Former Healesville player Max Warren has every reason to smile after being picked up by North Melbourne in the Rookie draft last week.
By Kath Gannaway
AS OF last Tuesday, Healesville footballer Max Warren is officially barracking for North Melbourne.
The 18-year-old who came up through the Healesville juniors, and has played with the senior club since he was 16, was selected by the Kangaroos in the rookie draft on Tuesday.
It was a week for looking to the future for the Mt Lilydale College student. When the Mail caught up with him at the Healesville ground on Wednesday, he was packing his bags for the move to the city to start his training with North, and eagerly waiting on his VCE results due on Friday.
Like most kids who develop a passion for the game early, from the time he started in the Under 10s at Queen’s Park, the talented mid-fielder has aspired to play AFL.
As a rookie, he gets a year in the system, and he says he will be doing his best to make the grade.
Healesville Football Netball Club football manager Felix Feraccio was among the first to congratulate Warren at the club on Wednesday.
He said the club was over the moon to see one of their most respected, well-liked and talented young players picked in the draft.
“In Max, North Melbourne has got a boy with exceptional character and leadership ability,” he said.
“We always believed he was going to be something special.”
He said under the current drafting system, Warren is the first player who has played in both the junior and senior Healesville clubs to be drafted.
“He had always shown potential with the juniors, winning best and fairest player in the Under 15s, and has represented the YVMDFL in the Interleague Competition,” Mr Feraccio said.
He was 16 when he moved up to the senior club.
“Max played in the Under 18s and (senior coach) Frank Lesiputty, who ironically had played for North Melbourne himself, spotted his talent, and as a 16-year-old elevated him to the senior side,” Mr Feraccio said.
Lesiputty wasn’t the only one with an eye for talent.
After half a season in the Healesville firsts, he was picked up by Eastern Ranges, the first stepping stone on the pathway to rookie status, then chosen for the elite Victorian Metropolitan league.
Healesville captain/coach Luke Barclay added a strong work ethic and his speed around the ground as strengths that the Kangaroos would get with their new rookie. “The training he has put in over the years has obviously paid off,” he said.
North recruiting manager Bryce Lewis, on the club’s website, said North Melbourne was confident of the 181cm winger’s AFL potential.
“He can win the ball inside and outside, is strong overhead, has smart hands and is a penetrating kick,” Lewis said.
“Max is a work in progress, but we’re confident he has AFL qualities.”
