Xavier Richards, Tom Temay Drafted from Prahran Juniors

The 2012 AFL Draft proved highly significant for Prahran Junior Football Club with first Tom Temay (pictured) drafted by Carlton in the November National Draft and in December Xavier Richards was taken as pick 29 in the Rookie Draft by the Sydney Swans.

Richards and Temay are the first long term Prahran Juniors to be drafted and are joined by Assumption Collegian Josh Prudden who was also snapped up in the 2012 AFL National Draft. (Collingwood's Jackson Paine was a product of East Malvern but played his final season with Prahran).

Prahran Assumption Football Club congratulates Xavier, Tom, who was nominated as selection 35 by Carlton and Josh, taken as pick 50 by the Western Bulldogs, on their elevation to AFL lists.

Xavier will join his brother, premiership centre half-back Ted Richards at the Swans. Xavier played in the Prahran Under 16 finals team coached by Wes Knight in 2009 and this season played games with Sandringham Dragons in TAC Cup and Sandringham in the VFL.

Swans recruiter Kinnear Beatson said Richards had shown he can play at both ends of the ground and will be groomed as a key position player.

Tom Temay won three Prahran club best and fairest awards in 2006 (Under 12s), 2007 (Under 13s) and 2008 (Under 14s). 

As Tony De Bolfo reported on Carlton Football Club's website it was a hell of a week for the son of a former Saint, the 52-game Paul Temay who played between 1980 and ’86. (Paul coached his son's teams for three years at Prahran juniors from 2007 to 2009).

Draft day was action packed for Temay as after completing his VCE exams at Melbourne Grammar he heard his name called with Carlton’s second-round selection (35th overall).

“This is a dream come true. I’m just so excited that it’s happened and it’s happened pretty fast. I really didn’t think I was going to go early because I didn’t want to get ahead of myself,” Tom told Carlton FC website.

“I was sitting here on the couch at home when my name was called and people here just hugged eachother. It was a bit emotional.”

It was also an eventful draft day for Prudden 18, from Seymour.

Just 20 minutes after learning he had been drafted his life almost turned upside down when told  his father Tony had been in a serious car accident and was in Wagga Hospital. Thankfully he will recover from cracked ribs in the accident which killed the driver Ray Hoy.

Prudden, midfielder from the Murray Bushrangers, came of age playing for Seymour in the Goulburn Valley League finals series.

 Bulldogs recruiting chief Simon Dalrymple described Josh as a hard running midfielder who has a great ability to win the ball in contested situations and has a neat kick.

"He went under the radar as he only played seven games. We're thrilled to get him so late in the draft,'' he said.

Prudden suspects his Assumption College first XVIII coach Scott Wynd, the former Bulldogs captain and a Brownlow Medallist,  also put in a ''good word'' for him.

Tom Temay described his father as an enormous influence “and very influential this year in terms of my development”.

“Dad has taught me to use the recent setback I’ve had as motivation to improve,” Tom said. “I missed out on the Grand Final for Sandringham Dragons last year, but he told me to use it as a spur. So I went out and trained pretty hard, put on five kilos in the gym and I reckon I put in the best season I’ve ever had.”

A “small defender/midfielder who is a great competitor and rarely beaten in a one-on-one contest” according to the AFL draft blurb, Tom has also benefited from the tutelage of the Carlton premiership half-back (now director football operations) Andrew McKay, his year 11 coach at Melbourne Grammar. As he said: “He’s a ripper bloke, Andy, and it’s terrific we’re going to reunite”.

An elite endurance athlete, Tom juggled distance running with football, representing Victoria as a 3000m runner three years ago.

Obviously his running capacity attracted recruiters who watched him in action as a running defender with Sandringham Dragons this season.

Tom found his “aths” a means of complementing his footballing craft.

In the end, he had to make the call for one over the other “and footy was my passion because I loved it”.

Carlton’s National Recruiting Manager Shane Rogers said that while Tom played back pocket for Sandringham for most of this year, “he played midfield/wing for Vic Metro, which is where I see him playing”.

“He’s definitely a wingman/midfielder with silky skills and he’s obviously a good runner,” Rogers said. 

carltonfc.com.au