JIMMY Toumpas says finding the balance between expectation and appreciation was difficult in his first AFL season.
Toumpas, who played 14 matches in 2013, after arriving at Melbourne having undergone hip surgery, said he was champing at the bit to do as much as he could, but had to understand that without a full pre-season, it was always going to be a challenging first season.
“What I was expecting of myself was way too much and I needed to appreciate where I was at with my body and in terms of my surgeries and my fitness,” he told melbournefc.com.au.
“I knew that I wasn’t going to be playing as well as Jack Viney or Jaeger O’Meara – you’re not going to be playing the footy they’re going to be playing in their first year.
“You’ve got to build your fitness up and develop an AFL body and fitness base, before you can play that footy. That was a massive I got from it.”
Toumpas said it was frustrating to put his training on hold when he arrived at the Demons, after being drafted at No.4 in last year’s NAB AFL Draft.
“I had my surgeries early August [last year] and then I got drafted [last] November and by that time, I started training with my SANFL club (Woodville-West Torrens), but then coming to an AFL club, they’re so cautious with you,” he said.
“When I got to the club on November 25, they pretty much said ‘stop right here, you’re going to be going very slowly’. It was early to mid-January, when I did my first full session and I was pretty happy with that.
“I started completing more and more sessions and then we started playing games and my fitness wasn’t too great. Naturally, it’s not too bad, but unfortunately I couldn’t get a full pre-season, which was pretty annoying.”
Toumpas said the likes of Jack Grimes and Nathan Jones helped him considerably in his first year.
“I know I’ve learned a lot from the year. With Neeldy (Mark Neeld) going [as coach] and the amount of losses we’d come across – that’s what footy is and I know we’ll be better for it in the future,” he said.
“Although I haven’t performed as well as I’d liked, I’ve definitely grown from that and I don’t think many 18 or 19 year olds around the country would’ve gone through what me, Jack Viney and Dean Kent have gone through.
“Hopefully, we do grow massively from that.”
Toumpas didn’t expect the media attention on the club to be so intense. He also acknowledged the scrutiny directed towards him was difficult to handle.
“I’ve learned a lot about the media in the AFL this year and I’ve put a lot of pressure on myself to perform and do all of the things a pick four is supposed to do,” he said.
“I came into the AFL system not knowing what to expect. In round one, I certainly copped a big lesson on how hard AFL footy is. From that moment, I tried my best to keep up with the pace of the game and be very competitive at the club.
“I let it get to me a little bit and I was a bit down and it came to a point where I had to move on from that.”
Still, the 19-year-old got a buzz out of playing his role.
“I knew I wasn’t going to be able to get 25 to 30 touches each week. It’s just not going to happen, especially in the AFL, because it’s such a hard game to play.”
“The players that are out there are unbelievable, so it got to a point where I was happy playing my role and the coaches were really happy with me doing that.
“They knew what I was going to do this year, because I was coming off a very low base.”
Although Toumpas said it was difficult starting pre-season in mid-January this year, he is champing at the bit to have a full pre-season when he returns to the track in November.
“That really sucked, because I hate being held back from things and being told to only do one session a week and do a swim,” he said.
“I got through the season fine and played 14 games, so I’m really proud of that, even though I didn’t perform as well [as I would’ve liked].
“I was really stoked with that and I’m looking forward to this pre-season and giving a really good pre-season and hitting my peak fitness and really showing people that I can make it at this level.”
