Callum Ah Chee to continue Bulldogs’ AFL Draft tradition

CALLUM Ah Chee appears set to be South Fremantle’s second exciting Indigenous talent taken in the top 10 of the AFL National Draft in as many years when the 2015 edition takes place in Adelaide on Tuesday evening.

Just 12 months after Jarrod Pickett was taken at pick No. 4 by the GWS Giants and the Gold Coast Suns selected Jarrod Garlett at No. 15, Ah Chee will be the next South Fremantle product to enter the AFL as a prodigious talent.

Ah Chee has long been looked at as an AFL player of the future having been involved with the AIS-AFL Academy, but until Round 16 of this year he had yet to play against men which is what has just about guaranteed him as a top selection at this year’s draft.

Ah Chee started the season playing some solid colts football and then had some good passages during Western Australia’s National 18s Championships, but it was when he returned to South Fremantle full-time that he really got going in 2015.

He was outstanding in his lone reserves appearance with 23 possessions and two goals leading to his league debut in Round 17 where he made a statement about what his future holds kicking three goals, including two in the last quarter, to help the Bulldogs beat East Fremantle.

He went on to play the last six games with the league side and showed some exciting form further up the ground in the last three weeks before he now embarks on that AFL career.

Since the season finished, Ah Chee has continued to train hard and has been tremendously impressively both in interviews with AFL clubs and at the Draft Combine were all the potential draftees are put through the paces to test their athletic attributes.

Ah Chee is now little over 24  hours away from finding out where his AFL future lies and continues South Fremantle’s rich history of providing draftees including his older brother Brendon who became a breakout star in the latter part of the 2015 season with Port Adelaide.

He has followed the good and tough times that his older brother has gone through so far since being drafted to the Power from South Fremantle so he feels well-equipped to deal with whatever comes his way from here.

“He’s in the system and he’s been through exactly the same thing so it’s good to have him there as a mentor and he’s obviously told me what to expect,” Ah Chee said.

“I’ve seen it first hand – Brendon’s had a pretty inconsistent career due to injuries and things like that. He’s told me it’s been hard, and it’s hard work and you can’t expect things to come easy.

“That’s probably the main thing I’ve learned from him. He’s basically told me everything that I need to expect and he’s kind of made it a bit more real for me.”

Ah Chee isn’t the only South Fremantle being looked at by AFL clubs for the National Draft on Tuesday or the Rookie Draft on Friday.

Kade Stewart, Josh Branchi, Marlion Pickett and Matthew Ah Siu are among those who had a taste of league football in 2015 who could find themselves on AFL lists in 2016 as well.