The story of Paul Page

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Photo of Paul Page during his year playing reserves at St Kilda in 1987. Page was part of a Bendigo trio that got selected in the first National Draft in 1986.
Along with Page were Darren Newlan and Matt Sexton.

The VFL had held two previous drafts in 1981 and 1982, but it’s 1986 that’s considered the birth of what the National Draft has now grown into.
Sexton was selected at pick 30 by Richmond from Sandhurst.
At pick 54 Page went to St Kilda from Kennington, while with the second-last selection of the Draft, Carlton took Newlan from Golden Square at No.64.
While none of the trio played any games at the top level, they all have their place in history as being part of the first National Draft.

St Kilda official Murray Ablett contacted Page signalling an interest in the 19-year-old following his 1986 season at Kennington, but indicated to the forward that with only five picks per club not to get his hopes up.
“I was told I might end up missing out because they could only grab five players, so I sort of left it at that,” Page recalled on Wednesday.
“But a couple of weeks later they told me I’d been drafted with their fifth pick.
“Murray then came down and presented me with a contract that was a real eye-opener with some of the figures that were being thrown around if you were good enough to play senior footy, so it was fairly mind boggling for a young bloke who had only been playing a year-and-half of senior footy at Kennington.”

Having been drafted in late November, Page, who had been working with the Bendigo Building Society, moved to Melbourne in January of 1987 to get stuck into pre-season with the Saints, who had just appointed Darrel Baldock their new coach.
Page spent the season playing in the reserves coached by Gary Colling.
“I don’t think I had a bad year… I think I kicked high 30s and might have finished second in the goalkicking,” Page said.
“At the end of the day it was a fantastic learning curve. It was the year Tony Lockett won the Brownlow, so I was in awe of a player of his calibre and popularity.
“And with the likes of Danny Frawley, Trevor Barker and those sort of guys there as well, it was fantastic to be able to train with them.”

Lockett tied with Hawthorn’s John Platten for the 1987 Brownlow Medal in what was a season in which he kicked 117 goals.
“I don’t think Tony knew my name, but after each game when I came in and the seniors were ready to go out, he’d say, ‘hey mate, long stops or moulded today’, so I’d tell him what was best and that’s my input into Tony Lockett’s magnificent career,” Page said.

Page can also recall the first senior match of what would become a 323-game career at the Saints for Nathan Burke.
“I had played four or five really good games in a row and they said they were looking at me for the seniors,” Page said.
“They announced one night two or three changes for the senior team and said one of the inclusions was a young fella who’d played four or five good games in the reserves, so I thought here’s my chance. But they welcomed Nathan Burke for his first senior game… and the rest is history.”

Page joined SANFL club South Adelaide in 1988, despite being re-contracted by the Saints, and hasn’t left South Australia since.
Article courtesy of Luke West at the Bendigo Advertiser newspaper.
Photo courtesy of Russell Holmesby.

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https://www.bendigoadvertiser.com.au/st ... t-in-1986/