Draft diaries is a column that will check in with aspiring footballer Jobe Shanahan throughout the year, with the Moama junior providing regular updates to Riverine Herald sports journalist Alexander Dabb as he builds towards the AFL national draft in November.
For the past few years, everything Jobe Shanahan has done has been in pursuit of becoming an AFL footballer, and 2024 looms as the most important year in making his dream a reality.
A breakout season last year has him well positioned, though.
The Moama young gun starred at Murray league level, earning the league’s rising star award in the senior division, while also thriving in the Bendigo Pioneers’ set-up to finish as runner-up in the Coates Talent League side’s best-and-fairest count.
Standing at 194cm, Shanahan’s prodigious aerial ability was on show for the NSW-ACT side in the under-17 futures game against Vic Metro, putting on a marking clinic and slotting three majors to lock in a spot for the under-17 futures game at the MCG on grand final day.
All of that culminated in a coveted AFL Academy position, with Shanahan identified as one of the top 25 prospects for the draft at the end of this year.
Under the guidance of former Collingwood player Tarkyn Lockyer, the group convened for its first camp in December, fostering a high-performance culture.
After sessions at Whitten Oval, GMHBA Stadium in Geelong and Essendon’s facility ‘The Hangar’, there was one word in particular that Shanahan latched on to, while also taking on board some advice to simplify the year ahead.
“Everyone just talks about standards, having real high standards when you're training,” Shanahan said.
“(They also told us to) just kind of not really think about the draft and just play. There's still so long left in the season, it hasn't even started, so just play footy.”
But for someone in Shanahan’s position, it isn’t quite as simple as just playing footy.
The 17-year-old is also in the midst of completing VCE studies, with the first term of Year 12 wrapping up this week.
With such a vital year ahead in terms of realising his dreams on field, Shanahan knows the classroom is equally as important and faces a battle in juggling the two as the year progresses.
The AFL Academy will travel interstate on numerous occasions this year, which for Shanahan means missing classes, something that has already been raised between parents and teachers.
“There may be days that he's got to take off with the academy,” Jobe’s father Brendan said.
“He could be playing in Queensland and maybe Tasmania. There's a few different (states) — South Australia, I don't think there's a West Australian game, but he could be all over the place.
“It might mean taking a Monday and Tuesday off and working out the workload (from there).”
Week to week, Shanahan travels to Bendigo on Tuesdays and Thursdays after school to train with the Pioneers, which limits the time he has to study.
While he said the workload was “not too bad” at the moment, he is aware it will ramp up and knows having a plan in place in case football doesn’t work out is necessary, although he isn’t quite sure what that will look like yet.
“I don't know what I'll do if I don't make footy, but hopefully something to do with sport,” he said.
“I don't know if I'm smart enough to do physio, but something like that, maybe coaching or something.”
But for now, football remains an attainable goal, and as Shanahan enters his top-age year, he is poised to take the competition by the scruff of the neck.
Bendigo Pioneers coach Danny O’Bree has been glowing in his assessment of Shanahan’s pre-season, praising his improved work ethic, something the teen said stemmed from a burning desire to play at the top level.
“It's probably just me wanting to get drafted so much, I just want to play AFL,” Shanahan said.
“But probably just from last pre-season, I didn't really try as hard as I could have really, and then he (O'Bree) let me know about it.
“This pre-season I just made sure I tried as hard as I could.”
That includes during his stint with Essendon, when he rubbed shoulders with stars such as Zach Merrett and Darcy Parish, soaking in whatever knowledge he could before being involved in a full contact session on his final day at the club.
“I didn't do much on the first day because I had the academy training the day before, but I just learnt heaps from some of the players,” Shanahan said.
“I got to do a full session on the last day and got to get in one of their ‘praccies’ (practice matches), so yeah, it was pretty good.”
It would be easy for all of this to get to a young man’s head.
Being identified as one of the top 25 AFL hopefuls in his draft year, training with AFL clubs and having 10 different agents chasing his signature before eventually signing with Dylan Hodge from TLA Sports is a lot to process.
But Shanahan has remained remarkably level-headed and takes a very pragmatic view on his year ahead.
“I'll take it week by week really, I think,” he said.
“I've been training pretty well, we've been doing heaps of match sim and that kind of stuff, so hopefully I can have a good year.”