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AFL Europe Talent Combine Review

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The 2016 AFL Europe Talent Combine was held in Dublin on the 11th and 12th of November. 21 athletes from Europe were selected to attend the event to further showcase their athleticism and skills to a panel of recruiters from the AFL community. From this, 5 players will be nominated to attend the US Combine held in Florida where there will be a scout from every AFL club overlooking the talent.

Players arrived the evening of Thursday 10th November to the Louis Fitzgerald Hotel Dublin, where they attended a ‘Welcome Dinner’ followed by an informal presentation hosted by former Sydney Swans player and current International Talent Manager, Tadhg Kennelly, who welcomed all players and presented them with their combine apparel.

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Friday morning players completed a ‘Personality Profiling Assessment’, which will be used to gain a better understanding and insight into their mindsets.  After the testing, all athletes were taken to the University College Dublin (UCD), who hosted this year’s Combine.

All players’ height, weight, skinfolds, arm length and hand span was recorded to help form their sporting profile. The first fitness assessment was completed in three sections, the first section was a Speed Test comprising of a 20m Sprint which was tested in blocks of 5, 10, 20 meters. The second section was an AFL Agility Run and the third was a Running and Standing Vertical Jump.  All results were electronically recorded and generated for their sporting profile as well as for prospective clubs.

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The second fitness assessment was the Beep Test, which tested their aerobic capabilities.  All athletes pushed themselves remarkably, resulting in some fantastic outcomes.

Later that afternoon all players were taken through an introductory skills session indoors. It was the first time for some athletes to pick up an AFL football, however; after a matter of minutes they managed to become extremely familiar with the skill set required. Tadhg and his team hosted multiple skills activities and decision making drills.

After a huge day of testing, all players looked forward to jumping into the pool for a quick recovery session to enable them to pull up ready for the next day of testing.

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Later that night, players attended AFL Europe and AFL Club interviews. They were asked several questions based on their background, their inspirations and their aspirations for life. This permitted the testers to generate more contextual information for each of the player’s profile.

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An early start on day Three of the AFL Europe Combine saw all players transported to the UCD Sports Fields where they performed multiple skills activities and then finally competing in a game of AFL and Gaelic Football. From this, recruiters and staff members were able to see all athletes’ capabilities in game form and were extremely happy to witness some incredible performances.

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On Saturday afternoon all players, parents and AFL Representatives were invited to attend a casual lunch followed by a presentation from the AFL.  The presentation consisted of a short recap of Tadhg Kennelly’s journey to the Sydney Swans, a snapshot of how AFL recruitment works including the rules/the players welfare and lastly, an overview of living in Australia from the Australian Ambassador to Ireland, Mr Richard Andrews.

Overall, the 2016 AFL Europe Talent Combine was a major success; there were great results achieved and some amazing talent seen. We wish the best of luck to all 21 players and look forward to hearing about their future endeavors.

Article by Olivia Eason

 

 

The AIS-AFL Academy wins 2014 AFL Europe Easter Series

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The 2014 Easter Series in Harrow has now come to an end. After a huge week of intense training, football education and personal development the European Legion were fired up to take on the AIS/AFL Academy in what shaped as the tightest contest yet.

First off the bat in the curtain raiser the GB Bulldogs took on the Aussie Expats (new concept). The crowd were on the edge of their seats as both teams attacked the ball fiercely and put on a great exhibition of Australian Football. This also provided the GB Bulldogs with one of their last major hit-outs as a squad before competing in IC14. The Bulldogs were slightly undermanned with a number of their stars in the Legion squad, and a few already out in Australia. Despite this they fought hard against the rapidly assembled Expats but couldn’t quite match their skill level. Eventually they fell away with the final scores Expats 10.13.73 – GB Bulldogs 5.7.37. AFL England President Adam Bennett couldn’t help himself and pulled on the Bulldogs jumper once again.

AFL Europe Easter Series

In the main game at 2pm the AIS/AFL Academy side jumped the home team early and dominated the first term. The Legion looked shellshocked and had nowhere to hide in what looked an ominous start to a long afternoon. In a 7 goal to nil term including three 50m penalties against the Legion it certainly looked grim.

Tadhg Kennelly regrouped the squad at 1/4 and asked the team to slow down, breathe and start to play their own brand of football. Whatever else he said certainly had an impact as the Legion held their own for the next 2 quarters. The link up play by hand and foot showed skills beyond their experience (8 players had never played a full match before) and the score board also started to tick over. The Flynn brothers combined for one of the goals of the day while Shehroz Akram and Zvonomir Murkovich kicked superb crumbing goals.

With Sam Willatt holding potential No.1 pick Peter Wright to 2 goals at full back anything looked possible if not for the slow start.

In the last term the Australians showed why they are the best players in their age group with some stunning play and continued hard running and spread really testing the game knowledge of the European’s. Lamb (highly noticeable with his blonde locks) seemed to be everywhere and Weller had huge numbers of disposals to keep pumping the Australian’s forward. To Europe’s credit they got 3 goals of their own in the last and walked off with head’s held high.

