Henry Schade has endured a tough initiation to the game in one of the more difficult positions on the ground. Injuries and an untimely suspension to Steven May have thrown Schade well and truly in the deep end. But after three games, the growth in Schade’s game is already sprouting.
The injury plague penetrating Metricon Stadium at the moment has prevented him from easing into the AFL system with the support of May or Rory Thompson, or even the wise, old head of premiership defender Nick Malceski. Instead, in just his third game, Schade spent the night manning Coleman medal leader Josh Kennedy. A daunting task for even the most experienced statesman.
Despite the far from ideal grounding, Schade is learning the craft on the tools. After serving a thorough apprenticeship in the NEAFL, the Tasmanian admits the experience has been highly beneficial for his football education.
“The last three weeks have been a great learning experience for myself. The week just gone, me and Jack Leslie and a few others obviously don’t have a lot of experience behind us,” Schade told SUNS TV on Tuesday at Metricon Stadium.
“As I said, it’s been a great learning experience and I’m trying to take away as much as I can from each game.
“I’m trying to grow my game as much as I can. It’s something that’s going to take a little bit of time to come with a bit of experience. I’m just trying to take it as it comes.”
Schade’s football tuition reached its toughest assignment yet on Saturday night when he spent the night on West Coast spearhead Kennedy. Rodney Eade described it best as an ‘air raid assault’; with the lopsided inside 50 count (67-24) not making the defender’s life any easier.
Regardless of personnel or preparation, an inside 50 differential that substantial was always going to make Schade’s task more difficult than it otherwise would have been. He fought bravely until the final siren, recording a career-high 15 possessions and he will undoubtedly benefit from the experience, from both a preparation and performance perspective.
“Rory [Thompson] was sort of in doubt early in the week so ‘Solly’ [Dean Solomon] and I went through some edits of Josh Kennedy and the way their forward line structures up and works and I just tried to get as much info as I could,” Schade said.
“Obviously he’s a great player and they’re a great team so it was a tough challenge.”
Schade learning the craft on the tools
Inexperienced Gold Coast key defender Henry Schade has been thrown into the deep end, but is growing in confidence by the week.
