When you're racing against the likes of pacy Western Bulldogs guns Scott West, Jason Akermanis, Farren Ray and Daniel Giansiracusa, you can only dream of finishing first in a pre-season time trial.
Well, the dream came true for Werribee Tigers speedster Jarrod Young, who eclipsed every member of the Bulldogs in the 3.2-kilometre time-trail and 600-metre run.
Registering a time of 10min 20secs, Young proved to be the fastest pup of the litter to win the time-trail in his group and overall.
``I've been taking it reasonably seriously, it's my first time training with an AFL club. It's a lot different because we're training during the day _ usually I would have footy training after work,'' Young said.
Teammates Rob Castello, Harley Ryan, Jim Allan, Sam Wormald, Brett Robinson and Wayde Twomey joined Young at the start of the Bulldogs' training a fortnight ago.
Young had been the most impressive of the Tiger young guns, before injuring his foot last Monday in what he described as a `freak accident'.
``I went down to the shop in Ocean Grove to buy the [newspapers] and I was walking while reading the back page and fell off the gutter and fractured my foot,'' he said.
``I had X-rays and I was feeling pretty dejected about it on Monday.''Despite the setback, the 21yearold is hopeful of being selected in the AFL pre-season and rookie draft on December 12.
``I'd love to be picked up, but I don't want to get too ahead of myself ... if I was, it would be a dream come true.
``Hopefully, my performance during the year and my efforts over the last week will help.''
Originally from Bendigo, Young's football code was soccer before moving to the coastal town of Ocean Grove on the Bellarine Peninsula when he was 13.
``I moved to Geelong and nobody wanted to play [soccer] there, [so] I pretty much played footy because all my mates were playing.''
Young played with Ocean Grove in the Bellarine Football Club, under coach Mark Neeld and was a part of the 2002 under-18 premiership team. He spent two years at the Geelong Falcons before being drafted to the Tigers in 2004.
He has since developed into a handy midfielder, playing 15 senior matches this year and being rewarded with the club's most improved player award.
``It was definitely an honour to win [the award], I think I had my best
season this year, but I still have a lot of improvement left in me.' 'An apprentice fitter by trade, Young said he was thrilled to be playing at Werribee and enjoyed the club's affiliation with the Western Bulldogs.
``It's an amazing experience training with the Bulldogs' senior players, but they're just the same as anyone _ they treat you the same as anyone else ... because the club is affiliated with them, I pretty much know most of them anyway.
``I didn't really have to adjust much when [I was] training there. ''Young plans to combine pre-season training with some time relaxing on Ocean Grove's beaches during the holiday period.
Werribee has signed Rod Macpherson and Jeremy Dyer as assistant coaches to work with Simon Atkins and Steve Kretiuk. Macpherson played with Footscray and the Brisbane Bears and was a member of the 1993 Werribee premiership team.
Dyer played more than 100 games for Werribee before crossing to the Geelong Football League as coach of Geelong West-St Peters where he won three best and fairests.
Last Modified on 22/02/2008 11:01
