Richmond has signed one of Ireland’s brightest, young sporting stars . . .
John Heslin, an 18-year-old Agricultural Science student from University College Dublin, who has shone at hurling, soccer and Gaelic football, will be selected by the Tigers as an international rookie in next December’s Rookie Draft.
Heslin currently plays Gaelic football for his university team, as well as at senior level for county club Westmeath.
As a junior, he represented Ireland in soccer, and made such an impression that he was invited to trial at then English Premier League club Derby County.
In between, the strongly-built, 189cm Heslin has excelled at Ireland’s other indigenous sport, hurling.
Moving forward, Richmond believes he has the necessary attributes to make a successful transition to AFL football.
Richmond’s Recruiting Manager Francis Jackson and Recruiting Officer Matthew Clarke spotted Heslin playing Gaelic football for UCD in the Sigerson Cup, a strong Universities’ competition, in early March.
“It’s a really big competition and it was a terrific schedule this year because they had quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals on three successive days (March 3-5),” Jackson said.
“We saw John play in the first game and, quite frankly, he was a standout, with his athleticism and all his movement skills, which were fantastic.
“Also, in terms of his decision-making, understanding of the play, and being unselfish in bringing teammates into the game, he was head and shoulders above the rest.
“He’s very quick, has got good lateral movement, an outstanding vertical leap, and he ran really hard playing in the midfield.
“We felt that he had all the athletic traits, as well as a great understanding of their game.
“We were lucky that his team won and we saw him again the next day . . .
“He was also very competitive . . . At crucial stages in the game, he was the one who lifted and brought his team back into it.
“When they lost, and didn’t make the final, I just watched him, and he was absolutely devastated . . .”
Having really liked what they saw of Heslin, the next step for the Tiger talent scouts was tracking him down for a meeting.
“We chased his phone number up . . . The game finished on the Saturday, and we organised to go out to his family farm, about an hour and 15 minutes out of Dublin, on the Tuesday night, to meet him, his father, Peter, and his mother, Margaret,” Jackson said.
“After meeting the family, we were confident that John came from a strong background. He’s quite an independent kid, too . . . he’s doing second-year Agricultural Science, and lives with a couple of mates.
“We also found out, in our travels, that John had been out to Essendon last year for a three-week trial and that they’d made contact with him again a couple of weeks before we saw him . . .
“Our whole focus then was to ensure we acted quickly and decisively. Consequently, we met them on the Tuesday and then flew back here on the Friday morning, with John and his father.
“Initially, we were going to stay a bit longer, and see some more games, but given that we’d found what we were looking for, we just wanted to get back.”
Heslin spent a week at Tigerland, his first day coinciding with the football department’s move into the ME Bank Centre’s magnificent, new facilities.
“It certainly made it a bit easier showing him through here, rather than where we used to be,” Jackson said.
“But, as I said to his father, this facility is fantastic, but clubs are about people and, unless you have the right people involved, who are going to coach, nurture and develop your kids, it doesn’t matter what type of building you’ve got . . .
“The whole focus on bringing John back here was not for us to watch him, because I was confident that he was a strong, competitive, independent kid, with all the athletic traits, and a hunger to learn, but more to show his father what type of environment he was letting his 18-year-old son come to.
“Overall, I think his father was very happy with what he saw at the Club, and he had a good rapport with a lot of people around the place . . .
“And, John’s ability to very quickly pick things up out on the track, and understand what professional sport’s all about, was particularly impressive.”
The plan now is for Heslin to is to finish his university commitments and the Gaelic football season with Westmeath, before returning to Tigerland for an intensive 10-week football education program, that will provide him with a solid head-start leading up to his official selection as a Richmond rookie at the end of the year.
Jackson is enthusiastically awaiting Heslin’s entry into the world of AFL football . . .
“He was way above anything else that we saw and, quite frankly, he can be a really exciting prospect for us if he continues to show that eagerness to learn and plenty of initiative,” Jackson said.
