A big ban nearly ended Arie Schoenmaker’s draft dream. It was the ‘reality check’ he needed

As much as Arie Schoenmaker has grown on the field in 2023, it’s his off-field growth he’s most proud of.

The Launceston product, by his own admission, was “making some mistakes off-field” at the start of the year. He wanted to be a professional AFL player by year’s end, but “probably wasn’t taking it as seriously as I should have” at the time.

This was punctuated by an incident on a pre-season training camp that saw him cop a 10-week suspension from the Tasmania Devils.

“I bought the boys some alcohol after a game when I was a leader in that team,” Schoenmaker, who turned 18 in early January, told foxfooty.com.au at last month’s AFL draft combine.

“I was a second-year player and I encouraged drinking with the young boys. I just didn’t use my leadership skills in a positive way.”

Schoenmaker’s draft stocks, consequently, took a significant hit and the lengthy ban rocked him.

Yet it also shaped him, both as a player and person, for the rest of the year. And now for an AFL career.

“To put goals and structure in place then trying to get to the next level, it made me realise how bad I wanted it,” he said.

THE DRAFT REDEMPTION JOURNEY

Schoenmaker, following the ban, was banished from the Devils’ program and missed the first half of their Coates Talent League program. Instead, he spent a couple of months with Launceston in the TSL, where he played six senior games.

While he wasn’t taking on the country’s best under-age players weekly and getting the chance to show off his kicking prowess in the more “open and offensively driven” Talent League, Schoenmaker enjoyed the challenge of playing against bigger bodies.

“I feel like it was good for my game as growth because I needed to work on a few things defensively playing against bigger bodies, so it kind of set me up,” he said.

“When I came back into the Coates League, I was pretty confident I could have a fair crack.”

Indeed, he gave it a fair crack.

In his first Talent League match of the season, Schoenmaker amassed a game-high 36 disposals, 19 rebound 50s and six marks against the GWV Rebels. The Devils lost the match, but Schoenmaker’s draft redemption journey had truly begun.

After another two solid Talent League outings for the Devils, Schoenmaker was called up to the Allies’ squad for their final two games of the national championships. He made an immediate splash, booting 2.3 from 20 disposals, 10 marks and four inside 50s against Vic Metro before another 12-disposal display against Vic Country.

Schoenmaker wasn’t just back on the draft radar. He was now in the first-round mix.

“I’m super proud of what I achieved and what the teams achieved with the Tassie Devils and Allies,” he said.

“I feel like I got a bit more confidence going and that my kicking got better as the season went on as well and just making better and smarter decisions with the ball.”

Despite a strong finish to the Talent League – he averaged 27.8 disposals, 8.4 rebound 50s and 7.6 marks across his final five games – many clubs were keen to wait until October‘s AFL draft combine to make a firmer judgment on Schoenmaker.

Not to see how he tested, but how he interviewed.

So Schoenmaker knew the questions about his early-year mistake would come. And he was prepared for them.