Jagga’s Patch: The suburb riding a young superstar’s debut

A dusty garden bed full of nondescript shrubs sat on one side of the Richmond Primary School playground.

Soon enough, it became known as "Jagga's Patch".

I found myself running kick-to-kick sessions nearby before the bell, and a young Jagga Smith joined in on his first day in preps - mostly against grade ones and twos.

Jagga was tiny, even by prep standards. This kid, though, was Mighty Mouse.

The intensity and hunger for the footy was immediately obvious, determination written all over his baby face.

Inevitably, the ball would bounce into the tired shrubs. Three or four kids would follow it in. Just about always, Jagga would emerge with the Sherrin, out-working and out-witting some twice his size.

He wanted it more. The others were left behind in "Jagga's Patch" as he emerged, weaved his way through heavy traffic and kicked it back to me, always hitting his target with a perfectly spinning drop punt.

We all knew Jagga would play AFL one day. He just had it. He dominated for Richmond junior footy club, racking up 40-plus weekly.

And now, as his debut for Carlton approaches, the entire suburb of Richmond is behind him.

For some, Richmond is a suburb you wander through to go to the footy or a location for a Saturday night pub crawl, but the community spirit in postcode 3121 is incredibly strong, and the support for Jagga is incredible, particularly after the heartbreaking knee injury that ended his debut season before it started.

No one is riding the wave of emotion more than Jeff Rudland, Jagga's coach from the Richmond juniors in the early years.

Rudland's still in Richmond and has been a regular at Jagga's games as he progressed through the ranks to the Oakleigh Chargers and state representation.

"He told me, 'Jeff keep yourself fit and healthy so you're there when I win the Brownlow'," Rudland told Zero Hanger.

"I'm only 77 this year so I should be right!"

Rudland is so close to the family he used to babysit Jagga after school.

"We'd play kick to kick in the backyard with our dog Campbell who was named after Tiger Wayne Campbell," Rudland said.

"Campbell used to chase the ball. Jagga would tackle him, strip him off it, then baulk him."

Jagga was a coach's dream, a natural footy thinker.

"He listened, that was the key," Rudland said.

While he was racking up stats, Jagga was always bringing others into the game.

"He'd share it around. We had a kid at full-forward who couldn't kick a goal, so he'd give him one on a platter," Rudland said.

"Jagga would take pleasure in getting others into the game.

"Every night at training he'd ask 'Jeff, are we going to do circle work tonight?'. He just liked running with his mates, handballing and bringing others into the game.

"He just loves football and I don't think that's going to change any time soon."

Andrew O'Halloran, the president of Richmond juniors in Jagga's reign, will be watching proudly when the season kicks off.

Tom Roach, the son of Michael who joined Richmond under father-son rules, is the only other male AFL draftee from the Richmond junior footy club.

As the draftee drought rolled on, O'Halloran remembers a famous name, AFL legend David Parkin, watching Jagga one day at Citizens Park.

"One line I will always remember was from Parko ... it was the first year of my presidency. I remember Parko saying 'this is the best under-10 player I have ever seen'," O'Halloran said.

Parkin's been known for his big statements, but no one doubted him that day.

Now the entire suburb of Richmond is behind the kid Jagga.