It has been quite a journey for New York native Alex Aurrichio over the past six months.
After paying his own way to Melbourne from the US late last year in an attempt to carve out a career in Australian Rules football, the 198cm, 107kg 25-year-old played his first senior VFL match three weeks ago for the Northern Blues.
Despite the Blues suffering a tight eight-point defeat to Essendon, the hulking American relished the opportunity to play as the 23rd man at senior state level after spending the first five rounds in the Development League.
“Exhilarating is a pretty good word to summarise it,” Aurrichio said.
The opportunity perhaps came sooner than expected. After training with several VFL clubs early in 2015, Aurrichio settled on joining the Northern Blues in the full knowledge that he’d start out with the club in the Development League.
After all, his experience of Australian Rules to that point had consisted of time spent learning the game with the New York Magpies in the USAFL and participating in the USAFL Combine in Los Angeles in April last year.
However, after some good form as ruckman/forward at Development League level, it didn’t take long for Aurrichio to earn a call-up to the senior team.
“It took a little bit of time to hit me,” Aurrichio said.
“(It was) the magnitude of the situation, what I was about to embark on – my first VFL game and the privilege of that, knowing how few people get that opportunity.
“You could definitely tell it was a couple of steps up (from the Development League). The pace and the intensity – you’ve got to be on your toes and have your head on a swivel, otherwise you could get a rude awakening.”
Aurrichio said most of the advice he has received from Northern’s senior coach Luke Webster has related to finding the front position in ruck contests.
Against Essendon, Webster would have also been impressed by his ruckman’s six tackles, showing his intensity to the contest.
Aurrichio explained this might have something to do with his previous sporting lives back home.
“Maybe it’s just all that pent-up rage from playing soccer, baseball and basketball, when you’re not really allowed to touch anybody,” he laughed.
Aurrichio was pleased with his performance in Round 6, which also involved five disposals and 13 hitouts, but found himself back in the Development League last weekend.
He knows there’s still a lot of work to do to achieve his dream of making it onto an AFL list – the reason he came to Australia in the first place.
“Right now this is very new to me, so I’m just trying to listen as much as possible, do what I’m told and do that to the best of my ability,” Aurrichio said.
By joining a VFL club, Aurrichio gave up any chance he had of being signed by an AFL club as an international rookie who hasn’t registered in an Australian football competition for three years.
That decision may have been difficult to make, but if his determination to succeed is any indication, Aurrichio won’t be looking back on the situation with regret.
He’s further building his skill set as part of the 2015 VFL Academy, a program established to provide individual high-performance development for a select group of VFL players.
VFL Academy coach Darren Flanigan paid tribute to Aurrichio’s positive attitude towards his new sport.
“A lot of those people coming out of the college system are really well-focused, well-organised athletes,” Flanigan said.
“It’s just a matter of him getting the fundamental skills set that would enable him to play a high level of footy and understanding the game sense, and that’ll only come with playing.
“For him to bite the bullet, pay his own way out to Australia and have a crack at it, it shows a lot of initiative. There’s plenty who wouldn’t do that.”
After his breakthrough VFL game in Round 6, Aurrichio spent the next week in the Development League before earning another call-up to senior level last week for Northern’s Round 8 clash with Coburg.
He had seven disposals, 35 hitouts and eight tackles as the Blues lost to the Lions in the thrilling ‘Battle of Bell St’ by two points.
Photo: Amy Paton
Last Modified on 10/06/2015 12:44
