Darcy Byrne-Jones’ 12 months of triumphs have spilled over into last night’s NAB AFL Draft, when he was called as pick No. 52 for Port Adelaide.
By Maddy Jeffery
Sitting alongside his family in his Melbourne home Byrne-Jones waited apprehensively for his name to be called, until the moment he’d been waiting for finally arrived.
“I was pretty nervous just sitting on the couch with family,” Byrne-Jones said.
“As the draft went on I just got more and more nervous, praying it would happen… when it finally did I was ecstatic, I can’t even describe the feeling.
“When we heard my name called, we all jumped up in the air and started hugging and screaming”.
Just last year Byrne-Jones was playing school football at Scotch College, dreaming of someday playing AFL football.
In September 2012 an opportunity arose when Oakleigh Chargers’ Talent Manager Mark Smart saw some potential in him.
“Smarty invited me down to the Under-17 Development game just to try and get on the pre-season list at the Chargers and it sort of went from there,” Byrne-Jones said.
“I worked hard in the pre-season, played the first few games with Oakleigh then got called out to Vic Metro and played four games.
“When I came back to Oakleigh I played pretty well and then I was invited to the combine,” he said.
The results Byrne-Jones produced at the Draft Combine were nothing short of impressive, finishing in the top 10 for five of the tests.
“The combine was really rewarding,” Byrne-Jones said.
“Jake Kelly who is also from Oakleigh and I worked really hard for the combine, training up to twice a day just so we could get the best out of ourselves.
“To get those results it was really pleasing”.
Smart had nothing but praise and admiration for Byrne-Jones last night, describing how delighted he was with the outcome.
“Out of all our achievements this year, Darcy’s development is something I am most proud of,” Smart said.
Byrne-Jones will join Port Adelaide’s pre-season this Sunday before jetting over to Dubai with the team for a training camp.
“I’m excited to move to Adelaide on Sunday and really looking forward to the training camp,” Byrne-Jones said.
“They are a really exciting club to go to.
“I’m just looking forward to getting there and hopefully making a good impression”.
Byrne-Jones was one of five Oakleigh Chargers picked up in the draft last night, putting the club second for the most players drafted.
Last Modified on 22/11/2013 15:42