Tiger recruiters heading to USA to find new, tall talent (afl site)

[one-eyed]

Clubs heading to US to find new, tall talent

Callum Twomey 
afl.com.au
April 21, 2015 7:00 AM



FOUR clubs will send recruiters to Florida next week as the next batch of American athletes take part in the US Combine.

The AFL will stage the three-day testing event at the IMG Academy in Tampa for the first time, and Essendon, Richmond, Carlton and North Melbourne will have scouts on hand.

Between 15-20 athletes from across America, mostly aspiring basketballers who are unlikely to get a chance in the NBA draft, will arrive on Monday before undergoing testing and being interviewed by the clubs.

The AFL will continue to target taller prospects, having last year seen a swarm of clubs show interest in 211cm Mason Cox, who had several interviews before choosing to join Collingwood as an international rookie.

This year's group includes a 213cm athlete, and the AFL's national talent manager Kevin Sheehan said the League was heartened by the development of Cox, Jason Holmes (St Kilda) and Eric Wallace (North Melbourne).

"The whole concept is still in its infancy, but for them to be able to compete as they are at VFL level gives us the encouragement to go back again, and four clubs will come with us," Sheehan told AFL.com.au.

"We'll look for the guys who are the perfect height for our game, but probably lack just that little bit to make the NBA. There's a terrific level of interest now."

Many of the American athletes have combined basketball with other sports, including soccer and gridiron, which Sheehan said has made for some exciting prototypes in recent seasons.

"Height is a pre-requisite to get in. We're starting at 200cm and working up. We make it fairly exclusive because we have to get our heads around them in three days," Sheehan said.

"At a minimum we'll bring two of the athletes out to Australia during finals time for an in-depth next step of coaching and development, and then presentation at the draft combine to the other clubs.

"But at best, last year we had Mason Cox out within a month after the combine as we realised we'd found a guy with some special attributes."

Taking the combine from Los Angeles to the IMG Academy in Tampa continues the AFL's integration at the world-class facility.

In January, the NAB AFL Academy spent a week training on the grounds at IMG for their international tour and the draft prospects gained plenty from living on campus alongside other emerging athletes from around the world.

"The eight other professional sports developing their best athletes were very, very interested in our athletes and what we are doing in our sport," Sheehan said.

"We think building up that knowledge at an elite facility is important and it can be housed in one spot."

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2015-04-21/clubs-to-scour-us-talent

[Hard Roar Tiger]

AFL has too much money, spending it like a benevolent dictator

[Penelope]

why do they only target players over 200cm when you can only make it as a ruckman at that height?

[Andyy]

Seriously only for 200cm or taller?

I'd be going for some of those lightning fast afros who look like the creator forgot to attach a fat layer to their body.

I mean seriously their 'guards' in basketball are basically as tall as our forwards/centres anyway...

[lamington]

Well Lebron James is over 200cm and his agent claims he can run 40 yards in 4.6 sec. That's pretty damn quick.

[🏅Dooks]

Why go all that way to botch draft picks when you can just botch them locally? Not very convenient

[potsclub]

Haha can't recruit here in aus, but they'll go watch 2 or 3 games in America and recruit a gun.
LOL

[YellowandBlackBlood]

Need someone 220cm that runs like the wind!

[tdy]

Personally Id look at 190cm plus as kpp. Look at ohailpin worked ok after a while.

[bojangles17]

Personally Id look at 190cm plus as kpp. Look at ohailpin worked ok after a while.

He did 

[🏅Dooks]

Like stuffin whoa man, aeroplane food is awesome.

Whoa 

[one-eyed]

Athletes going through the hoops at US Combine

Callum Twomey 
afl.com.au
April 30, 2015 12:18 PM


AMERICAN athlete Jalen Carethers was the standout of this week's AFL International Combine in the US, with the 201cm prospect almost breaking the all-time 20m sprint record.

The 21-year-old, who comes from Virginia and has a basketball background, ran 2.79 seconds in the sprint test.

It was the equal third fastest time tested by the AFL (former Gold Coast player Joel Wilkinson holds the record with 2.75 seconds), and the quickest ever recorded by a player standing 198cm or taller.

Carethers was also the fastest of the 15 athletes to take part in the combine at the IMG Academy in Florida in the repeat sprint test, posting a time of 25.16 seconds.

He backed up his speed by being the second best performed in the agility run and vertical jumps.

North Melbourne, Richmond, Essendon and Carlton sent recruiters and officials to America to scout the prospects, with dual premiership player and now Blues development coach Matthew Capuano also assisting in running the drills.


AFL INTERNATIONAL COMBINE TOP RESULTS

HEIGHT
John Crnogorac (Mississippi) – 212.2cm
Brian Hornstein (Dallas) – 211.3cm
Kye Kurkowski (Nebraska) – 208.9cm

STANDING VERTICAL JUMP
Reggie Spencer (Alabama) – 84cm
Jalen Carethers (Virginia) – 81cm
James Johnson (Canada) – 81cm

RUNNING VERTICAL JUMP
Junior Fortunat (Canada) – 89cm
Jalen Carethers (Virginia) – 88cm
James Johnson (Canada) – 88cm

SPEED – 20 METRE SPRINT
Jalen Carethers (Virginia) – 2.79 seconds
Christian Behrens (Seattle) – 2.95 seconds
Len Springs (Los Angeles) – 2.99 seconds

AFL AGILTY RUN
Daquan Holiday (New Jersey) – 8.40 seconds
Jalen Carethers (Virginia) – 8.48 seconds
Reggie Spencer (Alabama) – 8.52 seconds

30 METRE REPEAT SPRINTS
Jalen Carethers (Virginia) – 25.16 seconds
Daquan Holiday (New Jersey) – 25.33 seconds
Christian Behrens (Seattle) – 25.42 seconds

ENDURANCE – 3KM TIME TRIAL
Len Springs (Los Angeles) – 11minutes 14 seconds
Kye Kurkowski (Nebraska) – 11minutes 56 seconds
Matt Korcheck (Arizona) – 12 minutes 8 seconds

Read more at: http://www.afl.com.au/news/2015-04-30/basketballer-records-nearrecord-sprint-time-at-us-combine

[Diocletian]

Kye Kurkowski (Nebraska)

No more K.K.'s please....

[bojangles17]

fj will get his man, don't you worry, 

[lamington]

We need a fast strong tall black guy. STAT!