Marcus Bontempelli joined a long list of Eltham juniors to find their way onto an AFL list when his name was read out by the Western Bulldogs at last week’s AFL draft.
The Bulldogs used their first pick in the draft to secure the versatile tall midfielder who starred for both Vic Metro and the Northern Knights this season.
Bontempelli joins David Zaharakis, Josh Caddy, Nick Vlastuin and Daniel Currie as former Panthers now on an AFL list.
Remarkably, three of those five players were picked with top-10 draft selections. Bontempelli was selection No.4 in this year’s draft, while Richmond used pick No. 9 to draft Vlastuin in 2012 and Gold Coast chose Caddy with pick No. 7 in 2010.
It is an incredible feat by the Panthers, who have nurtured a third of the 15 former Northern Football League players now playing at the top level.
To add to the list, former Eltham junior Adam Simpson was recently appointed as coach of the West Coast Eagles for the next three seasons after playing 306 games for North Melbourne.
Eltham junior president Michael McLellan said it was an incredible effort by his club to have so many players in the AFL system.
“I suppose we’ve been fortunate enough to have a lot of good young talent coming through,” he said.
“At the end of the day it’s just a fantastic family club with great support from the club and parents alike.
“For those kids to be picked up is not only great for the club, but also great for kids after all the hard work they put in.”
McLellan said the Eltham junior committee invested a lot of time and resources into coaching development to ensure each young footballer received the best possible guidance.
Given the success the club has had on the field and at the draft table, that investment is certainly reaping large rewards.
In September, Under-17 premiership coach Paul Reid was awarded the 2013 AFCA Northern Region Junior Coach of the Year for his work as both a coach and mentor to fellow junior coaches.
“Our view is that if we can teach the correct techniques then we’ll continue to invest heavily (in coaching development),” he said.
“A lot of kids are passionate about football and they want to learn and develop and, more importantly, they want to have fun and enjoy it.”
McLellan said Eltham’s current AFL players made the effort to head back to their local club on occasions, which always provides an exciting experience for the club’s current crop of youngsters.
He believes the youngsters can learn plenty from their idols playing at the highest level, using Zaharakis’ journey to the AFL as a prime example.
“I’ve had a few discussions with David about his time at Eltham and he tells us that he didn’t even play rep football coming through,” McLellan said.
“It was only towards the end of his junior career that he got the opportunity to play at the Knights to further develop.
“It just proves to other kids that you don’t need to necessarily be picked in rep teams to make it. If you have the passion and the desire and the work ethic and will, you can certainly make it.”
Given the recent success of Eltham’s higher-age junior sides, McLellan was hopeful that there would be more draftees in coming years.
The Panthers under-17 team, coached by Reid, won this year’s Under-17 Blue premiership on the back of an undefeated season. The same team also won the Under-16 Blue flag in 2012.
For those who aren’t drafted, McLellan said that Eltham’s junior to senior pathway was extremely strong, with many juniors going on to play open-age football at Eltham Central Reserve.
“We work closely with the senior football club, with kids wanting to come through and play under-19s and then move into the seniors,” he said.
“We just recently had young Lewis Glasgow play in the seniors as an under-17 which was fantastic.
“It just goes to show that if you work hard enough you can certainly make it into the senior ranks as well.”
Click here for a full list of former NFL juniors now on an AFL club’s list.