With a crowd of AFL Club recruiters, family and friends of the players from many nations and AFL Europe officials, the match was the highlight of a week-long development program for the two squads. The European Legion team was led out by Port Adelaide’s Irish recruit Daniel Flynn who led by example kicking a goal and running hard all day.

“This is the prefect opportunity for our European community to show its talent development over the past 12 months. It’s a real indicator of the hard work being done by our volunteers amongst the AFL Europe members to nurture and expose the best young footballers to this elite level competition. We get closer every year and have real belief that a victory is not all that far away”  Chris Dow, Chairman, AFL Europe said.

The final score:

AIS-AFL Academy      7.2    10.8   14.11    21.11     (137)

European Legion        0.3    2.4     3.5         6.6       (42)

 

Goals:

AIS-AFL Academy: Lamb 5, Goddard 4, Petracca 3, Wright 2, Smith, Weller, Walsh, Heeney, Brayshaw, Bower, McLaren

European Legion: Akram, Murkovic, O’Riordan, Campion, L.Flynn, D.Flynn

 

Best Players:

AIS-AFL Academy: Lamb, Weller, Heeney, Goddard, Petracca, Walsh, Smith

European Legion: Willatt,  McKenna, Habljak, D.Flynn, Hurley, Brophy

“The way both teams have applied themselves throughout the week and during the match is a real credit to the coaches that have prepared them to this point. It has been great to see the European team evolve and grow into what now forms solid opposition for our touring AIS/AFL Academy. The Australian boys certainly know they were in a contest today and will learn a lot from the whole experience” Kevin Sheehan, AFL National/International Talent Manager, said.

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AFL Europe Easter Series

The 2014 European Legion players are:

  • Croatia – Filip Lenic, Josip Habljak , Zvonimir Murkovic;
  • Demark – Aksel Bang, Chris Campion, Mathias Biron, Mikkel Kjoege, Nathan Campion, William Anderson;
  • England – Cameron Cope, Ollie Dilieto, Sam Willatt, Sean Walton;
  • Germany – Jakob Jung;
  • Ireland – Ciaron O’Hanlon, Colin O’Riordan, Conor McKenna, Daniel Flynn, Luke Flynn, Paddy Brophy, Padraig Lucey, Peter Cooke, Sean Hurley, Shehroz Akram, Stephen Coen; and
  • Sweden – Hampus Olsson.

The 26 players from across Europe will return to their home Clubs, armed with sharper skills and an insight into the level of commitment and professionalism required to make it at a higher level in Australian football.  Over the course of the week, they have been exposed to new training drills by experienced AFL coaches and been observed by AFL Recruiters looking out for the next young AFL star.

Follow us at: @AFL_Europe @AFLDraft #afleasterseries #bestofthebest

 

Easter Series kicked off in London

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Since their arrival in London on Sunday the 6th, both teams have been working hard, with training sessions for both the Legion and the squad of players from Australia every day. The group also managed to fit in a visit to Wembley Stadium and of course sightseeing in London.

For the first part of the week the AIS-AFL Academy and the European Legion trained and spent time together. This format allowed them to learn a lot from each other and for the European’s experience the highest level of coaching available in the game.

The 2014 European Legion team comprises of players aged 17 to 25 years from Croatia, Denmark, England, Germany, Ireland and Sweden.  They will be coached by Gaelic footballer and Sydney Swans Premiership player, Tadhg Kennelly.

According to Tadhg Kennelly, “Spending the time together to train alongside the best young players from Australia is a new and exciting opportunity.

It’s going to accelerate their skills and show us who can handle the pressure best, not to mention the time the AFL Club recruiters will get to watch and speak with them.

The players will go back to their countries with a better idea of life as a professional athlete and they can share what they’ve learnt with their team mates. Long term it all helps to grow the game in Europe.” Kennelly said.

On Wednesday, the best players from Australia and Europe played together in a practice match at Harrow School. Both teams were mixed in this practice match and showed great skills, which is very encouraging for the players and their future in Australian Football.

The score was tight the whole game however of no great importance as this was more about applying the lessons learnt so far during the week. Our European’s didn’t look out of place at all and it was very difficult at times to tell who was who. Congratulations to both teams.

The Easter Series forms a valuable part of the players pathway, for both the European Legion and the AIS-AFL Academy, with the young men expected to be selected by the Australian AFL Clubs in the player Draft in November this year.

If wednesdays match is anything to go by the big game on saturday is sure to be a cracker.

For updates on the Easter Series see Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

#afleasterseries #bestofthebest @afl_europe

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Internationals excel during NAB AFL Draft Combine

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Check out the results of the Internationals at the combine. RESULTS 

There is an International in the top 10 of every result except the 3 skills tests. Emmett Bradley finished 5th in the Agility Test with a 8.31 and also finished equal 9th in the Beep Test with a 14.2. Big Sean Hurley finished an impressive 6th in the 3km time trial clocking a sizzling 10.17. Both lads are sure to have caught the attention of many clubs and will have an interesting wait to see if the dream of heading to Australia comes true.