SNFOOTBALL SHEPPARTON NEWS, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2015 25

Great legacy to emulateTIPPED AS A LIONS PICK, JOSH SCHACHE KNOWS FOOTY FANS MAY WONDER IF HE PLAYS LIKE HIS DAD

By Georgina Cahill

Always a talent: Josh Schache in an under-14 team playing forhome club Seymour. Picture: Wayne Herring

Prized pick: Josh Schache will be one of the first names taken in tonight's AFL draft. Picture: Ray Sizer

Josh Schache rememberskicking a football with hisfather Laurence in the back-yard of their Adelaide home.

He also more vividly re-calls the night, when he wasfive, his father collapsed.

‘‘I remember sitting in thelounge room and watchingthe ambulance come in withmy nan,’’ Schache said.

‘‘I didn’t know what wasgoing on, I didn’t know whythey were there.

‘‘I remember I was watch-ing TV with my Dad in thelounge room, just me andhim. He went to the toiletand came back. I went off tothe kitchen and then he col-lapsed.’’

Three months earlier,Laurence had been diagno-sed with a rare, incurableheart condition called car-diac amyloidosis. He wasgiven three years to live, butdied much sooner, aged 32.

Josh started school fivedays after his father’sfuneral; his younger sisterBianca was 13 months old.

Some 13 years later, Joshis on the verge of continuinghis late father’s legacy atAFL club Brisbane.

Laurence played for theBears from 1991 to 1992 andbooted 64 goals in 29 ga-mes.

Josh, 18, is a red-hotfavourite to join the Lionswith their first pick, picktwo, at tonight’s AFL Nat-ional Draft.

He is conscious of hisfather’s history in the game,but is determined to make aname for himself.

‘‘That was obviously a bigthing for me, I wanted togrow up and be like him,’’he said.

‘‘Playing footy was sort ofa way where I could connectwith him.

‘‘I still want to try andmake my own path formyself and still try and fol-low in the footsteps of whathe tried to do, play at thehighest level.’’

The stars seem to bealigning for the talentedteenager — he could wearhis father’s number, 23, atthe Lions.

Matthew Leuenbergerwore the number this year,but left the club for Essen-don, as a restricted freeagent, at this season’s end.

Josh has many similaritiesto his late father: height, astrong set of hands and acompetitive nature.

But there is one stark dif-ference on the football field.Josh is a left-foot kick,despite being right-handed,while Laurence was a right-foot kick.

He hoped his father wouldbe looking down on him,proud.

‘‘He was a big part of myearly life,’’ he said.

‘‘He’s someone I stillthink about a lot. Eventhough he’s not here, he’sstill with me when I’m play-ing footy or just doing every-thing.

‘‘Hopefully he’d be pretty

proud I’m still doing every-thing that he loved.’’

Josh, Bianca and hismother Rachel stayed inAdelaide for three years afterLaurence’s death.

Rachel married Seymour’sDarren Waite and the familymoved to the Goulburn Val-ley town when Josh waseight.

Josh has faced adversity,but remains a motivated,happy and modest teenager.

He said his mother hadbeen a constant support anda pillar of strength for thefamily.

‘‘She’s been very support-ive for all of us and sewedeveryone together reallywell, so I couldn’t thank herenough for everything thatshe’s done,’’ he said.

‘‘She’s definitely providedus with everything that weneeded.’’

The Murray Bushrangers

key forward grew up playingall sorts of sports: basket-ball, cricket, swimming andtennis.

But footy picked up twoyears ago when he was sel-ected to represent Victoria at

the under-16 NationalChampionships.

‘‘I was pretty excited tomake the Vic Country teamand didn’t really think that Iwould,’’ he said.

‘‘Then after that, having a

good carnival and being sel-ected in the NAB AFL Acad-emy squad was a big turningpoint. I thought I can actu-ally do this.’’

Josh starred for Vic Coun-try at this year’s under-18National Championships.

He was crowned Larkemedallist for the best playerin division one and brokeJonathon Patton’s record forthe most goals kicked in thecarnival, 24.

He was simply unstoppa-ble, but was grounded ninedays later when the MurrayBushrangers played Dande-nong Stingrays in round 13of the TAC Cup.

It meant Schache wouldgo head-to-head with VicCountry teammate and hiscompetition for the No. 1draft pick Jacob Weitering,who Josh described as thebest defender in the TACCup.

Josh mostly played onanother Vic Country team-mate, Kieran Collins, thatday.

But he was uncharacteri-stically quiet and bootedjust one goal in the Bu-shies’ 31 point loss.

‘‘I thought I was going toget it a little easier thanwhat I did at nationals,’’ hesaid.

‘‘It was definitely a lotharder than what nationalswas, playing on him andKieran Collins. They’reboth All-Australian defend-ers.

‘‘That was a hard day andit was raining as well, so itdidn’t help. Through thosegames I realised areas I stillneed to work on.’’

Josh has worked incred-ibly hard this year.

He says his clean andaccurate kicking style ismostly natural, but when-ever he had some sparetime, he was at Seymour’sKings Park practising.

While the Lions are hisjunior club, he did not playa senior Goulburn ValleyFootball League game.

His commitments,through TAC Cup and theAFL Academy, have kepthim away from countryfootball.

‘‘I played one thirdsgame last year and I kickedabout 2.6, something bad,’’he said with a laugh.

He sets high standardsfor himself and has mod-elled his game on Colling-wood forward Travis Cloke.

Through the academy,Josh spent a week livingand training with the Piespremiership player.

He gets excited just recal-ling the experience.

‘‘It was pretty much thebiggest house I’ve everbeen in. It was like threestoreys, had a lift in there,’’the Goulburn Valley Gram-mar School graduate said.

‘‘He was awesome,though. He looked after mereally well and I got to meethis family as well.

‘‘It was weird, we weregoing out to breakfast with‘Swanny’ (Dane Swan) andall that. It was crazy seeinghow he goes about it everyday and what his everydaylife is.’’

There was one bit ofadvice that stood out forJosh.

‘‘One of the things hesaid to me was make sureyou’ve got other stuff out-side of footy,’’ he said.

‘‘Make sure it’s not allfooty. Make sure you’ve gotfriends and family that yousee and you really shut offfooty when you’re awayfrom it, so you don’t getsick of it. That was some-thing I took out of it.’’

Josh has plenty of matesin Seymour, a few in Ade-laide and several from theBushrangers.

He does not brag abouthis achievements.

Rather he seems contentto let his actions on thefootball field do the talk-ing.

JOSH SCHACHE PROFILEAge: 18Height: 199 cmWeight: 96 kgPosition: Key forwardPredicted draft pick: Two (Brisbane)2015 TAC Cup games: 10 (34 goals)2015 under-18 National Championshipgames: Six (24 goals)2015 achievements: AIS-AFL Academy, Larkemedallist, TAC Cup Team of the Year, All-Australian