Maitland will mark another sporting milestone next week when Black Hill’s Isaac Heeney is drafted by the Sydney Swans.
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The 18-year-old former All Saints College student will become the first person from Maitland to reach the top tier of Australian rules.
The Swans academy product and AIS representative will be pick No.17 when the official proceedings get under way at the Gold Coast on Thursday night and he will join the club’s senior squad for their 2015 campaign.
It will be a historic moment for the code in Maitland, which stretches back as far as 1881 when, according to the Mercury, Northumberland played its first match.
But for more than a century, other sporting pursuits like rugby league, rugby union, football, cricket and netball have dominated postcode 2320, with Australian rules barely getting a look in.
This has changed more recently for a couple of reasons:
- Promotion of the code by the governing AFL body.
- Success close to home by the Sydney Swans.
- The formation and growth of the Maitland Saints.
And while Heeney might not have come through the Saints’ junior ranks, his rise from the banks of the Hunter River to professional footballer of a Victorian-dominated sport will give many aspiring players from this region hope for the future.
Heeney played soccer until he was 12 when he switched codes and was picked up by the Swans academy.
Six years later, Heeney finds himself on the brink of a debut on the big stage chasing a premiership alongside the likes of Buddy Franklin and Adam Goodes.
The former Maitland Junior Sportsperson of the Year nominee also adds to the ever-growing Maitland sporting puzzle.
Existing pieces include the likes of Greg Bird (rugby league), Robbie Rochow (rugby league), Ben Kennedy (football), Simon Orchard (hockey), Nic White (rugby union), Jeremy Tilse (rugby union), Patrick Dellit (rugby union) and Luke Burgess (rugby union) playing at the top of their respective games.
He also joins the same Maitland sports history book as Les Darcy (boxing), Matt Ryan (equestrian) and Allan Grice (motor sport) and follows the chapter just written on Melbourne Cup champion Protectionist, owned by Maitland-based Australian Bloodstock.
Heeney now adds Australian rules to the mix. And he has not only made it, but will be one to watch, rated by one expert as the most promising player in this year’s draft.