From the Shepp News |
A forward beast who only just left his teenage days behind him is the bolter in Goulburn Valley Football League’s interleague squad.
Benalla’s former Murray Bushranger Nick Warnock burst onto the Goulburn Valley scene with a momentous six-goal haul in the Saints’ 33-point upset of reigning premier Tatura.
That gave Warnock, who was in Victoria Country’s extended under-18 squad last season, a league third-best 17 majors in four senior matches this year.
The 20-year-old’s self-proclaimed shock interleague selection capped his rise.
‘‘It’s going to be a very hard side to break into — there are some very good names in there. You would learn a lot off them, especially if you played with them,’’ Warnock said.
‘‘I saw (Jason) Eagle play once and he’s, obviously, a very good player, but I haven’t seen much of that Grant Weeks.
‘‘I rate Saad Saad a lot. We played him in round two and he kicked eight (goals) on us and was taking hangers all over the joint. He’s, obviously, a freak.’’
Warnock, who represented Goulburn Valley at under-18 level two years ago, has kicked goals everywhere he has played.
He booted 36 majors in 23 games across two seasons at the Bushrangers and 133 in 41 matches in his last three under-18 campaigns for Benalla.
Warnock is the main man up forward for the Saints’ senior side.
He added 8
Benalla playing coach Luke Morgan said Warnock was starting to realise his size was imposing.
‘‘Nick’s a very good choice (for interleague) and has really impressed in the first four games,’’ Morgan said.
‘‘He possibly could have had more goals at the weekend, but what really was the feature was his contested marking.
‘‘I knew he was on the radar — I’ve been in regular contact with (coach) Travis Ryan — but his weekend performance really got him over the line.’’
Warnock said making it onto an AFL list was his main priority at the Bushrangers and remained a dream, but just enjoyed playing at the Saints these days.
‘‘The group we’ve got is pretty close and it was sensational to get a scalp like Tatura,’’ he said.
‘‘We believed we could do it, but until you actually do it you don’t really have that proper belief .
‘‘It’s a good group of fellas, we’re all pretty good mates and we’re all after the same thing, so, hopefully, we’ll improve.’’
Morgan and Alistair Jacka are the Saints’ other interleague representatives, but the former said Jake Pallpratt, Sam Martyn and Lachie Smith were in contention.
