The Roar
The Roar

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AFL's next Buddy sits by the phone

Roar Rookie
8th November, 2012
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Roar Rookie
8th November, 2012
14
1209 Reads

Buddy Franklin doesn’t just outsell every other player when it comes to merchandise, he sells twice the amount of his closest rival.

At 196cm and 100kg, Buddy’s a legend and a self-generating draw card. I don’t barrack for Hawthorn but I do watch them whenever I can and I won’t hesitate to attend their games.

Only Naitanui comes close to him. Naitanui’s wow factor is a boon for West Coast and the highlight reel grows with each season that passes.

In 2013 the Kangaroos are going to introduce the AFL world to the amazing Majak Daw. At 195cm and 97kg he is the shortest of the three, but has an incredible build and the biggest cannons in the AFL.

Majak’s stunning run out of the back line and goal for Werribee had Nic Naitanui written all over it. If you haven’t already seen it, do yourself a favour and get on YouTube.

As a club that struggles to get bums on seats, it’s beyond me why North Melbourne has not given this man a game earlier. The first game they pencil him in is the first Roos game I’ll be paying to see.

The promotional power of these three is huge for the game and for their clubs. Almost every club has a draw card and merchandising machine. The Western Bulldogs, the Demons, Port Power and GWS don’t.

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Not winning games is one thing, but not winning games and no draw card results in low crowd numbers and a lack of interest from the general public. So how can they generate interest?

During the latest AFL draft combine, three American athletes stood out. Eric Wallace, Yannick Crowder and Benjamin Shearry all have basketball backgrounds. With a season or two of hard work, any one of these athletes has the potential to thrill the crowds just like Buddy and help boost any club’s publicity, crowds and merchandising.

If I had to pick one, it would be Eric Wallace. He won the best international performer at the combine and has fallen in love with Aussie Rules. Keep in mind the first game of AFL he saw was the 2012 grand final.

Eric loved his time in Australia and is bursting at the seams to get back here and give Aussie rules a crack. Eric is already an amazing athlete, that’s a tick. But his biggest tick is his desire to play.

Take note GWS, this one doesn’t require a bag of money to stoke his passion. Every club can have three international rookies (No Irishmen) listed on their Category B list, in addition to their primary rookie list, which allows six normal rookies.

This won’t cost your club much more than the time. This said, I was surprised that only ten clubs interviewed Eric.

The Adelaide Crows are all over the idea of taking on athletes with a basketball background and have already had success in converting them to Australian rules players.

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Yesterday the Crows announced that Jack Osbourn and Tim Klaosen will be joining Ben Dowdell on their Category B Rookie list. All three are mature aged Australians with a basketball background.

I hope all the players looking to get drafted all the best. This is a message to all the recruiting agents who want success.

Eric Wallace is sitting by his phone, give him a call and let’s give AFL its second rookie-listed American athlete for 2013.

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