By RUSSELL BENNETT
TWO former local young guns Tom Papley and Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti have been upgraded from the AFL rookie ranks into the senior lists at Sydney and Essendon respectively and are eligible to play from Round 1.
A lively small forward with brilliant footy smarts, Papley will line up in the AFL this season for the club both of his grandfathers played for.
His dad’s father, Max, played 59 games for South Melbourne and was named club champion in 1966 while his mum Susie’s dad, the late Jeff Bray, also played 34 games for the club after a distinguished career at West Adelaide.
Papley told the Gazette late last year that it took a while for it to sink in that the team with such a deep connection to his family had selected him with pick 14 in the Rookie Draft.
But the 19-year-old had shown plenty since being moved from the midfield into an attacking role by the Gippsland Power.
He interviewed with the Magpies and then the Bombers in the lead-up to the draft, before sitting down with the Swans for a fateful interview at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre.
“It was short and sweet – for 25, 30 minutes – but I felt pretty confident,” he said.
“They asked me what I thought they needed and I said I was a Sydney supporter and that I thought they needed a small forward.”
Papley was only 16 when he won a senior premiership with Bunyip, and soon after he was drafted many of his former team mates either called, or went around to his house to congratulate him.
“It was pretty special to win a flag with those boys,” he said with a smile.
“I’ll always remember that.”
But now the aim of the game for Papley is a simple one – to solidify a spot in John Longmire’s side.
A former Longwarry local, McDonald-Tipungwuti, 22, told the Gazette last month: “I want to show the world what I’ve got, and if I get the chance I want to show my skills and my pace and make the environment around the club really enjoyable for everyone to see.”
Now, he has that chance at the Bombers.
When he first met Jane McDonald, his classroom was in a Tiwi Islands community where unemployment levels were high, and dreams set low.
But he yearned for something different – an education and a life to call his own. He always had a prodigious footballing talent – as he displayed as a 14-year-old in the Tiwi Bombers’ senior side, and later in his time at the Gippsland Power – but his story goes so far beyond the boundary of any footy field.
He has since taken Jane’s name after she legally became his mother. The pair has be- come one hell of a team, working together through it all as McDonald-Tipungwuti worked to realise another dream – playing in the AFL.
His has been a tough and winding road, but it’s set to reach a stunning destination – an AFL senior debut.
