I remember reading a story about a boy in South America who had his scooter confiscated after ramming into a police car on a clearly out-of-control joy ride. Despite pleading with the fuzz to return his scooter, he had to head home on foot, one would imagine slightly embarrassed.
Enter mum. Not only did she charge down to the police station and get her son’s scooter back, she also insisted the officers apologise to the boy for any grief it may have caused him. Forget the immeasurable amount of broken road rules, or the presumably dangerous antics of her son, the blame was squared solely at the two men in uniform.
Now that’s a one-eyed parent.
I’d say there would be a fair amount of similarly proud parents who have sons on the cusp of an AFL debut in 2013. Here’s a list of five youngsters that should be on your Dream Team radar.
Kane Mitchell (Port Adelaide) $119,300
You’ve got to a love a mature-aged rookie. Mitchell is going to have to rely on a long-term injury to get his chance, but Port will be keen to get this guy into the senior side. Scored 100 Dream Team points against the Demons last week after gathering 26 disposals. Too cheap to pass up if given an opportunity.
Jaeger O’Meara (Gold Coast) $108,500
Apart from the fact that he has a really cool name, O’Meara is destined for greatness. Looks very likely to squeeze his way into the senior side for round one and I’d say he’ll stay there for the remainder of the season. Scored 42 Dream Team points against the Kangaroos last week, but expect that figure to rise as we go along.
Lachie Whitfield (Greater Western Sydney) $183,700
I think many will ignore the fact that you’ll have to pay a higher premium for this first-year player on the back of last week’s performance. The No.1 draft pick finished with 89 Dream Team points against the Lions on Saturday. His gun teammate and captain Callan Ward tallied 85. He’ll be worth over $250,000 before you know it.
Jackson Macrae (Western Bulldogs) $161,200
The Dogs will be keen to unleash some new raw talent in 2013, and Macrae will be high on their list. Looked at home on the big stage against the Hawks last Friday night, and you can’t go past the fact he averaged almost 30 touches in TAC Cup footy last year. I also like the fact that he has received a relatively low guernsey number (11) for his first year. That shows some swagger.
Oliver Wines (Port Adelaide) $156,700
The hard nut showed his performance in week one of the NAB Cup series was no fluke with a score of 76 against Melbourne last week. Sometimes young players have a hard time convincing the older players to pass the ball - especially when they are yet to prove they belong in the big dance - but Wines won’t have that issue because he goes in and gets his own footy. Will also score bucketloads thanks to his tackling skills. A must.
