|
|
JED WHO?
Adcock will end up making a huge difference to whatever team he
plays for, yet, when it comes to giving out the gongs for precocity,
he’s rarely to be seen. In last year’s Rising Star
nominations, the raw-boned Victorian country lad came fifth to
superstar-in-waiting Brett Deledio. Adcock was pick No. 33 in
the 2003 national draft. But there have been enough high-achieving
low draft picks – Michael Long and Andrew Jarman, to name
but two legends of the game – and enough low-achieving high
draft picks (see Des Headland) to suggest that early career bragging
rights mean little when it comes to the final analysis.
Adcock began as a Brisbane experiment after their ’04 grand
final loss to Port Adelaide. By the end of ’05, he was an
essential part of a Lions defence already boasting a scary line-up
of hard men. Former Richmond superstar and Rising Star judge Kevin
Bartlett voted Adcock a close second to Deledio as the best prospect
in the country for ’05.
In the past two seasons, Brisbane has debuted 15 youngsters. Of
these, Adcock, Justin Sherman, Daniel Merrett, Troy Selwood, Joel
Macdonald and Josh Drummond are already entrenched in the Lions’
best 22. Tossed into the deep end by coach Leigh Matthews, they
proceeded to pull the Lions out of an embarrassing slump early
last season.
Adcock already seems to have staked his claim as the leader of
this new generation of Lions, though the clearest omen for a great
future is his resolve. He entered the ’05 season with a
mere two weeks’ preparation after a back injury, and ended
it with a debilitating groin strain, yet his form showed no noticeable
lapse. He ended third in Brisbane’s Best And Fairest Award,
the Merrett- Murray Medal, won their Rookie Of The Year and their
Most Improved.
Next
>>
|
|
