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Earlier this month, Sean Lee asked the Roar community whether the US combine was worth the effort.
For the most part, footy fans are quite ambivalent about such ventures.
The success rate of uncovering elite athletes from other sports since the Irish experiment commenced exactly 30 years ago is mixed, at best.
The AFL website ran an interesting story on Wednesday about a “Lanky Yank”, Mason Cox, and I have to admit that his vital statistics are impressive.
Cox is from Oklahoma State University and he stands at a Aaron Sandilands-esque 211 centimetres tall.
Even more impressive is what he is able to achieve with that massive frame of his.
He has an absolute vertical jump of 348 centimetres. Assuming his arms are anywhere near being in proportion with the rest of his body, this means he can pluck the cherry at well, well over four metres off the ground.
Interestingly, Justin Wesley of the University of Kansas had the highest vertical jump, coming in at an impressive 359 centimetres. Wesley also had the best 20-metre sprint at 2.81 seconds, meaning we are talking about quite the athletic specimen.
In the 20-metre sprint, our lanky Yank was able to get his frame over the line bang on three seconds, which is not too bad for a seven foot giant.
Cox is listed as the tallest athlete, here or abroad, to have ever taken part in the AFL’s testing, which now has a 20-year history.
The AFL’s national talent manager, Kevin Sheehan, describes Cox as an “absolute stand out”, being good overhead with his hands and quite agile for his size.
Cox is a relative newcomer to college basketball. He primarily comes from a football, the round-ball type, background.
The AFL reports that four AFL clubs are taking a good look at him.
At 23, similar to Mike Pyke’s and Karmichael Hunt’s ages when they made the switch to Australian Football from rugby, the odds are against him succeeding in the AFL.
But, as has been mentioned on more than the odd occasion: seven foot athletes don’t grow on trees, so you can’t blame AFL clubs for taking a close look.
The real question becomes: how good would it be finding Mason Cox and similarly dimensioned athletes around the age of 15?
I suspect Hawthorn will soon be able to provide us with an answer to that question with the two beauties they uncovered in New Zealand – but that’s a story for another day.
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Old mate summing it up better than anyone possibly could!
Not Jake Kelly's finest moment!
