Siposs set for Saints

By Paul Pickering
A SECOND-CHANCE special and a hard-working “quiet achiever” provided the icing on the cake for the Dandenong Stingrays contingent in last Thursday night’s AFL draft.
Hallam Senior College student Arryn Siposs and former Devon Meadows junior Andrew McInnes both endured an agonising wait before becoming the 75th and 67th picks in the selection meeting on the Gold Coast.
The latter will join former Stingrays team-mates Levi Casboult and Rohan Kerr at Carlton, while Siposs was embraced by St Kilda, the club he has supported his whole life.
Siposs, who turned 18 today, was still spinning on Monday, having just returned home from a tour of his new club.
“It was so exciting. It’s been my dream and now I have the chance to fulfil it, so I couldn’t ask for much more,” he said.
The Pakenham teenager was flanked by his parents, Attila and Meredith, as he watched the draft telecast at the house of Stingrays team-mate Alex Benbow last week.
“I started to think that maybe it wasn’t my day, but then I heard my name get called out and it was such a relief,” he said.
“Mum and dad got pretty emotional – they were stoked.”
That moment capped a remarkable rise for the smooth-moving 188cm forward, who wasn’t even invited to train with the Stingrays last year and ended up playing under-16 footy for Beaconsfield – kicking 99 goals in 16 games.
Siposs enrolled in the Hallam Senior College football program in 2009 and says he benefited immediately from a more professional approach to the game.
“That’s when everything started rolling for me,” Siposs said.
“I needed to work on my fitness and becoming stronger, so moving schools and having someone like (program director) Ben McGee there has helped me immensely over the last two years.”
Stingrays region manager Darren Flanigan, who also plays a key role at the school, says Siposs may have slipped through the cracks if not for some focused tutelage.
“I have no doubt that the fact that we were able to put the extra work into him with his all-round footy meant the difference between him getting drafted and not getting drafted,” Flanigan said.
“But he’s worked really hard, so it’s a good result for the school and for the kid, who’s come from a long way back.”
Siposs became the fourth Hallam footy prodigy to be drafted, following Ryan Bastinac (North Melbourne), Shane Savage (Hawthorn) and Tom Gillies (Geelong) in the previous two years. Fremantle draftee Dylan Roberton also spent some time in the program on his way to an AFL debut this year.
Meanwhile, Carlton was delighted to snap McInnes up with pick 67, having identified a need to shore up its defence.
McInnes was the Stingrays’ Mr Reliable this season, invariably manning the opposition’s most dangerous forward – and usually towelling them up.
Flanigan describes McInnes as a “quiet achiever”, which says more about his unflappable temperament than his credentials.
The skilful, rebounding defender was named in the TAC Cup Team of the Year this season, and also excelled for Vic Country during its run to the under-18 national championship.
Flanigan believes that while McInnes’ 191cm frame may not suit a key position post at AFL level, his versatility will be a major asset.
“He’s about the same size as a Harry O’Brien, and he’s shown an ability to play on the talls as well as the 5’10” marking forwards as well,” he said.