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The journey continues for Eric Wallace

Roar Rookie
23rd May, 2014
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Roar Rookie
23rd May, 2014
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1096 Reads

Two years ago Eric Wallace started his journey into Australian rules football. At the time I wrote an article on Eric and was genuinely excited at the thought of such a massive athlete taking on the challenge of AFL football.

Eric was given his nickname ‘The Beast’ which is obviously due the fact that he is a massive unit, and was then on his way to his AFL dream. If you have been following Eric’s progress you won’t be surprised at the player he has become.

The only other player we can compare Eric to would be that other North American, Mike Pyke. While Mike has developed into a player who offers the Swans a good contested mark, a solid set shot and a handy ruckman, I have never seen Mike take a screamer.

And yet this is something Eric has now mastered. I was throughly shocked that a man who would have been lucky to have played 24 games, has mastered our beloved specky.

Eric obviously has some way to go before he will line-up for the Kangaroos, but has shown how quickly an athlete can pick up the game.

So I was a bit shocked to hear a former North Melbourne great in Wayne Carey question the recruitment of players born and bred outside Australia’s borders.

Wayne, who is without doubt one of the greatest players to have ever played the game, obviously isn’t one of the games greatest thinkers. I have no doubt a visionary like Paul Roos would have shaken his head at Wayne’s comments.

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His negative comment came in regards to Mason Cox. Mason, a 211-centimetre tall monster from the US has a high level of coordination and many qualities of a potential star, which is something at least five clubs have declared interest in.

Mason is the same height as Aaron Sandilands who tends to dominate most ruck contests and holds the record as the equal-tallest player to have ever played in the AFL. And yet Wayne seems to have missed the point as to why we are hunting US athletes like Mason.

Very tall athletes that can fill the role of a ruckman and tick the boxes as far as endurance, toughness and coordination are hard to come by. Only one per cent of the athletes that come out of the U.S College sporting system go onto play at a professional level.

Therefore, there must be many talented players just waiting to be picked up by the right club. The risk to the club taking a punt is almost nil. Clubs can take up to three international rookies on their list for up to three years, with none of their salary counting towards the clubs salary cap.

So why wouldn’t you take a chance on an international rookie? We now see Patrick Mitchell at Sydney, Jason Holmes at St.Kilda and Eric at North Melbourne. While I can’t see Mason replicating Eric’s screamers on the field, I guarantee we will soon see America’s version of Arron Sandilands being signed to an AFL club in the near future.

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