Melbourne recruit Joel Fitzgerald was always destined for great things, but it wasn't until a pre-season chat with his VFL coach truly unlocked his true potential in turning his AFL dream into a reality.
Fitzgerald and Williamstown Seagulls coach Justin Plapp spoke ahead of the 2026 season of a role change from defence into the midfield after showing traits the latter believed could be translated, not only to the coalface, but also the top-flight.
Plapp recognised the 22-year-old's "uncanny ability" to find plenty of the ball, but needed to bolster his on-ball stocks. A win-win decision that paid dividends.
"He's such a great story for me to talk about," Plapp told Zero Hanger.
"He came to us and into our program four years ago. He was a Northern Knights kid during the COVID period where he was impacted by that. He went to Essendon, played a few games (in the VFL) and we got him out of that program. We loved his competitiveness and his ability to find the footy, even three or fours years ago it was really on show.
"What Joel was able to do in that time was build his game. He started as a high defender, but he had this uncanny ability (to find the footy). Every time he came off the ground, he had 30 possessions, and over a period of two years, I thought, 'how can we apply this to other areas of the ground?'"
Before the Demons selected him in last month's mid-season draft, Fitzgerald didn't dip under 24 possessions in eight outings for Williamstown this year, averaging 33.6 disposals, 5.6 tackles and 6.9 marks. His form continued in new colours, gathering 40 and 33 possessions as a Melbourne player in the VFL.
But it wasn't an easy adjustment for Fitzgerald, who struggled to find his feet initially, before putting his name in lights for an AFL call-up.
"So I said to Joel, 'we need a bit more depth in the midfield. You're a ball winner. You're physical. You have power. How would you feel applying your craft through the midfield?'" Plapp explained.
"The first couple of games he played it was like a duck out of water, but there were some things he was doing I reckon this kid had a strong mindset because it's really hard to change positions and go into another role and have impact straight away.
"To Joel's credit, he invested into that. We had a strong plan around crafting him, around education, around him certainly changing his outlook on the game because I would say Joel is a competitor. He would turn up to training and do what was needed, but there was some things around him as a player around his habits, around his conditioning, weight, diet, sleep.
"We put a plan in place, and that gave him more discipline to give him some better direction, and to his credit, I can't fault the kid for embracing what we did with him, and his performances just show how talented he is.
"I think he's going to have a long career."
Plapp received many calls from interested parties about Fitzgerald and his development, but revealed the Demons had remained consistent with their desire to bring him up to the AFL.
The 22-year-old will make his AFL debut against Essendon at the MCG, but the Seagulls coach believes he has traits to make an immediate impact.
"He's a needs for them as well," Plapp continued.
"He's a really powerful and clean player. Those traits in a footballer are quite employable. The Melbourne footy club are going to get a really reliable, competitive player that I don't think he'll be just a midfielder. He's got traits to play at half back and other roles.
"He's quite a versatile player."
