What Ryan Maric draft pick-up means for struggling Eagles, while three WAFL stars join AFL lists

One was expected – the other turned into a nail-biting wait.

West Coast took Gippsland Power’s Ryan Maric with the first pick. It was expected but still sparked emotional celebrations at Drouin Football Club, with Maric eventually shedding tears down the phone while talking to Eagles coach Adam Simpson.

He was caught up in the emotion of a two-year journey that saw him battle glandular fever and lose 24kg; going from a portly 107kg to an 83kg hard-running forward who excelled in the Gippsland Power talent development program and played strongly for VFL club Box Hill Hawks.

He was the unanimous choice as the standout talent in this draft and would have been a likely top 30 pick had he made it through to the national draft.

It would have been a surprise had West Coast not taken him. For the Eagles, with big holes on their list at the difficult end of a rebuild, 18-year-old Maric represents long-term potential. And with good form in the VFL already under his belt, he also represents a possible short-term playing option for a club that has an injury-stricken list and has been picking from as few as 26 players at times this year.

At the other end of the draft came Claremont’s Jack Buller, thought a near-certainty to be picked up after strong form in the opening month of the WAFL season and selection in the state senior team at 22 years of age.

Buller was even considered an option for West Coast with their first pick and for a number of other clubs a little further down the order. Claremont had reported unprecedented interest from a range of clubs in their star forward.

But West Coast picked Maric as predicted and then one by one, other clubs either preferred other tall options or chose to try and satisfy other list needs.

Fremantle, another club interested in Buller, opted for Frankston midfielder Ethan Stanley with its selection at pick eight.

It was left to the Sydney Swans, whose tall stocks have been decimated by injury and who face the prospect of Lance Franklin’s retirement at the end of the season, to make Buller’s AFL dream come true.

The Swans took Brisbane’s mature-aged VFL key defender Harry Arnold with their first pick, sixth overall, and were keen to put a tall in place for their forward line with their second which, at pick 14, was the last in the draft.

It certainly doesn’t mean though that Buller will be the last of this crop to play; a point that Swans recruiter Kinnear Beatson made clear.

“Jack has just turned 22 and he finishes his finance and economic degree over in Perth this month. Harry is 24, so physically they are capable of playing,” Beatson told afl.com.au.

“We will see how they go when they join in the program. It sounds like both of them will be here by Friday. We will have a training session on Saturday and we have got a bye this weekend, so who knows? If they come in and play well, I am sure John and the match committee will have a look at them.

“He (Buller) has decided to get himself fit and to take his footy seriously. (Sydney assistant coach) Don Pyke has obviously still got strong connections back in the WAFL with Claremont and the mail came through pretty early that he was in pretty good form; [plus] the fact that he can also go into the ruck. He is 199cm and while not overly big for a ruckman, he competes really hard and that was one of the key things we liked about him.”

The Maric family would have had a fair idea that the Eagles were going to take him. Victoria-based Eagles recruiters Neil Ross and Stephen Nash were on hand in Drouin for the draft.

Maric, who graduated from working in a pizza shop to stacking shelves in the local Woolworths ahead of his new life as an AFL footballer, admitted it was a bit overwhelming.

“I have worked very, very hard to get here and it has all happened very quickly off the back of a lot of hard work. I have dreamed about this for a while but to finally get [my name] read out, it hadn’t really felt real until now,” he told afl.com.au, explaining his emotions.

“I thought I would be fine and composed, and I just broke down I guess.”

Maric paid tribute to older brother Josh, a personal trainer who played a key role in improving his fitness and reducing his weight to give him the opportunity to play AFL.

“I grew about 30cm in a year and a half when I was 15 and I had a couple of lower back injuries. I piled on the weight from there.

“It wasn’t until the start of 2020 that I started to lose all the weight and got struck with glandular fever at the start of last pre-season. I had no pre-season and came to the Gippsland Power program late.

“My brother got me onto a diet and into the gym. That got me over that first barrier. I am very grateful. A lot of the credit goes to him.

“It is crazy how far I have come in such a short period of time.”

Subiaco’s Robert Hansen Junior didn’t have to wait as long as Buller to know he was getting an opportunity, with his name read out at pick two by North Melbourne. Perth’s Jaiden Hunter was the other WAFL talent taken, by Essendon at pick nine.