Zephaniah Skinner is not Superman but Rodney Eade says: 'He can leap tall buildings'

Mark Stevens - Herald Sun - 20 November

http://resources3.news.com.au/images...51-skinner.jpg
New Western Bulldogs draftee Zeph Skinner tries on his new jumper at TIO Stadium as he gets ready to join his new club.


ZEPHANIAH Skinner is not Superman, but the Western Bulldogs hope he may perform a decent impersonation on the big stage.

"The guy can leap tall buildings," coach Rodney Eade declared yesterday.

Every club was spruiking its picks after Thursday night's draft, but the recruit with the best name in football has undoubted X-factor.

The 21-year-old stands at 190cm, but played ruck for the NT Thunder this year, attracting the interest of the Dogs, Melbourne and Collingwood.

Melbourne was particularly keen to play Skinner alongside another indigenous freak show, Liam Jurrah, and had its sights set on him for next month's rookie draft.

Article in full...

He looks about 28 in that photo.

Something about this guy that fills me with a bit more confidence than any of the other draft picks Dalrymple has had so far. Maybe it's just his relaxed demeanor.

Nice rats tail:D

He looks like he is at least 24kg

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Originally Posted by hujsh

Something about this guy that fills me with a bit more confidence than any of the other draft picks Dalrymple has had so far. Maybe it's just his relaxed demeanor.

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There just seems to be something about him, be it the coaches comments or most articles talking about a positive off field demeaner.
Given he has no wife & kids and has been to Melborune before, he seems way in front of where Thorne was last season.

I hope he never loses that look in his eyes. The white bars give the impression he's looking out of prison.

Reminds me a bit of Stack when he first arrived at the club. Similar long limbed and lean build and of course the rats tails. A solid season in the gym might be an interesting adjustment for him.

" He tackles like a machine -- he has good vision and long arms."


The part I like. X-factor stuff is great, but to hear he has great defensive side is really encouraging.

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Originally Posted by BornInDroopSt'54

I hope he never loses that look in his eyes. The white bars give the impression he's looking out of prison.

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"Good. Now that I finally broke out of prison, the first thing I'm going to do is murder Essendon on March 27, 2011"

It's all coming to plan.

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Originally Posted by chef

Nice rats tail:D

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As if he didn't have enough head starts in the cult status stakes. The rat's tails just top it off.

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Originally Posted by GVGjr

Reminds me a bit of Stack when he first arrived at the club. Similar long limbed and lean build and of course the rats tails. A solid season in the gym might be an interesting adjustment for him.

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Didn't Harbrow have the rat's tail? I only remember Stack's mo.

I love reading stories of guys like Skinner who have come from nowhere to make the big time.
It reminds me of a rags to riches story i read a couple of weeks ago that i'd like to share. I don't know if someone else has already posted this story on another thread so apologies if it has. I'm a mad soccer fan with a Portuguese background and when I heard that Man Utd had a new 20 year old striker named Bebe from Portugal i thought i'd look him up. What i found was a truly remarkable story that would make a great movie one day.
Bebe grew up in an orphanage and once he turned 18 was living on the streets. Last year he represented Portugal in the World homeless games where he scored something like 60 goals in 4 games. From there he played ametuer football where he started to get noticed and got picked up by a 3rd division team. Once the season was over one of the bigger clubs signed him to a pre-season contract and he scored a few goals during their pre season games. Man Utd heard about him through Portugals national coach who used to be Sir Alex right hand man for many years. The trade deadline was approaching so Utd took a punt and paid 7.4 million pounds for him. When asked about his new recruit Sir Alex said 'i have never seen him play before he got here'. So in less than 2 years Bebe has gone from living on the streets and playing for a homeless side to the biggest club in the world.
What makes this more remarkable to me is that growing up in an orphanage he would not have had the oppourtunity to play junior football and get all the coaching a kid needs to improve his game. So he is at Man Utd with like 18 months of coaching, this kid has a lot of raw talent and hopefully it can be harnessed and we can see this guy blossom into a world class footballer. A great story.

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Originally Posted by St 07

"Good. Now that I finally broke out of prison, the first thing I'm going to do is murder Essendon on March 27, 2011"

It's all coming to plan.

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Ha, that's exactly what he looks like.
Of course it's all too easy to read stuff into an unknown character like Zephaniah and we need to be culturally sensitive even if we're enthusiastic about him. Favourite food of Bush Turkey and asking an interviewer " have you heard of The Bible" shows that his world and our world may be far apart. He would know and feel things we will never know or feel and vica versa. He comes into our world on our terms. We can never understand him using only our values and measurements and fairly, should always underpin our attitude to him and his culture with respect, knowing we are ignorant.

I'm sure City tried to sign him for a billion(only a matter of time)!!
Great story and hopefully we get a gem.

Great picture, needed a new avatar :D