Jeffrey Garlett, Simon White and David Ellard have all done it the hard way. But as far as Carlton’s Assistant National Recruiting Manager Shane Rogers is concerned, they were always going to make it.
A man better qualified than most to cast judgment, Rogers said that the common thread with Garlett, White and Ellard was “work ethic”, governed by an unwavering desire to make it through to senior level.
“If you have a look at Jeffrey, he weighs in at 71 kilos, but he’s a competitive little beast, as is Simon White who also has a belief in himself . . . and as for Davey Ellard - I just call him ‘Don Bradman’. He kept making a hundred every time he went out to play, and eventually they had to pick him.”
Ask Rogers which of the three has actually done it the hardest, and after some deliberation he volunteers the kid in the No.38 guernsey.
“I’m a bit biased, because I have a bit more knowledge here than the average supporter, but I would say Jeffrey, with his background and history, has done it the hardest . . . but they’ve all done it hard.”
Rogers explained that White’s aspirations to become a senior AFL player were constantly frustrated by broken promises. As he said: “clubs were constantly telling him he’d be drafted, and then it’d fall over”.“When he got into the seniors in the WAFL it took him a little while to get going, but he had all the attributes you’d think an AFL player would need,” Rogers said.
“We haven’t seen the best of Simon White. We’ve seen about 60 per cent, and I joke with him, saying ‘Mate, they don’t know how good you’re going to be’. He’s more mature and he’s got a better attitude now, which is not to say he didn’t have a good attitude before. I just reckon that when you suffer disappointment and you work your way through that you become a better person.”
Of White’s fourth round selection at the 2010 rookie draft (No.56 overall), Rogers considers the club fortunate to have landed the former Subiaco player.
“We were lucky. All of us had seen a bit of him, and I probably pushed a bit harder just to get him because I thought we needed that type a player - a player able to play at both ends,” Rogers said.
“For us he’s probably better suited forward, but for him he’s probably better suited back. I reckon we can probably cover him across half-back with Paul Bower and those blokes and we don’t have that forward that can be hard at the footy, lead up and be the hit-up forward.
“Everyone here thinks he’s a really hard-nosed, tough player, but he wasn’t like that at Subiaco. When he had to go he did, and I knew he had it in him, but he was actually a really good runner, which is the bit we haven’t seen yet.”
As for David Ellard, Rogers says he can’t remember any rookie-listed player taking out the best clubman award, as Ellard did in 2009.
He also offers a nice little yarn which in part tells the whole of the sort of character the kid from Guildford Grammar actually is.
“I remember him (Ellard) getting out on the first day having never run around the park at Carlton and never had that AIS program background,” Rogers says. “Anyway, I was walking across to the track with him and I said, ‘Mate, what time do you reckon you could run around the park?’ and he said ‘Oh about 11 (minutes)’. I said to him ‘For God’s sake don’t tell ‘Ratts’ (Brett Ratten) that’ because 11 minutes is a really good time first-up and he’d basically just got off the plane with no pre-season.
“With that, Ratts rocked up and said to David ‘What time do you reckon you’ll run around the park?’ and David said ‘11’. I thought ‘Oh no’, but 11 was exactly what he did it in. That was his first run, the kid told the truth and we knew he wasn’t mucking around.”
Seems so long ago now that Rogers and Carlton’s National Recruiting Manager Wayne Hughes completed their first serious dealing with the would-be Blue in the unlikeliest of venues within close proximity of the Swan Districts footy ground.
“We had to get him away from his job to meet with him. For memory he was an apprentice roof tiler, and his boss was a good bloke, but wouldn’t give him any time off. So we had to drive about 45 minutes out of the CBD to a McDonald’s, and buy a coffee for him and his Dad,” Rogers said.
“He [Ellard] walked in with dirt all over him, but we knew from day one that he was for us because he had a real determination to succeed no matter what . . . and that’s exactly how he’s played since he’s been here.
“I think what’s underrated about David Ellard is that he’s actually brought a group of players with him. The players just love him - his attitude and desire to train hard, then cop all the knocks along the way in not being able to get a game, being rookie listed and hanging on every year by the skin of his teeth.
“So it’s great reward for David to be elevated to the senior list at Carlton.”
