Placing pressure on Essendon’s selectors and his senior teammates is a significant achievement for young defender Jordan Ridley.
And only a handful of weeks into his second season at the club he has done just that.
Ridley has already overcome many barriers in his short time at The Hangar.
After getting an early taste of senior football in the JLT Community Series against Gold Coast in Cairns at the start of 2017, Ridley knew something wasn’t right.
“Last year in February I played in the JLT against Gold Coast and then after that my back was pretty sore and I ended up having a stress fracture in my back,” Ridley said.
Ridley pushed past the disappointing injury, bursting into the remainder of the VFL season and impressing with his athleticism and composure to enter the pre-season full of steam.
But right when it all seemed on track for the 19-year-old he fell to injury once more.
This time it was his ankle, with Ridley suffering a torn tendon late last year interrupting his impressive momentum.
“Just before Christmas last year, I tore my syndesmosis in my ankle, so obviously (that was) really, really frustrating.
“But it’s just good to be out of rehab and back on the park.”
Ridley isn’t one stew on the opportunities he might have missed through his unfortunate setbacks and instead described them as a “blessing in disguise”
“I think I’ve done what I can when I have been out. It’s probably been a bit of a blessing in disguise with the injuries.
“I’ve been able to put on a lot of weight, a lot of physical development that I probably otherwise wouldn’t have done.”
Last week he saw his housemate Matt Guelfi reach his dream of playing his first AFL game, and Ridley is hopeful he can get the same breakthrough this year after impressing in the VFL side’s first two matches.
“I live with him actually, so it was good to hear all about it.
“Obviously it’s the thing you always aspire to do, so hopefully it’s not too far away.
“It feels unreal to be out there, getting to know a bit more about how Essendon plays footy and hopefully (I can) play some good footy myself.”
Regardless of which side he is selected in this week, the tall defender is set to take on Collingwood for the annual ANZAC Day fixture.
He said the club’s commemorative service featuring Essendon legend Jack Jones on Thursday was a great experience as he looks forward to a blockbuster match.
“Obviously it’s two really, really big clubs, really old, historic clubs in the AFL, so it will be really good to pull on the jumper and represent my club,” Ridley said.
“It was really good, it was interesting to hear from Jack Jones.
“We’re really lucky obviously with what we’ve had to deal with in our lives, we don’t have to deal with anything like what they’ve been through, so to get a different perspective is really good.”
The VFL Bombers will face Collingwood at Victoria Park on Saturday ahead of the senior side’s clash next Wednesday.
