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Sounds a bit like Andrew Mackie
Peel teen Black comes in from the rain
If you were an AFL recruiting scout Medibank Stadium is the last place you'd have wanted to be on June 27, but that was where a potential draft gem came of age.
The under-18 national titles were being played in Melbourne that day and a triple header had just started when the WAFL colts games began in rain and wind.
Peel's Aaron Black was too old to play at the championships, but several clubs had noticed the key forward after he quit basketball to focus on football.
Black had kicked six goals the previous week against East Perth to show what he could do, but took his game to another level against Subiaco on that last Saturday in June.
Black, who hadn't been part of any State development program, had 29 possessions, took 14 marks and kicked 6.4 - the same score as Subiaco.
It took no time for word of his success to reach Victoria and suddenly he found himself in a far bigger spotlight.
"That would be the best game I played for the year," Black said.
"I'd had some injuries in the first 10 games, but I got myself fit and then started to play really well. It was just after I got a couple of letters from AFL clubs. Those letters surprised me but gave me the confidence to believe that this could really become a career for me.
"It was belting down with rain but I was able to hold down a few marks. It was a good day."
Black's stocks rose further as the year progressed.
He graduated to league football for the last three games and collected 26 possessions as a ruckman against East Fremantle in round 23. He finished fifth in the WAFL colts best and fairest, was Peel's best player in the colts grand final loss to Claremont and received an invitation to the prestigious AFL draft camp.
The 18-year-old has shone in Canberra this week.
Equal fourth in the standing vertical leap test, Black was then equal second in the new kicking test with a score of 22 out of a possible 30. Top- five prospect Gary Rohan led with 23.
Only two AFL clubs are yet to contact Black.
At 192cm and 82kg, some see him as a tall midfielder, others as a half-forward and others believe he can play as a key forward.
Wayne Hayres, a former AIS basketball scholarship coach and NBL assistant coach, toured America with Black at the end of 2007.
He said the teenager had the attributes to be an elite athlete.
"Aaron could have played college basketball in America if he'd decided to go that way," he said. "He's got a great ability to read a game. He was appealing to the coaches over there because of his athleticism. Put into the right program, he would have blossomed."
Peel teen Black comes in from the rain
If you were an AFL recruiting scout Medibank Stadium is the last place you'd have wanted to be on June 27, but that was where a potential draft gem came of age.
The under-18 national titles were being played in Melbourne that day and a triple header had just started when the WAFL colts games began in rain and wind.
Peel's Aaron Black was too old to play at the championships, but several clubs had noticed the key forward after he quit basketball to focus on football.
Black had kicked six goals the previous week against East Perth to show what he could do, but took his game to another level against Subiaco on that last Saturday in June.
Black, who hadn't been part of any State development program, had 29 possessions, took 14 marks and kicked 6.4 - the same score as Subiaco.
It took no time for word of his success to reach Victoria and suddenly he found himself in a far bigger spotlight.
"That would be the best game I played for the year," Black said.
"I'd had some injuries in the first 10 games, but I got myself fit and then started to play really well. It was just after I got a couple of letters from AFL clubs. Those letters surprised me but gave me the confidence to believe that this could really become a career for me.
"It was belting down with rain but I was able to hold down a few marks. It was a good day."
Black's stocks rose further as the year progressed.
He graduated to league football for the last three games and collected 26 possessions as a ruckman against East Fremantle in round 23. He finished fifth in the WAFL colts best and fairest, was Peel's best player in the colts grand final loss to Claremont and received an invitation to the prestigious AFL draft camp.
The 18-year-old has shone in Canberra this week.
Equal fourth in the standing vertical leap test, Black was then equal second in the new kicking test with a score of 22 out of a possible 30. Top- five prospect Gary Rohan led with 23.
Only two AFL clubs are yet to contact Black.
At 192cm and 82kg, some see him as a tall midfielder, others as a half-forward and others believe he can play as a key forward.
Wayne Hayres, a former AIS basketball scholarship coach and NBL assistant coach, toured America with Black at the end of 2007.
He said the teenager had the attributes to be an elite athlete.
"Aaron could have played college basketball in America if he'd decided to go that way," he said. "He's got a great ability to read a game. He was appealing to the coaches over there because of his athleticism. Put into the right program, he would have blossomed."
That's good enough for me.
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