By JARROD POTTER
IT WAS a season Toby McLean never expected he would receive, but one he thoroughly deserved.
Narre Warren footballer McLean, 18, had to go the hard way to find a TAC Cup team after he was let go by the Dandenong Stingrays in their pre-season trials.
It left the midfielder/forward without a TAC Cup club just a couple of months before the start of the season, but a lifeline from the Oakleigh Chargers has been paid back generously by the crafty footballer.
“At the start of the year I didn’t know where I’d be or how far I’d get, but it’s turned out to be great actually” McLean said.
“I’ve definitely come a long way – from playing at Narre last year I never thought I’d even be playing at Oakleigh this year.”
It’s been a year of making headlines for the Narre prodigy. First his spectacular grab against the Northern Knights, then the goal-on-the-siren in the qualifying final to knock off a fast finishing Geelong, but he saved his best for last.
McLean’s incredible efforts on Sunday morning helped guide Oakleigh’s 47-point TAC Cup grand final win over Calder Cannons.
“It was so good to get the win – I don’t know how I would have coped if we lost,” McLean said.
“It was different from the home-and-away season – the intensity was right up there and it took us a while to adjust, but we played really well I thought and we definitely deserved to win on the weekend.”
McLean starred as he accumulated 21 possessions, reeled in nine marks and booted a pair of goals – an effort that earned him the best-on-ground medal to join the pantheon of medal-winning players including AFL stars Brent Harvey, Dale Thomas and Adam Goodes.
“It felt pretty good,” McLean said about winning the medal.
“I was more worried about the team performance than anything individual, but to get it was just awesome.”
His recent form earned him a promotion from the state combine to the national combine – held from September 30 to 3 October at Etihad Stadium – and he hopes to impress in the beep test and the standing vertical leap in particular.
“I was upgraded to the national combine,” McLean said.
“Probably the one I want to perform in the most in the beep test – as at the start of the year I was pretty down and my fitness wasn’t great so to do well in that I’d be pretty happy.”
McLean’s Chargers won their third TAC Cup premiership as 17.15 (117) to Calder’s 11.4 (70).
