Friday, July 29

A MONTH before Vic Country's first game of the NAB AFL Under-18 Championships, Jarrod Berry suffered a shoulder injury that threw his preparation for the carnival into a spin.

He thought it would be a two-week layoff, but his break was extended by an extra two weeks and the first game he played in five weeks was Country's opening-round clash against Western Australia in Perth. The break, naturally, left him a little underdone, and short on form.

Berry had 10 disposals in Country's defeat and came home wanting to play more in the midfield in round two, against Vic Metro.

He did that to some extent, and had some good passages of play that exhibited his power and speed and ability to break the lines (he had four inside-50s from 12 disposals). But still he didn't think he influenced the game much, as he saw his side give up a 20-point three-quarter time lead to lose by two points. After the game, he felt some pressure start to build. He sat in the Simonds Stadium rooms worried about how his year was unfolding.

"I was thinking about the big picture way too much," he says. "I'd be out there in games worrying about not playing well, and that was the wrong approach. I was never going to be able to turn it around with that outlook."

Berry averaged 12 disposals in three matches for Vic Country. Picture: AFL Photos

A knee injury early in the round-three game against South Australia limited Berry's output, and ruled him out of Vic Country's final game of the carnival late in June. As captain of his state, he watched that game from the Simonds Stadium stands, looking on as Country lost to the Allies by a goal.

Dealing with setbacks

The knee injury has kept him out since that game, as the Rebels take a cautious approach to his recovery. And after struggling with the stresses that have arisen in his draft year, the break has afforded Berry a chance to get his priorities in order.

"I actually don't look at it as a negative, because I learnt from that period, which was a lot about coping with the pressures in your under-18s year," he says.

"It doesn't matter what the media is saying about you, or where they're ranking your draft position. And, as hard as it is and easy as it sounds, you have to ignore what your mates are saying about the draft.

"I put too much pressure on myself. But it's driven from my competitive nature and having such high expectations of myself. Sometimes that pressure builds up – that's with school, footy, everything. My self-drive is about being the best I can be, and when I have a bad game it adds to the pressure. Until this year I probably hadn't stressed as much."

"I completely took the fun out of footy. I don't know why that happened – it was probably a combination of injuries and pressure and thinking about it all too much. I've had to get that right," Berry says.

Berry is due to return in two days for the North Ballarat Rebels in their TAC Cup clash against the Bendigo Pioneers. In some ways, the break came at a good time, and has given him a chance to take stock. After the carnival, Berry sought advice about how to keep his mind on the things that matter.

In action for the NAB AFL All Stars. Picture: AFL Photos

When Adelaide's recruiters visited Ballarat to interview him (they took him out for breakfast), they told him not to worry about the end of the year and that they just wanted to see him back playing and having fun. He also kept in close contact with his manager, Matt Bain of Stride Sports, who gave him counsel after helping other prospects through similar pressures.

Berry went through a thorough process to pick Bain as his manager before the start of the season. Former Rebels captain Darcy Tucker was willing to provide advice and guidance on his experiences, which helped greatly in this process. After receiving a stack of letters from agents – the first part of the process by which the managers must abide – Berry, his dad and former Richmond player and Berry's uncle, Todd Menegola, narrowed the list to six. Then they sent out questionnaires to each company, asking them to describe how they would manage him.

Some player managers were surprised. "They probably found it a pain," Berry says. Each responded in different ways and with varying levels of detail. Berry cut his options to four after the answers came back, and then three, before meetings with the agents at their offices. He didn't want to rush the decision, and was keen to do it his way, even if the written responses were a unique starting point.

"We had no doubt all three would have been perfect fit for me but in the end it was a decision made solely on how comfortable I felt with the manager," he says.

Matt and I were having lunch one day and I had a real connection with him. It came down to gut instinct by that stage. We just wanted someone who was honest and true to my needs."

Player managers were put through the griller as Berry assessed his options. Picture: AFL Photos

Just as Berry needed to make a choice between managers, clubs will need to make a call on him in four months. His form and injuries have made him a difficult prospect to assess.

"He's a hard one because last year (he) was very good, but he probably hasn't been able to show that same form," one scout said.

"He started the season seen as among that top batch, and he probably fits in somewhere in the first round. Everyone will have different views on where he plays at the next level He wants to be a midfielder; I see him maybe playing as a tall defender who can provide rebound.

"But you know he's going to do everything possible to get there as an AFL player. He's that type of kid. And those are the ones you draft with the most confidence."

Berry has thought plenty about how clubs have assessed his season; too much, probably. But with more than a month left in the TAC Cup year, he sees a chance to get back on track.

"I haven't really played much more than three games in a row this year and haven't really shown much in those games. I've just struggled to get out on the park," he says.

"But I can't dwell on the past. It's happened. I just want to play footy and enjoy myself for the rest of the season.

"I'm confident it will all come together at the end of the year. I'm excited about getting out there and having some fun again."

Monday, October 31

JARROD Berry is in his bedroom at Clarendon College, winding down after finishing his year 12 maths exam this morning. He has two more exams this week – physical education and accounting – before his secondary school studies are completed. Combining school and football is an often forgotten challenged faced by draft prospects – consider boys in country regions who spend weekends travelling to and from games.

But Berry finds it handy to have something other than the draft on his mind. "It's a good diversion from what's happening with my footy. It's an outlet to keep your mind on something else," he says.

