Jack defies odds right from start
STEVE Wilson can certainly pick a long shot.
To identify a skinny kid from Cairns at age 13 that turns into a top 10 AFL draft pick would be akin to having a $101 outsider win the Melbourne Cup.
Wilson, the Gold Coast Suns media manager, has both on his resume.
The role of the media manager at a footy club is usually behind the scenes, working away to provide content for newspapers and TV stations, but to Wilson’s chagrin, he is front and centre in this story.
It was at the Gold Coast Suns Cup in 2011 that he first laid eyes on Cairns Saints talent Jack Bowes.
He was sitting in the stands alongside The Courier-Mail scribe Andrew Hamilton, watching schools from Cairns, the Gold Coast and northern New South Wales compete.
Hamilton, too, deserves some credit for pinpointing Bowes.
“I remember just this No. 3 dominating for one of the Cairns schools,” Wilson recalled this week.
“It turned out to be Jack Bowes.
“I went back to our talent manager at the time and said: ‘How young is too young to have this kid in our academy?’
“He was just getting so much footy and I knew the level was not the highest but he was just a step above.”
The Suns were quick to get Bowes into their academy while another long shot bubbled away.
Wilson, his younger brother and parents were part of the syndicate that shared in the original $50,000 outlay to buy Prince of Penzance in 2011.
Wilson was one of 23 coowners of the Melbourne Cup Cinderella story, the $101 outsider Prince of Penzance that stunned the nation and made a legend of female jockey Michelle Payne.
Bowes, like Prince of Penzance, defied the odds of growing up in a non-traditional footy area to make it on Australia’s biggest stage.
“Jack then went to dominate a junior carnival in Wagga Wagga and other recruiters from clubs were comparing him to Jaeger O’Meara and Jack Martin,” Wilson said.
“After that carnival, our list manager Scott Clayton rang me and said ‘you might know what you are on about here mate’.”
The St Augustine’s College graduate will play his first AFL game at the ground where he started his footy journey, Cazalys Stadium, this afternoon.
Bowes has been to every elite game in Cairns since 2011 and says he remembers the Karmichael Hunt after-the-siren goal all those years ago vividly.
The last time he played at the ground does not bring back positive memories for the classy midfielder.
Just 16 years of age, he played in the losing AFL Cairns seniors’ grand final for Saints against Port Douglas in 2014.
“I was thinking about it this week and that would be the last game I played there,” Bowes said.
“It is a shame we lost that day.
“I played plenty of footy there as a kid and won an under-14s premiership there.
“I trained there plenty of times with Hawks as a junior.”
Bowes admits he has a better perspective on life as an elite footballer about three quarters of the way through his first season.
His side has struggled at times, he has suffered injuries and been sent back to the reserves for a run, but he will be a better player for it in the long run.
“It has been an up and down first year, which I sort of expected,” Bowes said.
“It was great to debut in the first round and then play seven games straight.
“I got tonsillitis after the China game, then pinged a hammy and played a couple of games in the NEAFL.
“The first year was never going to be easy, to experience a whole range of things in my first year, it gives you a good perspective on AFL footy.”