By Tyler Lewis
**PULL QUOTE: “I probably didn’t work that hard when I was younger, I thought my natural ability would get me through, it wasn’t until I did The Recruit that I realised I needed to work a lot harder than I was… I went to Box Hill my first year after TAC Cup and thought my ability would get me where I wanted to, but it doesn’t work that way.”
In career best form, Noble Park’s Jackson Sketcher is blossoming in the learnings he wishes he knew earlier.
The powerful midfielder begun his journey at Springvale Districts and shifted to Noble Park as a teenager, before travelling through the then TAC Cup and VFL systems.
Sketcher shared the Morrish Medal in 2010 for the best player of the TAC Cup home and away season with now Essendon captain Dyson Heppell.
The former Sandringham Dragon polled in 12 of the possible 14 games to take a piece of the award with the eventual eighth overall pick of that seasons National Draft.
“To be honest I never thought I’d get drafted, I just thought people who play AFL were way too good, it’s probably why I had a good year, I didn’t have any expectations,” Sketcher said candidly.
“I never made Vic Metro under-15s or under-16s, my name was never really out there… it was never on my radar.
“But when I won it, I thought ‘oh sh*t, hang on’, especially when you win it with (Dyson) Heppell.
“I wasn’t disappointed to not get drafted, I was more disappointed the year after when Heppell had won the NAB Rising Star and was taking the piss in his first year.
“I was like ‘jeez he’s doing that, that should be me’, I probably played the victim a little bit, I just thought it was bullsh*t.
“I didn’t react to it very well; I thought ‘poor me’ rather than ‘I need to work my butt side off to get there’.”
After proclaiming he ‘played the victim’, Sketcher revealed how his mindset shifted after appearing in the 2016 season of The Recruit.
“It was unreal, it was probably the best thing for my footy,” he said.
“It was good to just strengthen my strengths and to know what my weapons actually were.
“It was probably one of the reasons I didn’t get picked up in that TAC Cup year, I was just a good footballer, I wasn’t elite in anything in particular.
“You were either 200cm, moved like the wind or your kicking or your marking was your strength, where I was just OK at everything.
“Being taught what your strengths are and how to utilise them as much as possible.”
Sketcher has since ensconced himself as a goliath of the Eastern Football League on the cusp a decorated September.
And now, at the age of 30, Sketcher envisions a time where he can influence those that are walking in shoes that once fit him.
“I did a couple of years (of coaching) at the Sandy Dragons before Covid,” he said.
“I would do every Monday night at Sandy and then Sunday games where I could do the running.
“When Covid hit they could only have so many coaches, then I moved to Montrose and we started working from home so that stopped.
“I ended up going to the Stingrays this year and did the same thing; I was doing that once a week… it’s definitely something I want to get into, especially around that age bracket.
“I feel like in those systems a lot of the attention gets put on those that are definitely going to get drafted, the higher end talent.
“But I would like to focus on the ones underneath and educate the kids, make him become a good local footballer, to potentially a good VFL footballer; they’re the kid I’d like to help, because that was me once upon a time.”
Sketcher’s Noble Park finished the home and away season in second position on the Eastern footy league ladder and is just one win away from a grand final berth.
