantastic, but it was a mistake I made. I went to bed and was a little bit low and I expected myself to come back up overnight," McCartin says.
"I couldn't do anything all week. I got three days into the trip and thought, 'Stuff this, I want to go home'. I was still pretty crook. I gave as much as I could with how I was feeling, but I pretty much gave stuff-all to the group.
"I didn't want to talk to anyone," he says. "On the Tuesday, we went to Bond Uni and had a scratch match. I was carrying the water bottles, and thinking to myself, 'I really want to be out there'. It was tough to watch."
McCartin pictured at home in Batesford. Picture: AFL Media
McCartin has never liked not being involved on the footy field. When his dad Matt captain-coached the Colac Football Club in western Victoria, a six-year-old Paddy would stand next to him on the boundary line, one hand on his hip, the other holding the magnet board.
Footy has always been comfortable
At half-time, a group of under-12s played scratch matches, and McCartin would be involved. After the games, wearing his full kit, he'd shower next to the senior players.One morning at Auskick, McCartin played in the ruck, grabbed the ball out of the centre, ran down the ground and kicked a goal. He did it again the next time, at which point the coach said he couldn't take it out of the ruck. So McCartin tapped it on the ground, scooped it up and ran down the field to kick the goal. Three more times.
However, McCartin hasn't had the same confidence away from footy as he has playing it.
"One part of his life that he's never been intimidated by is football," says Matt. "Every other part of his life there have been challenges, like we all face. Footy has always been comfortable."
Those challenges started early. McCartin suffered from anxiety growing up, particularly when away from his parents. He went to kindergarten down the road from where the family lived (having moved there after he was born in Tasmania) and he would get out of the car and bolt in the opposite direction so he didn't have to go in.
One day, Jo was on duty and went to make a cup of coffee. When she got back five minutes later, she found Paddy, who had been sick because he couldn't find her.
In the first four years of school they went through an almost daily routine: McCartin would vomit at home, on the way to school and once he got there. He lost plenty of weight around that time, but Jo and Matt attributed it to being so anxious he wasn't eating. They later learned it was the diabetes.
The diagnosis
He saw some specialists and then spent a week in hospital when diagnosed. He saw a psychologist for a while, and then started taking medication to reduce the anxiety and restore some order. He was on the medication for about eight months, woke up one day when he was 11 and told Jo he didn't want to take it any more. "Out of nowhere, it just clicked," McCartin says.Footy gave McCartin confidence. When the diabetes surfaced, his parents told him it would not get in the way of anything he wanted to do.
Making the Victorian under-12 team was important. He played alongside three other stars of this year's draft.
On McCartin's left in the picture below are (from left): Darcy Moore, Jaden McGrath and McCartin's main rival for the No.1 draft spot, Christian Petracca
Picture: supplied
Click here to check out Jaden McGrath's draft profile and watch his 2014 highlights
He carried some puppy fat, but played as a defender and did well. He failed to make the Geelong Falcons under-15s squad as a bottom-ager, but a year later got in.
He started to take diabetes more seriously at that stage, understanding that however much he wished it would go away, it wouldn't.
"He had some incredible resilience in particular things. He'd be on the edge of the bed in the mornings saying he was really worried about fractions in maths class, but then he'd go to a footy trial with kids he'd never met before and be completely unfazed," Jo says.
"Playing footy has been such a great thing for him, for so many reasons that aren't about footy.
"He's done an amazing job. We are so proud of that, because he went through stages where he was in a world of pain just coping with life."
(l-r) McCartin (front) with father Matt, dreaming of superstardom, and getting to grips with the Sherrin. Pictures: supplied
He took an important step in 2012, when he was picked in Vic Country's squad for the national championships at Blacktown. He had never been away for 10 days before and didn't know what he was in for, but Jo and Matt spoke with Country's talent manager Leon Harris to make sure he was aware of it.
McCartin played a key role, managed being away from home, and came back feeling good about himself.
An emerging talent
He carried that positive attitude into 2013, when he was a bottom-aged player for the Falcons' under-18s side. McCartin worked hard on getting fitter, improving his running and adding more weapons to his game.His strengths had long been recognised: he could mark, find space and kick goals. At 193cm and 95kg, he had presence.
He played three games in the under-18 championships as a 17-year-old.
In his final appearance, which you can watch below, he kicked five goals at Simonds Stadium against Western Australia.
Recruiters took notice when he laid a crunching bump on West Australian skipper Dom Sheed, breaking Sheed's collarbone and giving McCartin a delayed concussion.
"I had a go and as each game went on I developed more confidence. Whatever level I played I tried to bring the things I can do and it worked out for me pretty well. Hopefully, I can take that into this year," he says.
But expectations this year have risen. As one of a group of tall players being hyped for the early part of the NAB AFL Draft – including Peter Wright, Sam Durdin and Hugh Goddard – most observers are expecting McCartin to be a top selection.
But he has his mind on smaller things. He broke three seconds for a 20-metre sprint (2.99 seconds) for the first time this week, and wants to go faster. In time trials with the Falcons over the next six weeks, he wants to do better each time.
Click here to check out Paddy McCartin's draft profile and watch his 2014 highlights
"The role I played last year was as a deep forward, but I'm trying to concentrate on getting as fit as possible so I can get to more and more contests," he says.
"It's probably the fittest I've been and I'm running well.
"This time of the year is really important. You don't want to take anything for chance."
NEXT: Recruiters ask the awkward question
Twitter: @AFL_CalTwomey
