Keeping his mind off the AFL Draft has not been a difficult task for Mirrool’s Mitch Maguire this week.
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Fresh from eight days training with Sydney Swans, Maguire has been straight back in study mode as he prepares to learn his footballing fate on Friday.
Maguire arrived back in Canberra on Tuesday and hit the books ahead of three university exams scheduled for Thursday and Friday.
Once that is out of the way, Maguire will sit down and watch the AFL’s Rookie Draft unfold on Friday night.
After being invited to train with Sydney in the lead up, Maguire believes he is a one in three chance of being picked up by the Swans.
“The three of us that trained there, it’s my understanding, that they will take one of us as a category B rookie,” Maguire said.
“One of us is going to get it and the other two won’t essentially.
“They haven’t really given anything away so I’ll just have to wait and see. I’ve got no idea to be honest. I put my best foot forward and gave it 100 per cent. That’s all I can do.”
Maguire, a Northern Jets junior, was invited to train with the Swans on the back of a stellar season in the NEAFL with Canberra Demons.
The 20-year-old won the NEAFL Rising Star award and took out the Demons’ best and fairest.
He spent eight days in Sydney alongside Demons teammate Angus Baker, a key defender, and UNSW-Eastern Suburbs ruckman Jack Blair.
Maguire said it was everything he hoped for and more.
“It was great. I loved it even more than I thought I would, to be honest,” he said.
“Just the lifestyle and being apart of a great bunch of blokes. It seems like a really good club.
“Doing it with Angus Baker, who I play with in Canberra, made it a lot easier too.”
The glimpse at an AFL pre-season was exactly what Maguire expected it to be.
“Yeah I guess so. I expected it to be pretty tough and it was pretty tough,” he said.
“It was really enjoyable too. Obviously it’s tough but when you’ve got a heap of blokes doing it together at the same time, it’s not as if you’re there by yourself doing it, that makes it a lot easier.
“I guess you would say it’s cool. Especially when you’ve got coaches like Dean Cox, Brett Kirk and Stevie Johnson there. I enjoyed it more than I found it tough.”
The AFL Draft starts on Thursday night with the first round and continues on Friday from midday. The Rookie Draft is then held from 6pm.
Maguire, the son of accomplished harness racing trainer Steve Maguire, will be finished his exams by then and will watch it unfold via the AFL website.
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