Tom Scully was named in the under 18 All-Australian team on Saturday following a stellar performance for Victoria Metro at the AFL under 18 national championships. 20717 By Marc McGowan
TOM Scully’s standing as one of the country’s top Australian Rules football talents was reaffirmed with selection in the under 18 All-Australian team on Saturday.
The 17-year-old from Berwick excelled for the unbeaten Victoria Metro in the AFL under 18 national championships, leading to his naming in the 22-man squad.
Scully is the only member of the side, which includes the likes of Jack Watts, Nicholas Naitanui and Michael Hurley, ineligible to be drafted to the AFL this year, but is sure to be highly sought in the 2009 national draft.
“When I first found out, I was pretty surprised because leading into the carnival I expected, as a bottom-age (player), to only play a couple of games,” he said.
“I ended up playing four out of the five games and played some all right footy.”
Scully, who featured in Victoria Metro’s best players twice in the championships, spent most of his time up forward – as opposed to his usual midfield role – and impressed with his decision-making and defensive pressure.
The Dandenong Stingrays and Narre Warren junior averaged five tackles a game, and said this was an area of his game he had worked on.
“It was brought up to me last year that my defensive pressure was not quite up to scratch, so it’s been a big focus of mine,” Scully said.
“I always knew it would be hard being bottom-age and playing against the best under 18s in Australia, so it was a good opportunity to see where I was at.
“I just wanted to do my thing, not stand out, and just do what I had to do.”
Success has followed Scully throughout his esteemed junior career so far, winning All-Australian selection at under 15 level and the Kevin Sheehan Medal for the best Division One player at last year’s AFL under 16 national championships.
The year 11 student has competed only once for the Stingrays in the TAC Cup under 18 competition this season due to his scholarship duties with Haileybury College.
Scully has led Haileybury College to top spot on the APS competition standings, with the team only losing once in 2008.
“There are no finals in school footy, so whoever finishes on top of the ladder wins the championship,” he said.
“I have a pretty good connection with school and footy and they’re pretty understanding about my commitments to both.
“It’s important to have a good balance, and I think I’ve found that at the moment and it’s probably helped me play better footy.”
Only two weeks remain in the APS competition, meaning Scully will grace the field for Dandenong in the race to the finals.
“I still need to increase my strength, which is something I’ve been working on, and I’ve been keeping really fit because my running capacity is an important aspect of my game,” he said.
“I just need to keep improving on everything – there’s nothing singled out. I have to get better in every part of the game.”