"I've got three weeks between my last exam and draft day, so I'm going to head back to Horsham and spend some time with dad. It's going to be a long wait."

School is an outlet away from footy for many draft hopefuls. Picture: AFL Photos

Berry's injury battles have made it a year he doesn't reflect on so fondly. After returning to North Ballarat's TAC Cup side after the mid-season knee injury, he had the best patch of form for the season. His Rebels coach Gerard FitzGerald had always planned on pushing him forward at some point of the season, and that's where he hit form.

Playing in a midfield/forward role, Berry kicked three goals in his return against Bendigo, backing it up with another three-goal performance against the Northern Knights. He had 18 disposals in that game, plus five tackles and seven clearances, and was the most imposing player on the ground.

"He was really showing some stuff," one recruiter says. "He was quick, powerful, tough – all those things we've come to expect from Jarrod. It was good for him to put in one of those dominant games."

Berry was starting to feel like himself again. He was fit, which made an obvious difference. And he had managed to forget about what everyone was thinking about his place in the draft, focusing instead on just playing.

He was named in the Rebels' best the following week against the Eastern Ranges, before facing the Geelong Falcons in the final round of the season leading up to the finals.

The focus of attention

Like the first time the sides met in round one, the Falcons were physical and took every chance to rough up the Rebels, particularly Berry and star midfielder Hugh McCluggage, a favourite to be the No. 1 pick. Berry copped a forearm to the back in the first quarter, and then a knock to the nose that required him to leave the field to have it patched up.

Berry is rated a strong chance to be taken in the NAB AFL Draft's first round. Picture: AFL Photos

When the club's doctors were doing that, he mentioned his sore back. But it wasn't too painful, and he thought it was just a bump. He played out the rest of the first half, but during the main break, as his body cooled down, the pain increased and he was struggling to breathe. He was told to head to the toilet and fill a cup with urine. "I brought it back and it looked like a glass of red wine," he says.

The club's doctors immediately asked Troy, who was watching the game in the crowd, to come into the rooms, as their fears grew that he had kidney damage. He was rushed to hospital, where scans showed he had bruised the organ. There were also concerns, at least in the first few hours, he had lacerated a kidney and would require surgery, but fortunately that wasn't the case.

"It was pretty scary. I had to stay in hospital for two nights to let the kidney recover," he says. "Once I got out it was around the time we were finishing our coursework at school and I really wanted to do that, even though I couldn't walk around so well. I probably rushed that a bit."

There was no rushing his return to the field. The injury ended his season for the Rebels (they were knocked out in the second week of the finals), with Berry's final game of the year on AFL Grand Final eve in the NAB All Stars contest, featuring nearly 50 of the top prospects for this draft year.

Berry's urine sample after his kidney injury 'looked like a glass of red wine'. Picture: AFL Photos

The kidney injury capped what was a frustrating season for him, as he dealt with a range of fitness issues. Some were unavoidable, but he thinks he will need to slightly change the way he plays.

"Dad always says to make sure I look after myself. I'll have to work on it, and work on assessing each situation better instead of always going at it. If you want a long career you can't be knocking yourself out," he says.

"A few clubs mentioned the 'dumb courage' thing at the combine."

The NAB AFL Draft Combine was the end to Berry's year he hoped for. Despite limited preparation because of the bruised kidney, Berry put in an outstanding four days of testing at Etihad Stadium. He won the 3-kilometre time trial (in 9:46 minutes), was a joint winner of the beep test (level 15.1), finished in the top-five in the repeat sprints (24.99 seconds), and in the top-10 for the agility (8.29 seconds), clean hands and kicking tests. It could not have gone much better.

"We all knew how athletic he is, so it wasn't really a surprise that he did so well," one scout says.

"But it was the way he did it that I think would have reminded everyone about his talents. Those tests aren't just about athleticism; they're also about how competitive a player is. There's nowhere to hide at the combine and he took it on."

Putting in the hard yards in the 3km time trial at the NAB AFL Draft Combine. Picture: AFL Photos

The combine was the final piece of Berry's season, and might be an important one. His form and injury battles appear to have shut him out of top-10 contention, but he might still fit into the top-20 on November 25.

He knows he will need to move from Ballarat whichever club selects him, and he’s hoping the Blues pick him up.

"I'd love to go to Carlton. It would be a bit of a fairytale as my uncle Tracy, who passed away earlier this year, was a massive Carlton fan. To be able to pull on the navy blue would be something awesome in that way," he says.

That said, Berry knows he’ll be inspired to play for whichever club he is selected by. "It'll another step towards the ultimate dream to play football on the big stage," he says.

"It will mean a fair bit to me. You don't get to see all the work and sacrifices that family and friends put in behind the scenes, but to get to a club would be an awesome opportunity and one I've been trying to get for a long time.

"Hopefully that might repay some of the support we have received along the way."

Berry plans to spend draft night with his family. His brothers, Joel and Thomas, know they will be almost as nervous as Berry, and Berry thinks the same feeling will be running through his dad.

He also knows his mum, more than three years after her passing, will be with him, too. "When I go to bed sometimes she goes through my mind and I just want to do her proud," he says.

"I know she's looking down on me and trying to keep me safe. I'm sure it will be a really a special moment."