Falcons land on AFL lists

FOUR Geelong Falcons found a home on AFL lists following last week’s AFL National Draft.

Tanner Bruhn (pick 12, GWS), Oliver Henry (pick 17, Collingwood), Charlie Lazzaro (pick 36, North Melbourne) and Cameron Fleeton (pick 58, GWS) had their dreams realised as their names were called out on draft day.

Skilful midfielder Bruhn was selected by the Giants with pick 12 and said it was a feeling of relief and excitement after so much hard work.

“It was a pretty surreal feeling waking up the next morning,” Bruhn said.

“It was pretty stressful, you don’t know until your name gets calls out. It’s just a sigh of relief. I’m super stoked to be heading up to Sydney.”

Bruhn said he can’t wait to pick the brains of some of the Giants’ star midfielders.

“They’ve got such a good young list, with the likes of Josh Kelly, Stephen Coniglio and Tim Taranto, I’m really excited to work with those guys and learn plenty from them.”

Fellow Falcon Cameron Fleeton also became a Giant, but endured a much longer wait than his teammate.

Fleeton was selected by GWS with the 58th pick, the second last pick of the night.

The intercepting defender was confident he had had positive chats with the Giants, but as it got deeper into the draft, the nerves were certainly rising.

“I’m very excited, it’s happened very quickly, I just couldn’t believe it,” Fleeton said.

“I was pretty sure GWS were keen … I’ve already had a few texts from some of the defenders up there, so I can’t wait to join them.”

Former Geelong Falcons talent manager Michael Turner, who called time on his 25-year career at the club this year, said to have four Falcons selected in a reduced draft, due to AFL list reductions, was a great achievement.

“To still get four is a big number … it’s another good result for us,” Turner said.

“If there’s any lesson to take from these four, they are very dedicated kids.”

Geelong Grammar boy and Sandringham Dragon Ollie Lord (pick 49, Port Adelaide) was also drafted.