Early Life
Dale Thomas grew up in Drouin with his mother Kaye, father Darryl and his sister Jessica. His parents separated when he was 13. As a child, he idolised Geelong Cats superstar Gary Ablett, who also grew up in Drouin. He idolised Gary Ablett so much that he used to repeatedly watch his grandfather's tapes of Ablett and Geelong and recreate Ablett's marks and goals. His favourite highlight was Ablett's one handed mark over Collingwood's Gary Pert in Round 7, 1994.
Thomas played his first junior football at age eight, later moving on to play with the Hallora under-12s. His mother was dedicated to her children's sporting dreams; she kicked footballs with Dale and shot netballs with sister Jessica.
According to his father, during his first stint as captain of the under-14 Drouin team he won the toss but forgot which direction he had chosen and kicked a behind for Tooradin, the opposing team. Regardless, Drouin won by ten goals and Dale's behind was Tooradin's only score.
In 2003 he was selected in the Under-16 Vic Country squad playing on the wing. He was later selected in the 2005 Vic Country squad playing on the half forward flank. He was the Vice-Captain of the Gippsland Power squad in 2005, scoring goals in 14 out of 18 games for the Power. He was one of four school captains at Drouin Secondary College in 2005. Thomas collected 20 disposals and kicked four goals in a best-on-ground performance in Gippsland Power's TAC Cup premiership, and was selected in the TAC Cup Team of the Year.
In the TAC Cup 2005 Grand Final he won best on ground with 4 goals and 20 disposals. He took a high flying specky in the second quarter, and kicked a dribbling goal from the boundary. He was also named as an All-Australian in the 2005 Under-18 Championships as a half forward flank, in which he represented Vic Country.
Thomas was regarded by many media commentators as one of the most likely to be picked high in the AFL draft and certainly to have attracted the eye of AFL recruiters.
Read more about this topic: Dale Thomas (footballer)
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