COROWA-Rutherglen recruit Mark Ainley doesn’t feel any pressure filling the midfield void left by the departures of star duo Sam Carpenter and Robbie Ferraro.
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Considering he boasts one of the most impressive footy CV’s set to feature in the Ovens and Murray competition this season, he has good reason to be confident of his ability to adapt to the O and M.
Experience on an AFL list? Check. Training experience with two other AFL clubs? Done and dusted. Senior experience in the VFL and WAFL? Yes siree. Three dominant years at Victorian Amateur club Old Brighton? You get the picture.
Ainley, 28, isn’t even a tiny bit arrogant when he says he isn’t feeling any pressure replacing Carpenter and Ferraro in the Roos’ engine room, but he speaks with an ingrained confidence arising from close to a decade of top-quality football.
“I don’t feel pressure replacing them — I know Robbie from our under-18 days at Prahran Dragons and I know he’s a really good player,” Ainley said yesterday.
“And I met Sam for the first time a couple of weeks ago at Corowa’s family day and I couldn’t believe how well he trained.
“Of course I have a desire to perform, but I don’t feel any added pressure with those guys leaving.”
While the loss of Carpenter and Ferraro leave huge holes in Corowa-Rutherglen’s midfield, it’s fair to say the addition of Ainley and fellow Old Brighton stars Matt Gadsden and Paddy Phelan will ensure the Roos still boast one of the league’s premier onball divisions.
Ainley was chosen by North Melbourne with pick No. 61 in the 1999 AFL national draft but suffered a sickening head injury in 2001 and was axed at the end of that season.
Following his disappointing delisting, Ainley trained with Collingwood and Richmond in the two preseasons that followed, but wasn’t able to get another chance at AFL level, playing instead at VFL side Sandringham.
The star centreman moved to Western Australia in 2004.
He played at East Perth while he completed his marketing and international business degree before returning to Melbourne in 2007, winning Old Brighton’s best and fairest in his first year at the club and representing the Victorian Amateurs last season.
Ainley, who committed to Corowa-Rutherglen after a chance meeting with good friend and fellow Roo Dave Clarke in November last year, met his new teammates for the first time at the club’s registration day late last month.
And in a message to warm the hearts of Roos supporters, he said he couldn’t wait to pull on the blue and white.
“I couldn’t be happier to tell you the truth,” he said of his decision to join Corowa-Rutherglen.
“I went down for the family day a few weeks ago and trained with the boys and it was really good.
“It was most enjoyable and I walked away even keener to start the season.”
