Tara Murray
Bacchus Marsh’s Sam Lalor has been trying not to buy into the speculation that he might be taken at pick one in Wednesday night’s AFL draft.
Lalor is widely tipped to be taken by Richmond as pick one.
On Tuesday morning, Lalor said he was trying to keep himself busy in the lead up to the draft.
He said Richmond had given him an indication of what might happen on draft night.
I’m very excited,” he said. “I haven’t looked into it too much. I think it would have to take until tomorrow night to find out what happens.
“I’m really looking forward to it. Obviously I want to go as high as I can, I would be happy to go anywhere still.
“Everyone wants to go as high as they can and if it fell that way, I’ll be extremely proud.”
Lalor said he’d be happy if he ended up at the Tigers, while he’s spoken with a number of different clubs.
The midfielder has based his game on Jordan De Goey and Dustin Martin.
“I think I’m pretty good size for a midfielder,” he said. “I’ve got the ability to go forward, impact the scoreboard which is something that I’ve come to learn this year.
“I’ve got some natural leadership skills which I got to show this year and I get along with a lot of different people, I’m a bit of a people’s person.”
Lalor said after an injury riddled season that his body was feeling good and he was ready to get into pre-season.
He said he would likely have some restrictions early on, to ensure his body is right and would like to play as many games as possible in 2025.
Lalor said he had a good support network to help him stay level-headed.
Among those are former number one draft pick Aaron Cadman and Zak Butters. Both were drafted from Darley.
“I played footy with him [Aaron] at the Rebels as well,” he said. “To kind of follow his journey was pretty cool and following pretty similar things throughout his draft year.
“I’ve still spoken to him throughout the year, helped me with a lot of things like pressure with footy and just told me to enjoy myself as well.
“I’ve been in contact with Zak a lot as well. He’s really helped me with my footy side and just life in general.
“I caught up with him for a coffee this morning. He said enjoy my next couple of days and he’s said that for a while now, enjoy while I can take it in your stride.”
It’ll be a big week for Lalor.
As well as the draft, he’s having a delayed 18th birthday party on Sunday. It’ll be a joint party along with his sister’s 21st at Bacchus Marsh Football Club.
Lalor said his local club had been really supportive of him.
“They have been awesome, it’s good to always go down there,” he said. “I don’t get too many questions about it, they’re all pretty relaxed.
“I went to footy training last night, good to see everyone. My brother is playing down there, i’ll try and get to as many games as I can and I’ll continue to do that.”
