Elite squad surprise for rising star

By Paul Pickering
PAKENHAM Upper teenager Tom Bugg was last week anointed as one of the country’s most exciting football prospects.
The 16-year-old midfielder/ forward, who plays his junior footy with Beaconsfield, was among eight Victorians selected in the 30-player AIS-AFL Academy squad for 2009-10.
Bugg was “a bit surprised” to get the phone call last week, but said he couldn’t wait to get started at footy’s finest finishing school.
The Gippsland Power under-16 squad member is now in truly elite company, with around 80 per cent of academy graduates finding their way onto AFL lists.
That statistic is a testament to the success of the program, which is now in its 13th intake, but Bugg is under no illusions about what the figure means.
“It’s a good stat, but it doesn’t just stop here and you get drafted,” he said this week.
“There’s still a lot of hard work to do, so I’ll just give it my best shot and hopefully, at the end of the day, I do get drafted.”
Bugg is reluctant to look too far ahead, but he has clearly been earmarked as a star of the future.
The academy’s new High Performance coach Jason McCartney, who watched Bugg play for the first time at the National Under-16 Championships last month, has little doubt about his ability.
“From what Tom displayed at the championships in Sydney, we believe he’s got the potential to go a long way with his football,” McCartney said.
“He’s an inside midfielder, he wins his own footy and he’s quite courageous.”
Bugg’s Vic Country side – coached by ex-Collingwood champion Nathan Buckley – was undefeated in the preliminary rounds of the carnival and will now play South Australia at the MCG on AFL grand final day.
For his part, Bugg was less than impressed with his own performances, but content to play his role in a winning team.
He said playing at the ’G on that ‘one day in September’ would be the realisation of a team goal and a personal dream.
Bugg will fly out for the first academy camp in Canberra the next day to begin the next phase of his football education.
“I’m really looking forward to it,” he said.
“I’ve spoken to a few kids who went there last year, and they just said to go there with an open mind, ask a lot of questions and take everything on board.”
The academy program will again include a trip to South Africa early next year, where the sport’s rising stars will play an exhibition match against the locals and host a series of clinics for underprivileged kids.