While Dylan McNeil is probably too young to remember when Brett Kirk was selected by the Sydney Swans on the rookie list 11 years ago, he hopes to pave a career similar to the Swans co-captain.

Like Kirk, the talented midfielder hails from the border city of Albury in southern New South Wales, and was picked up by the Swans in the rookie draft. Both were overlooked in the national draft, but were given an opportunity by the Swans on the rookie list, where McNeil was picked as a pre-listed New South Wales rookie in December last year.

The 19-year-old is mentored by Kirk and says that he’s been a great help both on and off the field.

“Just his experience and they way he is around the Club, he does everything 100 per cent correctly all the time. So just to watch him firstly is a great learning curve but also he guides me and just the little things that I need to improve on he helps me with, it’s great.

“We sort of knew each other, we had a family connection so that made it a lot easier. The first night I was up here I went around to his house for tea so that broke the ice a bit,” McNeil said.

McNeil’s selection came after an impressive year in 2009. In his final year at school, he captained the NSW/ACT Rams to the division two title in the Under-18 Championships, where he was awarded the Hunter Harrison Medal for the best and fairest player in the division. He was also captain of the Murray Bushrangers in the TAC Cup and to top this off, was named in the Under-18 All-Australian side.

He even managed to do well enough at school to be accepted into the University of New South Wales and will study Commerce in 2011, after deferring this year. 

Despite missing selection in the national draft for the second year in a row, McNeil didn’t have a lot of time to dwell on the omission before the Swans contacted him. 

“I was obviously pretty disappointed; it was the second time I had missed out so I was devastated. But about an hour later I got a call saying that they wanted me to come down to the Swans, have a bit of a trial with them and hopefully get on the rookie list.

“So that call within as close time to the national draft lessened the disappointment a little bit but it gave me an opportunity to focus my anger and disappointment on something,” McNeil said.

From there, McNeil did enough to impress coach Paul Roos, and he hasn’t looked back.

“Roosy called me into his office and told me I’d be on the rookie list, and it didn’t really sink in until I told everyone back at home and then after a few weeks being around the Club I thought ‘I’m actually here doing what I’ve always wanted to do’.”

Like Kirk, McNeil has a strong work ethic and wants to follow in the footsteps of his mentor by being elevated off the rookie list and continuing his career at the Swans for years to come.

“That’s pretty much what I’m focusing on at the moment, trying to do everything possible so that next year I’ll still be here.”

“I’m just following everything the coaches say and doing everything possible to make sure I’m here,” he said.

McNeil also spent part of the 2009 season playing as a top-up player for the Swans Reserves side in the AFL Canberra competition.
H
e credits the chance to play with the Reserves as the reason he was able to fit into the Club with ease.

“I knew a fair few of the players and I also knew a few of the guys that I’d played footy with in the underage levels so it made it a lot easier coming up here, knowing a few faces.

“I got to play with Leo Barry and Jared Crouch, they were coming back from injury so it was a great learning experience to see those guys play.”

Since becoming a regular in the Reserves’ line up this season, McNeil has been one of the most consistent players in the side.

McNeil was named in the Reserves’ best players for the third week in a row following their seven-point win again Eastlake last weekend. McNeil was happy with the way he played in the victory, and with his early season form.

“I’ve been working on some tackling and I ended up getting a few tackles on the weekend which was good.
“I’m just trying to work on what the coaches say and improve every week which I’ve been able to do so far, so just to keep improving every time we go out there and play (is my goal),” McNeil said.

The Reserves will take on the Tuggeranong Hawks on Saturday at Greenway Oval for the first time this season. McNeil was a top-up player in one of the Reserves’ games against the Hawks last season, and knows his team is in for a good contest.

“They’re a tough side, they never gave up and they were hard at the footy so it should be a good game.

“We’ve got to get a four-quarter game together. At the moment we’ve been playing well for two or three quarters. We’ve just got to make sure we play well for the whole game and follow the instructions we get from the coaches and make sure we get a win this week and keep building on it,” he said.