East Keilor youngster Andrew Welsh is hoping to emulate the roles of thetenacious pair who graced the Bombers guernsey before him. Having aimed to playjust one game in his introductory season, the former Vic Metro vice-captain played an astonishing 21 matches including finals football as a rebounding half-back flanker and running midfielder. It was a great initiation for the lean number 47 pick in the 2001 National Draft.
“Coming into this year I've got a lot more confidence. Last year when I wasgetting the ball I was just trying to get rid of it because the pressure waspretty intense, whereas this year I've just sort of gained from the experience I had last year, it has just settled me down a bit,” Welsh said.
“It has given me a lot of confidence this year to use the ball better and actuallytake players on instead of shitting myself and just bombing it.” Most first-year teenagers would be daunted with the prospect of marking up against AFL's best forwards who boast plenty of bulk. Heading into the 2003 season the tough-as-nails backman stood at 187 centimetres and weighed a slender 75 kilograms - much slighter than someof the big half forwards. That did not weaken his aggression for the ball and was a major tick again his name when it came to the coaches selecting him in their team each week.
“Coaches love guys who make a contest and like guys who are willing to work,” Welsh said. “You get some young fellas who are pretty flashy around in the juniors but get lost when they come through the seniors. That's something that I've worked at just trying to make everything I'm near a contest and not let anyone get an easy ball,” the 20-year-old said.
“It is pretty tough, but it's funny, as soon as you run out on to the oval, you don't really think about that (physical pressure) because there's a ball there to be won.” The second-year player is under no illusions that the tough work in the gym is still to come.Once the final siren sounds on the current season, you can expect the disciplined Welsh to be pumping iron feverishly in a bid to boost his physical capabilities, which is oneof his major assets.
“I've just always had a crack, I'm not going to do five blind turns and kick abanana goal from the boundary once a game, so the physical side was probably something I had to work on,” he said. “Hopefully in the next couple of years I can puton a bit of beef and actually do damage when I bump people, not justbump them and they sort of waddle off and no impact is really made.”
Despite the versatility and running strength of the formerEssendon District Football League clubs West meadows and DouttaStars, his true domain is focussed on carving his niche on the half-backFlank - not too dissimilar to Hardwick and Solomon. Although, he admittedhe was just happy to be rubbing shoulders with the likes of Matthew Lloydand James Hird.
“I've played most of my time as a half-back flank so I enjoy that ... At this stage I'm happy to be wherever,” Welsh said. The keen golf player lives at home with hisparents and will soon take up an AFL traineeship in business administration.Amongst his hobbies are water-skiing and surfing with his mates, but thedrawback of playing in the big league is spending less time with his mates.
”Your mates give it to you a bit and say you're weak and that sort of stuffbut they understand the situation you're in, of course you'd want to goout with them and have a few beers and run amok like the young blokes do,”he said.
From the time Welsh turned the age of 16, he decided to take footballseriously and put in the hard yards at Cannons training to make it to thetop and that was the difference between getting selected or missing thecut. “It wasn't until I was 16 that I thought well there's 1000s of kids in the spot asme that want to play AFL football - I've got to start doing a bit extra andworking a bit harder if I'm going to get ahead of the vast majority.”
“It is the sacrifices you've got to make in the U18s and playing with the Cannons - when all your mates want to go out and have a good time, you've got to look to the future abit if you want to play AFL football.”
