West Australian Angus Sheldrick has revealed he thought there had been a mistake when he heard the Sydney Swans call out his name at pick 18 in the 2021 NAB AFL Draft.
“I was pretty shocked, it was a surreal feeling. I didn’t really believe it at the start, and it probably hasn’t really hit me yet, but it was a great feeling," Sheldrick said.
"Even my older brother had left for footy training, he wasn’t there for it. None of my family knew, we weren’t expecting it at all.
"They didn’t really say anything, everyone’s faces sort of dropped and we were all like ‘that must be a mistake!’ It was just such a surreal feeling, it’s hard to describe. Best feeling of my life for sure.”
The surprises didn’t stop there for the 18-year-old midfielder, with new teammates Logan McDonald and Chad Warner stopping by to congratulate him.
“I played State footy with Chad Warner’s little brother Corey this year, so I had a good idea of who Chad was and obviously last year Logan was a really highly touted player, so I knew who they both were straight away when they rung the doorbell," Sheldrick said.
"They had been training at Claremont with my brother an hour before. I had never met them before, but it was really nice of them to pop over and introduce themselves, and they stayed for about an hour, it was awesome.”
Despite suffering an injury set back 12 months ago, Sheldrick went on to dominate for the WAFL Colts, finishing with 27 disposals and 2 goals in their Grand Final.
“I broke my collarbone last year so I didn’t play any footy, so going into this year was tough. I did the most work I could to give myself the best opportunity. I never thought this would have happened if you told me this a year ago, but I think off the back of hard work and the good coaches I’ve had I’ve been able to get to this point which is great.”
Sydney Swans National Recruiting Manager Simon Dalrymple described Sheldrick as a contested ball bull, and the West Australian admits it’s a fairly accurate assessment.
“I think a fair few people describe me as that, but obviously playing inside mid you have to win the ball in a contested situation so I can see where it comes from. I will hopefully be able to develop that and become a better contested player as well," Sheldrick said.
"I loved the way Luke Hodge went about his game and everything I did I tried to model off him when I was a young kid. Obviously he’s been out of the game for a while so more recently it’s been Ollie Wines type, we play quite a similar style of footy.”
Sheldrick revealed he’s excited to join the young talent coming through the ranks at the Swans and learn off some of the greatest midfielders in the game.
‘The Swans have a really young and good list, Chad Warner and Logan McDonald are good WA boys and I think it would be really cool to form a connection with them while I’m in Perth," Sheldrick said.
"And then there’s Luke Parker and Josh Kennedy because they play a similar position to what I play. It will be awesome to learn off them, and be a sponge to whatever they have to teach.
"I just can’t wait to meet all the guys, most of the players have sent me a text and seem like such a welcoming group. I just can’t wait to form a strong connection with each player, I’m really excited to do that.”
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