Academy trio earn Dimma’s backing
For some AFL youngsters feigning modesty is part and parcel of the debutant experience but Ethan Read is adamant he didn’t see Wednesday’s announcement coming.
So much so that when he fronted up for what he thought was a scheduled player appearance, only to see family and friends beaming at him on a projector screen, he froze.
“I didn’t even speak to them,” laughed Read.
“Probably a bit awkward. I didn’t know what to say, I was a bit in shock.
“I didn’t really think I would play this early on in my career. I’m just so stoked.”
It might sound like drivel given the 202cm giant was slapped with the nickname ‘Unicorn’ prior to last year’s National Draft, in which he was taken with the No.9 pick by his hometown Gold Coast Suns.
But even as the fanfare around his AFL future hit the headlines, the ubertalented Read still felt he was a long way off getting a start.
There was a method to his modesty. Despite being the clear best ruck prospect in the draft and blessed with a skill set perhaps not seen since Dean Cox was dominating in the air and on the ground for West Coast a decade ago, Read was still behind co-captain Jarrod Witts for the top tap job.
Could he play forward? Yes. But his best mate Jed Walter had just been taken a few picks earlier and would undoubtedly be given first crack inside 50 alongside Ben King and Jack Lukosius.
Defence? Certainly. Except Sam Collins and Charlie Ballard have a mortgage on the key tall posts.
It wasn’t a question of talent for Read, but where he might fit in a side blessed with starters at every line.
Thus in his first interviews after becoming a Sun, the teenager was happy to play down his chances.
Even as the club’s line coaches salivated at the prospect of what they could do with him – a two-metre giant with a midfielder’s tank and skills – he felt he wasn’t ready.
“I didn’t have expectations coming into this year,” Read said.
“I thought I wouldn’t play a game.” Perhaps it stemmed from his junior years, when he watched great mates Walter and Will Graham – who will also debut on Sunday against the Giants – earn early senior call-ups at Palm Beach Currumbin while he was left out.
Well-documented by now is his 11cm growth spurt over two years that saw him shoot past the 195cm Walter and into draft calculations.
Less spoken about were the doubts he held prior. There was a time when Read genuinely believed he would be the odd man out while his teammates went on to live out their AFL dreams.
“I thought Will and Jed would be drafted, but maybe not myself,” he conceded.
“I probably wasn’t the best player back in the day. But Will and Jed were killing it.”
Yet from the moment he was drafted, those around him at the Suns have been effusive in their praise.
Coach Damien Hardwick likened Read to Geelong star Mark Blicavs for his ability to cover the ground and play a variety of positions.
“He’s effectively a 6’10 guy who plays like a 6’1 guy which is incredibly impressive,” Hardwick told the Gold Coast Bulletin last month.
The coach experimented with Read in defence throughout the pre-season with an eye to turning him into a third tall who could also impact at ground level.
But Hardwick has pivoted from that idea, choosing instead to send Jack Lukosius into defence and unveil Read in a ruck tandem with Witts.
The youngster starred in the Suns’ VFL defeat to Richmond last month with 19 disposals and two goals, cementing the position switch in Hardwick’s head – and new-found belief for Read.
“I feel like I belong in this team now,” Read declared. “I have my swagger now I guess you could say.”
Only a few years ago, the Palm Beach Currumbin product wondered if he would ever get to take an AFL field.
On Sunday he will share a Suns midfield with Graham and forward line with Walter.
Dreams really can come true.
Damien Hardwick will throw caution to the wind this weekend when he unveils three Gold Coast debutantes in Sunday’s Gather Round test against ladder-leader GWS. Suns Academy trio Ethan Read, Will Graham and Sam Clohesy will all get their maiden AFL minutes against the competition benchmark at Mt Barker in a serious show of faith from Hardwick to his younger brigade.
Read (pick No.9) and Graham (No.26) stole the headlines during last year’s national draft as two of four Suns Academy products to be taken in the extended first round.
No.3 selection Jed Walter marked his AFL debut in round 2 against the Western Bulldogs, while No.14 pick Jake Rogers is not far off as he runs into form after an injury interrupted pre-season.
Read, 18, was earmarked for a development role in defence under Hardwick but after a pre-season as an intercept defender he was thrown forward in the VFL where he booted two goals from 19 touches.
He will form a potent ruck combination with Suns skipper Jarrod Witts and likely float forward to play alongside Walter and spearhead Ben King.
Graham, 18, was a pre-season darling who immediately impressed Hardwick with his work ethic and ability to cover the ground and is likely to play on the wing with occasional stints through the middle.
Clohesy, 21, is a former Suns Academy product who left the Gold Coast at 16 to return to Victoria with his family, where he continued his roundabout path to the AFL last year with VFL side Werribee.
He starred in last year’s VFL grand final defeat to the Suns en route to claiming the prestigious Fothergill-Round Medal as the competition’s most promising young player and was taken in the 2023 rookie draft.