A SOJOURN to the Northern Territory to play football looks to have worked wonders for Finn Ellis Castle.
The Mildura young gun was preparing for his top age year with the Bendigo Pioneers about two months ago, however COVID-19 interrupted his plans to make it to the highest level.
After returning home, he took the step of joining Northern Territory Football League powerhouse Wanderers, under the tutelage of former AFL player and Robinvale and Red Cliffs premiership player Shannon Motlop.
It paid dividends, as the 19-year-old defender has been a star in Mildura’s impressive start to the 2021 SFNL season. His best-on-ground performance in the five-point win against Wentworth on Saturday earned him the round 3 nod for the Rising Star of the Year.
After not making the final cut with Glenelg for the current SANFL campaign, Ellis Castle has thrown everything into his performances for his boyhood club.
“I definitely want to play at a higher level down the track, but I’m really enjoying the season with Mildura so far. My focus is on playing well here,” he said.
“I guess it’s been a good start for myself coming off a season in Darwin so it’s been a good transition to come straight back in with some sort of form.
“It was phenomenal (playing under Shannon Motlop), it was a great experience. Me and a mate thought we’d go up there when everyone down here was in still impacted by coronavirus. So we nicked up there for about a dozen games for the Wanderers and then came back down here for a season with Mildura.
“The game style up there is so much quicker, just play on at every cost and the conditions, it probably helped my conditioning playing in 35 degree heat every week and 90 per cent humidity.”
While Ellis Castle played on the wing in the NT, he has made a name for himself as a strong one-on-one, intercepting key defender.
The teenager’s form has gone hand in hand with the Demons, who have established themselves as a threat over the opening three rounds.
“It was really good form to start the season in Ouyen, and then maybe we got ahead of ourselves a bit going into the Merbein game, but that’s what happens when it’s a really tight competition this year,” he said.
“Going into Wentworth we just knew we had to play the way we did against Ouyen and everyone contributed in their own way.
“It’s a good group, we’re all pretty good mates and bonding really well. We have four or five young boys playing every week and then you have the older boys like Ant Matthews and Lars Cavallo trying to bring us all through; it’s been a good combination this year.
“I think everyone wants to play finals. We have to keep winning but all the boys reckon we’re a good chance to make finals if we keep playing this way.”
The negative for Mildura is that the 2021 NAB League has been made an under-19 competition, which could give players like Ellis Castle another chance to impress AFL recruiters.
“I moved down there (to Bendigo) to play last year and the Thursday night before we were supposed to play it got canned on us so I moved back home last year,” he said.
“Who knows what will happen. I have a good relationship with Danny O’Bree (Pioneers coach) and it’s good to know he’s watching out. But I want to keep winning games here with Mildura more than anything.”
As the round 3 Mildura and District Real Estate Rising Star, Ellis Castle receives $50 courtesy of Mildura and District Real Estate, 91 Commercial Street, Merbein, and is in the running to be the Mildura and District Real Estate Rising Star of the Year.
