Anthony Scott found the jump from local football to the Peter Jackson VFL to be a pretty big change at first.
Last year, the 20-year-old Richmond wingman put together a season for Old Trinity in the VAFA that made many in the football world sit up and take notice.
After leaving the Oakleigh Chargers’ TAC Cup program at the end of 2013 without achieving his goal of being drafted into the AFL, Scott won the VAFA’s Rising Star award, represented the VAFA in its U19 squad and featured in the AFL Victoria Young Guns Game.
The Tigers snapped up the classy 178cm left-footer, but Scott initially wasn’t fully prepared for the shift to a more professional football environment.
“When I’d just finished Year 12 and went and played for Old Trinity, I think my pre-season probably started in February, whereas when I went down to Richmond last year, it all kicked off in November and it was very strict from day one,” Scott said.
“It ended up being a shock to my body as well, because I sustained a bit of a groin injury in the second week of pre-season.
“I think it’s just that a step up in the workload was a bit too much for my body to handle and I ended up missing close to four months due to this niggling injury that I couldn’t quite get over.
“It wasn’t anything I sustained at training in an incident – it was just that build-up from the extra running that I hadn’t really done before, and I couldn’t really handle it.”
Other strict adjustments Scott has had to make at Richmond include following individually tailored gym programs, half-hour recovery sessions after training and shorter, more intense training sessions during the season proper.
“That’s just totally different to anything in the VAFA,” Scott said.
What he does on-field has changed too.
The need to replicate what Richmond is doing at the elite level in order to aid the development of the younger AFL-listed Tigers means the VFL club’s style of play has also come as a shock to Scott.
“In terms of the size of your opponents, I was kind of seasoned to that in the VAFA last year,” he said.
“But the big difference for me was just the pace of the game and the need to make decisions a lot quicker.
“Whether that’s with the footy or without it, you just find that blokes are getting rid of the ball quicker, you’ve got to be running to the right spots and you’ve got to be anticipating the play more than you would in the VAFA.”
The changes don’t stop there, either.
Having played on a wing throughout his junior career, as well as during his time with Oakleigh and Old Trinity, Scott was suddenly thrust into an unfamiliar forward line role at the behest of Richmond coach Tim Clarke.
“During pre-season I spoke to Tim just to see where I was at coming into the season and he mentioned a forward role, which was a bit surprising at first,” Scott said.
“But then he explained to me how, due to the set up of the list with the AFL players (needing to be accommodated), playing forward would give me a good opportunity to actually play games in the side.”
Scott came around to the idea, and started gaining confidence once he learnt the team’s structures and had played some practice matches.
The VFL Academy member has gone on to play all bar two matches in 2015, booting three goals from nine games and featuring in Richmond’s best players twice.
From his significant time spent playing on a wing, Scott said his natural strengths of good ball use, run-and-carry with the ball and “just being able to do things that some other players can’t” have translated well to his new role.
However, certain areas have required extra attention.
“Playing on a wing, you’re not really that inclined to do the defensive acts and I kind of got away with not doing that much,” Scott said.
“But playing forward now, you realise how important the defensive stuff is.
“I’ve had to keep reminding myself that ‘you need to go for tackles’, and tackling someone inside 50 is just as important as maybe giving off a handball to set up a goal.”
After an enjoyable year spent playing with school mates at Old Trinity, the jump to VFL level has been a shock to the system on many levels as Anthony Scott attempts to eventually crack the AFL.
But if he does make it there one day, now at least, he’ll know what to expect.
Last Modified on 10/07/2015 08:57