Coach lifts weight of world off debutants

WHEN draftees Jack Bowes and Ben Ainsworth were summoned by coach Rodney Eade last week the last thing they thought it was regarding was their upcoming AFL debuts.

Actually they thought exactly the opposite.

The pair of 19-year-old’s thought they had stepped out line, such was their hard-work and no-fuss attitude that hadn’t required too much input from Eade throughout their early stages at the club.

Bowes revealed he spent an entire gym session last Thursday sweating over what Eade was going to say rather than the weights he was lifting.

“I was going into a gym session and he pulled me aside and said, ‘I need to talk to you after your workout’,” Bowes said.

“I was a bit worried and thinking about it all session.

“I didn’t really know what to expect.

“I thought I had done something wrong but I got in there and the first thing he said was, ‘congratulations you’re playing’.

“My jaw dropped and I didn’t know what to believe.”

Ainsworth’s nerves came through a text message Eade sent him before a phone call he admitted he was hesitant to take.

“I answered the phone anyway and he ran me through it,” Ainsworth said.

“It was a bundle of emotions and more excitement than anything.

“It’s a childhood dream coming true.”

Ainsworth and Bowes, taken at No.4 and 10 in last year’s draft, have been heavily tipped to earn a Round 1 debut after impressing in the JLT Community Series where they were lauded by Eade.

Six players will make their Suns debut in the openinground QClash at Metricon Stadium tomorrow, with Michael Barlow, Jarrod Witts, Pearce Hanley and Jarryd Lyons joining the two draftees.