Forced to wait until his second season with the Bombers before getting his big break, Scott Lucas was fortunate enough to play his first senior game on what has become one of football’s biggest occasions – the Anzac Day blockbuster against rivals Collingwood.
""Yeah, certainly it was a big day to make my debut to a full house and a crowd like that,"" Lucas said as he looked back on the match. ""One thing I do remember is the noise of the crowd and how loud they actually were when you were out on the ground.""
Lucas has achieved plenty during his career with the Essendon Football Club; including a premiership medallion, a club best and fairest award and a 200th game milestone is fast approaching. But ten years ago, he was one of a number of fresh-faced teenagers at Windy Hill hoping to make it as an AFL player.
After representing the Geelong Falcons in the under 18’s competition, Lucas found himself relocating to Melbourne when selected by the Bombers with the fourth pick in the 1994 National Draft. Apart from playing one Ansett Cup match during the 1995 preseason, the key forward prospect spent the rest of the year developing his game with the Essendon reserves side.
Lucas believes that this experience prepared him well for the rigors of playing AFL football against the big boys. ""The reserves was a bit of a different nature then,"" he said, in comparison to the VFL competition today. ""There were some older players and not as many younger guys at the time so that was a pretty good grounding""
Improving as the season progressed, Lucas felt he was playing well towards the end of the year but could not break into the senior side. With Paul Salmon, Stephen Alessio, Mark Mercuri and fellow young gun Matthew Lloyd doing the job up forward, the team was settled heading towards the finals and Lucas looked to earn his opportunity the following year.
After spending the first month of the 1996 season in the reserves, he was approached by Kevin Sheedy before the final training session leading into the Anzac Day match and told he would be making his senior debut. ""I had been playing pretty well in the reserves,"" Lucas recalled. ""The team had been beaten by Adelaide over there by quite a bit and it might have even been a five-day break so Sheeds I think made three or four changes. I think a little bit of circumstance and good timing certainly helped.""
Despite the nervousness, Lucas remembers enjoying the big build-up to the game and admits to feeling ""quite toey"" as he drove to the ground and made his way past the gathering crowd to the rooms. Once there, he received plenty of encouragement from his experienced teammates and was just happy to be running out with them for the first time. ""I guess the good thing about your first game is that there is not a real lot of expectation on you. As long as you get a couple of kicks, you are pretty pleased,"" Lucas said.
So with his parents watching from the stands, Lucas ran out onto the MCG for the first time as an Essendon player. Starting the match on a half forward flank opposed to Collingwood’s Shane Watson, he played just over a half on the day and managed seven possessions and two tackles.
Compared to his time in the reserves, Lucas can recall feeling rushed out on the ground and was forced to work hard just to find the footy. ""It was just a fast paced game and at greater intensity than I had played before,"" he said. ""It was certainly an eye-opener to what AFL footy is all about and it took half a dozen games before I settled into it just a little bit.""
Another eye-opening element to the day for Lucas was playing in front of such a massive crowd. ""I probably took in a bit more of the crowd, more than I have ever since,"" Lucas admitted. ""Since then, you are just focused on the game but in that first game, I guess I was caught just soaking it all in.""
The Bombers got off to a fast start and led by 25 points at half-time before a six-goal final quarter by the Magpies led them to victory by 12 points. ""That is one thing I do remember – that we lost,"" Lucas lamented. ""If I recall correctly, we hadn’t had a great start to the season and it was an important game from that point of view. But I can remember the coaches not being overly happy.""
Lucas went on to play 14 games in 1996, including his first final against the Brisbane Bears at the Gabba and if not for ‘that’ Tony Lockett behind in the preliminary final, might have played his 15th game in the 1996 grand final. He has gone on to forge a great partnership in attack with champion full forward Matthew Lloyd and also displayed his versatility with some excellent performances in the back line.
With the Bombers currently focused on finding the next group of youngsters to lead the club into the future, the role of experienced players the calibre of Scott Lucas in their development is important. But when he runs onto the MCG to tackle Collingwood this Monday, he will be fully focused on helping the club to victory and reversing the result from his first AFL game. ""Hopefully we can get a win this time!""
