Exciting midfielder Peter Yagmoor is bound for the AFL spotlight of Melbourne after being picked up by Collingwood in the pre-draft trade yesterday. The Cairns product, who turns 18 on Thursday, will now join the AFL’s elite at the Magpies after he was involved in a trade deal between the grand finalists and the Gold Coast Suns, the club where he was pre-listed as a Queensland zone player.
The Magpies snared the highly-touted prospect – after he finished second in the kicking test at the AFL draft combine last week out of 120 draft hopefuls – trading pick 47 to the Gold Coast Suns in exchange for Yagmoor and pick 50.
Yagmoor played for the Gold Coast Suns reserves during the season, including their clash with NT Thunder in Cairns in July. But the Suns decided to agree to the trade, with Collingwood clearly anticipating Yagmoor would have already been snapped up when their now-traded pick of 47 came in the draft on November 24.
Officially, Yagmoor was notified that the paperwork had been processed yesterday morning just hours before trade deadline by Collingwood’s national recruiting manager Derek Hine. But when he answered a low-key phone call from new Magpies coach Nathan Buckley on Sunday, Yagmoor was tipped off that he was on the brink of joining one of the biggest clubs in the AFL.
"He sounds like a really nice guy, I’m really looking forward to playing under him," Yagmoor said of Buckley. "I was shocked and excited, but just over the moon. I don’t want to sound arrogant but I believed in myself and believed I would get picked up by a club."
Hines, the man behind luring Yagmoor to the Magpies, said he was impressed by his left-foot kick and clean hands.
"In this particular draft he would be at the very high end as a ball user by foot," he said. "He takes the ball high, he has got the ability to play halfback and wing, he is a nice size and should come along quite quickly."
Standing at an athletic 181cm, and weighing in at 83kg, Yagmoor was also on the radar of the Sydney Swans and North Melbourne, but they didn’t show as much interest as the Magpies.
A former Cairns City Cobras and North Cairns junior, Yagmoor will be vying for a spot among the Magpies midfield stars, including Brownlow Medallist Dane Swan and Scott Pendlebury.
"I’ll train really hard, and I’ll be able to learn a lot from playing alongside guys like Dane Swan," Yagmoor said.
Yagmoor said he aimed to play five or more games in his first season. He moved to Brisbane on a Michael Voss/AFLQ Scholarship in 2008 to finish his schooling at St Peter’s College, and toured South Africa with the Indigenous All-Stars in 2007.
Yagmoor is booked for another overseas jaunt when he travels with Collingwood to Arizona for high-altitude pre-season training.
He has spent the past two years dividing his playing time with the Gold Coast Suns reserves and NEAFL’s Morningside team, where he was a standout in their grand final loss to NT Thunder. Also a talented cricketer, Yagmoor represented FNQ on a number of occasions, but his father, Tony said the move to Brisbane to forge an AFL career has now been validated.
"After the under-14 championships we got an indication of the scholarship," he said. "At the time, we knew it was a hard decision, but the right decision. He just loves learning about football, it’s his love of it and his persistence to get better and his consistency which is why he’s been rewarded by an AFL club."
If there is a downside, it’s that the family are avid Carlton supporters, big rivals of the Magpies.
"I’ll be there to support him, that’s all I can say," his father laughed.
Yagmoor will arrive in Melbourne on Friday, before his first training session with the club on Monday. Yagmoor joins other Far North talent Jarrod Harbrow, Charlie Dixon, Rex Liddy and Lewis Moss (all Gold Coast) and Courtenay Dempsey (Essendon) in the AFL.
Read more at http://www.cairns.com.au/article/2011/10/18/186695_local-sport-news.html
Courtesy of The Cairns Post.
Last Modified on 18/10/2011 17:32