Joel 
Joined: 23 Mar 1999
Location: Mornington Peninsula
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| Post subject: Patience pays off for Maxwell |  |
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Patience pays off for Maxwell
9:44:40 AM Mon 8 November, 2004
Matt Burgan
http://afl.com.au/default.asp?pg=newsarchive&spg=display&articleid=176950
| Quote: | When Collingwood officially promoted rookie Nick Maxwell to its senior list on 29 October, it was a just reward for the defender who managed to play 10 matches in 2004, despite the fact he entered his second year at the club on the Magpies' rookie list.
The 21-year-old, who was overlooked in two National Bank's AFL Drafts, was told his career was over, even before he had got an opportunity.
Winding back to 2001 after he played with the Geelong Falcons in the TAC Cup, Maxwell was told by Port Adelaide that he had osteitis pubis, when he thought he was playing with just a 'groin' injury in the under-18 competition.
The Power had invited him over to undertake a pre-season with the club, after he was overlooked in the 2001 National Bank's AFL Draft, but he quickly returned home, after finding out about his injury.
Although eight AFL clubs contacted him after his disappointment of being bypassed in the November draft, he believed he was set to be drafted by Hawthorn in the December rookie draft.
"They (Hawthorn) said if (John) Baird went to North (Melbourne), then they'd pick Nick Stone and myself. They picked Nick Stone and then they ended up not picking me and they chose (Michael) Georgiadis (instead), which was a bit of a kick in the guts," Maxwell told Sportal.
He then reassessed his situation and spent 2002 with North Ballarat in the VFL. He was then sounded out by Geelong at the end of that season.
"At the end of the year, (recruiting manager) Stephen Wells from Geelong contacted me and said - 'We want you to come and train with us', so I went and trained with them for three weeks," Maxwell said.
"After the last day, (Geelong coach) Mark Thompson called me in for a meeting and said - 'We're not going to draft you and we're not going to rookie you' and I said - 'What have I been doing (here) the last three weeks training?'
"He said - 'We want you to play on the top up list with the VFL', which means you might get a game one week otherwise you're playing local footy for the majority of it, so I said - 'Why would I do that when I can go to North Ballarat and get picked every week in the first team and I've got three jobs up there and my uni?'.
"He said to me - 'Well, if you leave, that's it. If you don't take up this opportunity, that's the end of your AFL dream' and I said - 'I'll have to prove you wrong then'.
"I was pretty dejected at that stage."
But later on that week, back in December 2002, he attended his father's end-of-year work Christmas party, only to find out his fortunes had changed.
"I got a message (while I was at the party) from Ken Gannon, the boss of the VFL, from his son Ryan, who I am mates with and he said - 'Well done on getting drafted' and I had no idea, so I rang him up and said - 'Was that supposed to go to me?' and he said - 'Yeah, Collingwood just got you'.
From there, Maxwell became a premiership player with Williamstown in the VFL in 2003, made his AFL debut in round nine against Adelaide this year, while he is now determined to cement his position in 2005.
"That was part of my motivation, to prove people wrong. It's hard when people say to you - 'You're not good enough', but it makes you want it even more. I'm really happy with the way it's going now and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else but here," Maxwell said.
"I'm really excited about it now because they've (Collingwood) offered me a two-year contract now and I've got that stability behind me, which I haven't had for that last couple of years."
Already, as Collingwood prepares for a two-week break in its new-look pre-season campaign, Maxwell has added six kilograms to his frame and is modeling his game on 2004 Copeland Trophy winner James Clement.
"When (Collingwood coach) Mick (Malthouse) spoke to me at the start of last year, he said - 'We see you as someone who can (play on taller and smaller players), like Jimmy Clement. If you can mould yourself on that, you're going to be a lot more valuable to us'," he said. |
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