Jaska sets himself a task
THINK Heath Shaw’s smother on Nick Riewoldt in 2010, or better still, Dale Morris’s tackle on Lance Franklin in last year’s AFL decider.
It is the best way to envisage Josh Jaska’s finalquarter heroics for the Geelong Falcons in their fourpoint win over the Calder Cannons last month.
Coach Daniel O’Keefe did not fail to highlight those one percenters in his post-game review and it is clear Vic Country scouts did not miss them either.
It is that type of performance that has secured Jaska a start in Vic Country’s line-up against the Allies on Sunday week.
“To make the initial squad, that was a pretty big shock — I thought I had an all right start to the year but nothing that would warrant that,” the 19year-old said.
“And then as it progressed, I was shocked to even make the final squad, and to be playing next week, it’s all happened pretty fast.”
“Fast” might be an understatement.
This time two years ago, Jaska was having a kick at Anglesea in the under-18s, not taking his footy too serious.
But by the end of 2015, the key defender decided he wanted to give senior football a go.
“I’ve been playing at Anglesea all my life; probably Division 3 football my whole time there, through under-14s and under-16s,” he said.
“I probably got to under-18s . . . I had a pretty good year as a bottom-ager that year and thought, ‘Maybe I want to take my footy a bit seriously’. I had never had the end goal to make Falcons or go too far with my footy, I always thought I’d play local footy.
“My best mate, Jack Walters, ended up getting a call up to the Falcons as a topager, and I thought, ‘I may as well give seniors a crack’.”
By Round 1 of the BFL season, Jaska was lining up in Anglesea’s seniors.
Twelve months later, the 194cm fullback was donning a Falcons guernsey.
“I thought I had a pretty good year but thought, ‘I’ve missed my chance for the Falcons’,” he said.
“I was just driving with a mate and it popped up on Facebook that my name was on the list for pre-season as a 19-year-old.
“I had some good people in my corner who were trying to put my name forward, but they were saying, ‘Don’t get your hopes up’.”
Jaska said that year in the seniors, which included a stint on the sidelines after fracturing his cheekbone playing school footy for St Joseph’s, help him discover a hunger for football.
“It just got to a stage where you go to training and you’ve got kids mucking around and not taking it too seriously, and I was getting a bit sick of everyone not always wanting to win,” he said.
“I thought maybe I did want to take my footy a bit more serious than I was and I don’t want to have any regrets looking back, so I thought, ‘I may as well give whatever I can a crack and see how far I can go’.”
The Bulldogs’ supporter likens himself to a Dale Morris or a Dustin Fletcher — “doesn’t do anything too special with the ball, just does his bit”.
“I’ve made it this far so I’m definitely working as hard as I can and the end goal would be to see how far I can go and make it on an AFL list,” he said.
A dozen Falcons made the final Vic Country squad for this year’s under-18 carnival.
James Worpel was named co-captain, with Harry Benson, Sam Walsh (injured), Matthew Ling, Ethan Floyd, Cooper Stephens, Gryan Miers, David Handley, Cassidy Parish, Tom McCartin, Ed McHenry and Jaska in the line-up.