After spending the majority of his junior career as an inside midfielder, Brad Scheer is looking to transform himself into a forward to give himself the best possible opportunity of a senior berth in 2017.
Selected with pick No. 67 in last year’s national draft, the SUNS Academy product revealed the Gold Coast coaching staff recommended the positional shift with the team’s midfield now batting deep after a successful trade and exchange period.
“They’ve put me into the forward line now. They think if I’m going to get a spot in the senior team it will be up forward so just learning my roles, the craft of playing up forward now,” Scheer said on Wednesday after signing a contract extension with the SUNS.
READ: Scheer delgiht, Academy graduate extends contract
“Being a midfielder most of my junior career it’s just learning the tricks, leading patterns and so forth up forward that I will get a spot in the senior team.”
Rather than focussing on one particular area of his forward craft, Scheer is looking to be as versatile as possible so he can fill a variety of roles.
“Gotta be able to play all the different forward roles, if it’s a high-half forward or deep one-on-one or crumbing as well,” he said.
“So I’m just learning every single role down in the forward line so when I do get my spot I can play well and contribute to the team.”
It has been a frustrating pre-season for the 18-year-old, struck down with pneumonia during the opening week of the JLT Community Series.
He’ll make his first appearance as a member of the SUNS playing list this Saturday in a NEAFL practice match against Aspley. Scheer is looking to regain his fitness with an eye to playing senior football at some point this season, inspired by what his fellow draftees Ben Ainsworth and Jack Bowes have already been able to achieve.
READ: The selection questions ahead of round one
“I think I’ll be ready to play some time this year,” Scheer said.
“I just want to get my fitness and things back. I don’t think right now I’m fit enough to play at that senior level, just been struck down with illness, so I just want to work my way in the NEAFL team and hopefully get a gig sometime during the year.
"They (Ainsworth and Bowes) said it’s a really big step up but they’ve all played really well so far so it’s given me a lot of confidence that I can achieve what they have so far. They’ve loved it, they just love playing in front of those crowds and with the boys and they just said it’s a lot of fun."
