A dozen students from Brisbane Boys College will head the University of Queensland’s St.Lucia campus today (Tuesday) to test themselves against elite young AFL prospects right across the country.
Tuesday, 16 November, 2010
A dozen students from Brisbane Boys College will head to the University of Queensland’s St.Lucia campus this afternoon to test themselves against elite young AFL prospects from right across the country.
The BBC Year 9’s team has won the “2010 UQ High Performance Draft Combine” prize, offered by UQ as part of their sponsorship of Queensland Independent Schools football.
The boys will undergo a series of physical testing similar to that which is employed at the NAB AFL Draft Combine, held at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra last month.
It will incorporate sprint and endurance work, AFL specific agility and explosive power in jumping abilities.
According to Professor Doune Macdonald, head of the UQ School of Human Movements, the prize will allow the BBC boys to compare their results with the results of players from right across Australia at the recent Combine.
“University of Queensland is delighted to be involved with AFL Queensland and in particular the Independent Schools competition, and we’re pleased to be able to open up our facilities to give the winners of this competition a valuable real-life experience similar to that which the country’s hottest AFL prospects go through,” she said.
“The testing regime will show exactly how the BBC boys compare with players at this year’s Draft Combine, and, with data also available from previous years, it will also allow them to compare themselves with standout athletes from different times,” said Professor Macdonald.
“A lot of young players dream of playing in the AFL – this is one means via which we can show them exactly the sort of fitness and athlete performance levels they need to reach if they are to come under consideration of AFL recruiting personnel.”
The No.1 benchmark from the 2010 AFL Combine will be Broadbeach’s Joel Wilkinson, subsequently signed by the Gold Coast Suns.
Wilkinson was the standout performer in Canberra, breaking long-standing records in the ‘20m sprint’ and the ‘repeat sprint’ to clinch his draft selection by the Suns.
BBC won the UQ High Performance Draft Combine after they had teams in three of the four, first division grand finals of the 2010 QIS competition. Their Open team was beaten by Anglican Church Grammar School in a hard-fought contest for the Jason Dunstall Cup, named in honour of the former ‘Churchie’ student and Hawthorn AFL champion.
The BBC boys will be at UQ from 1-3.30pm today to enjoy the prize.
