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No current season stats available
http://www.essendonfc.com.au/news/news.asp?nid=6191Zaharakis adds to Essendon midfield
Saturday, 29 November 2008
David Zaharakis- Northern Knights' teammate of Essendon's first selection Michael HurleyPLAYERCARDSTART11David Zaharakis
- Age
- 34
- Ht
- 180cm
- Wt
- 79kg
- Pos.
- Fwd
CareerSeasonLast 5
- D
- 21.8
- 5star
- K
- 12.3
- 5star
- HB
- 9.5
- 5star
- M
- 4.3
- 4star
- T
- 3.6
- 5star
- G
- 0.6
- 4star
No current season stats available
- D
- 14.6
- 4star
- K
- 9.4
- 4star
- HB
- 5.2
- 4star
- M
- 4.6
- 5star
- T
- 2.4
- 4star
- G
- 0.4
- 3star
PLAYERCARDEND- has also joined the Bombers after being selected at pick number 23 at today's NAB AFL Draft. A quick, agile midfielder with a penetrating kick, Zaharakis also earned All Australian selection this season.PLAYERCARDSTART18Michael Hurley
- Age
- 33
- Ht
- 193cm
- Wt
- 94kg
- Pos.
- Def
CareerSeasonLast 5
- D
- 18.3
- 5star
- K
- 12.1
- 4star
- HB
- 6.2
- 4star
- M
- 6.4
- 5star
- T
- 0.9
- 3star
- MG
- 389.3
- 5star
- D
- 16.5
- 4star
- K
- 11.8
- 5star
- HB
- 4.7
- 3star
- M
- 6.3
- 5star
- T
- 0.3
- 1star
- MG
- 301.2
- 4star
- D
- 15.0
- 4star
- K
- 7.6
- 3star
- HB
- 7.4
- 5star
- M
- 5.0
- 5star
- T
- 2.0
- 4star
PLAYERCARDEND
"We think he can add to the midfield - we had him ranked at 13 so it was good to get him at 23," Essendon list manager Adrian Dodoro said following the draft.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,24758062-19742,00.htmlThe Northern Knights midfielder had been unexpectedly summoned to Windy Hill a week before the national draft.
- IT WAS the ultimate test of David Zaharakis' poker face.
Zaharakis, an Essendon fan, had accepted the fact he would probably not be joining the Bombers in seven days' time.
Suddenly he was in a room with senior coach Matthew Knights and list manager Adrian Dodoro and struggling to contain his excitement.
"I hadn't spoken to them at all beforehand and they rang nd asked me to come down and I was like, 'Yeah, all right'," Zaharakis said yesterday.
"They actually introduced me to some of the staff as soon as I walked in the door before Adrian sat me down.
"Then Matty Knights walked in halfway through and sort of said, 'If you come here you'll love the club culture' and all that. It was pretty nerve-racking.
"I thought they must have been interested, to have taken the time to show me around the club a week before the draft. You sort of think maybe there's a chance you could be going there."
Zaharakis' wildest dreams were confirmed on draft day when the Bombers swooped on the Vic Metro co-captain with their second pick, No. 23 overall.
A quick and agile onballer with a penetrating kick, Zaharakis was joined in red and black by key-position defender Michael Hurley (No. 5), tall forward Michael Still (55) and high-marking forward Tyson Slattery (67).
The quartet has already forged a tight bond, with Hurley, Zaharakis and Still teammates at the Knights.
Asked about the events of draft day, Zaharakis chuckles.
"I was at home listening to the radio and then they called me straight after I got picked up and said, 'Come down to Telstra Dome', so we were in the car straight away," he said.
"Dad drove and we left all these people at our house. I was looking down at these text messages coming in and I looked up and we were at Telstra Dome in 25 minutes. It normally takes 40 minutes."
If there was excitement in the Zaharakis family, there was also relief. David was gutted last year after being overlooked in the 2007 national draft as a 17-year-old.
"I was more hoping than expecting to go last year and I was pretty shattered," he said.
"I guess this year I wanted to prove to people, not that they were wrong, but that I was ready for the AFL and that I had worked really hard in the off-season on my skills and endurance, which were probably the two main things, and it paid off."
Essendon's newest baby Bombers were put through their first day of training yesterday, starting at 8am at La Trobe University.
For Zaharakis, the level of professionalism is almost too good to be true.
"There's like two physios who come to training at Northern and then you come here and there's four physios here all day," he said.
"There's training staff, four, five or six coaches who take the drills and stuff. From that side of it it's a big change."
That reminds me, did we ever get to the bottom of how to pronounce Bachar?
They completely missed Skipworth, pretty good chance for Rd 1