3. David Wirrpanda
When a posse of West Coast officials lobbed at an Aboriginal college in Healesville, just outside Melbourne in 1995, they went with a heavy decision on their minds.
Having lost Tony Gooden to the newly-formed Fremantle Football Club, the Eagles qualified for compensation. They knew Wirrpanda was the best young talent in the country, but how would the 16-year-old prodigy adjust to life on the other side of the country.
It took then Football Manager Trevor Nisbett and his cohorts just a few minutes to realise they were dealing with a special individual and one who would cope with the challenge of uprooting and heading to the other side of the country.
A brief discussion with Wirrpanda ensured the decision was an easy one and the precocious teenager became the youngest player ever to debut for the club – a record that, at least in the short term, will never be challenged, given the current draft age.
At 16 years and 228 days he made his senior debut against Carlton at Princes Park in round 5, 1996 and so began a wonderful relationship between player and club.
Wirrpanda arrived on the west coast in 1996, a spirited 16-year-old boy sporting a distinctive ponytail, and matured into an exceptional player whose on-field capacities were matched by his desire to impact off-field.
He arrived a mesmerising forward, departed 13 years later as an electrifying defender.
His 227-game career was not without their challenges, bearing bouts of homesickness and frustrating injury battles.
But each of these challenges was met head-on with measured patience and grace that became characteristic of the long serving Eagle who earned all-Australian selection in 2005 and football’s holy grail in 2006.
Named in the top-ten most influential indigenous Australians in 2008 year, Wirrpanda couldn’t have planned it better himself when his 200th game fell in the AFL Indigenous Round, resulting in a magnificent commemoration of Wirrpanda’s influence both on and off the field.
As the inaugural recipient of the AFL Community Leadership Award in 2003, Wirrpanda is nationally recognised for his commitment to not just indigenous youth, but the broader community, and for the support he offers through the David Wirrpanda Foundation, established in 2005.
There have been few players who have excited the home crowds to the extent that Wirrpanda enjoyed, there was a sense of anticipation as he approached the footy, the Sherrin becoming an extension of his fingers.
Combine that deft touch with blistering speed and levels of anticipation were palpable as he got his hands on the ball.
