'WHAT IF?'
They were the two words Riley Bice didn't want to have to contemplate down the track. It's why he packed up his life and moved from Albury to Altona in February 2024. But even then, he expected to spend more time playing in the Ovens & Murray League over the winter than in the VFL.
That didn't eventuate.
Instead, the 24-year-old was picked for Werribee in round one and never looked back. He played all 21 games for the Bees, nailing a critical role in the standalone club's first premiership in 31 years – and just the second since the club was formed in 1964 – during a winter where he rose from nowhere.
Bice played three VFL games for Greater Western Sydney at the tail end of 2022, but hadn't been on the radar of recruiters since he was invited to the state Draft Combine at the end of his time with the Murray Bushrangers in 2018.
Things changed in 2024. He was shifted to half-back and thrived, earning VFL Team of the Year selection after averaging 21.8 disposals at 75.8 per cent efficiency, along with 6.9 marks, 4.6 intercepts and 4.2 score involvements.
Recruiters had considered Bice ahead of the 2024 AFL Mid-Season Rookie Draft, but they needed to see more. Half a dozen clubs met with him later in the year, but Sydney was always the keenest. Veteran Sydney recruiter Kinnear Beatson checked back in on the second morning of the draft, before Bice headed up to Albury to watch night two at home with his mum and sisters.
With pick No.41, the Swans made Bice the first mature-age player selected in the 2024 Telstra AFL Draft, making a dream a reality for a lifelong Sydney fan.
"Towards the end of (2023) I wanted to give VFL a crack before I was too old. I didn't want to sit back later in life and think 'What if? Why didn't I just give it a crack?'" Bice told AFL.com.au.
"I obviously knew a fair few people down at Werribee. There are lots of O&M boys at the club and they spoke so highly of the culture and the environment down there.
"If you put yourself in a situation like that it lays a good foundation to enjoy your footy and play good footy. That was the main thing."
Shaun Mannagh's meteoric rise at Geelong convinced Bice to bite the bullet and move to Melbourne. Their paths have been similar; both played in the TAC Cup for the Murray Bushrangers, both starred in the Ovens & Murray League – Mannagh played for North Albury and Lavington – and both had stints in the Top End.
Mannagh was 26 when Geelong selected him at pick No.36 at the end of 2023. Chris Scott picked him as the sub in round one, played him the following week and sent him back to the VFL before he returned for the final 10 games of 2024, including two finals, where he showed he can thrive at the level, kicking three goals in a qualifying final before firing in a preliminary final at the MCG.
"Just to see the year Shaun had (in 2023) and to see the way he has gone about it now at AFL level, it does give you plenty of hope," Bice said.
"That does put it out there and give boys that are getting a bit older a bit more hope. It is becoming a bit more common now for mature-age boys to get a crack.
"To be honest, getting drafted was the main reason I went (to Werribee). But before I got there, if I'm being honest, I thought I was going to be travelling back to Albury to play local footy. The dream was to get drafted, but I didn't think it was going to happen so quickly, if at all."
Werribee is known, unofficially, as the Ovens & Murray club. Long-time recruiter Mark Stone has mined both banks of the Murray River for a long time. Mannagh and Bice aren't the only players from Chirnside Park to land in the AFL via the powerful country league. Melbourne selected former Lavington forward Aidan Johnson at pick No.68 late in 2024, while North Albury product Dom Brew trialled at the Western Bulldogs after leading the Tigers all the way in a year where he won the J.J. Liston Trophy.
Avalon Airport Oval has become a must-visit destination for recruiters over the past 18 months. First, Michael Barlow led Werribee back to a Grand Final in 2023 before being poached by North Melbourne to run the development program at Arden Street. Then SANFL legend Jimmy Allan helped the Bees win their first flag since 1993, despite losing Mannagh to Geelong and Sam Clohesy to Gold Coast. Led by the longest-serving CEO in the VFL Mark Penaluna, Werribee has become one of the premier state league clubs in the country.
"The culture and the environment is the key," Bice said. "They have so many good people there. Mark 'Pena' running it and when you have people like that at the top, it just flows down. Everyone buys into the culture and the environment.
"Secondly, they do a power of work with their development program. They are out there an hour before training doing craft and skill sessions. I think the buy in from all the players there is huge as well. So many boys are out there early doing stuff and I think that's part of the reason for the success in the last two years."
When Sydney head of list strategy Chris Keane faced the media on the corporate level of Marvel Stadium less than two hours after the Swans picked Bice, he was bullish about the polished half-back stepping up and playing straight away.
Bice knows how stacked Sydney is, especially down back. He has simply been determined to get to work to put his hat in the ring early.
"I just want to put my head down and work as hard as I can at training and we'll see what happens from there," he said. "You do dream about that stuff. It is a tough team to break into. I hadn't actually played backline before 2024 and I feel like it does suit my game. That probably is the strongest position for me."
Sydney has a decent record with mature-age recruits. Dane Rampe was plucked out of suburban football in Sydney at 22 and has now played more than 250 games. Robbie Fox was recruited from Coburg at 23 and is almost a decade into his AFL career. Sydney's head of player welfare and development Brett Kirk was still playing at North Albury at 20 before he launched his Hall of Fame career in red and white.
In addition to gleaning knowledge from that trio, Bice moved in with Harry Cunningham – another rookie success story at Sydney – when he arrived at a club dealing with a transition from the most successful coach in its history (John Longmire) to a first-timer (Dean Cox).
"It was a pretty crazy second day for us new blokes – and I suppose everyone that had him as a coach for their whole careers," he said.
"I have full faith in 'Coxy'. He has brought a great energy to the group already. I think everyone is really keen."
Bice spent the 2023 winter working full-time for O'Brien Transport in Laverton. But the real work starts now.
