FOX SPORTS
Riley Beveridge
October 12, 2015 9:24AM
RECORDS were smashed at the 2015 AFL Draft Combine, with a host of young prospects putting themselves well and truly in the mix to get selected.
Sudanese ruckman Gach Nyuon equalled Nic Naitanui’s famous running vertical jump record, while West Australian midfielder Josh Schoenfeld dominated the long-distance running tests.
Schoenfeld beat the all-time 3km time trial record, while putting in the second best beep test level in the Combine’s history.
There was also promising signs for potential No. 1 pick Jacob Weitering, as well as exciting forward Daniel Rioli — a relative of Cyril.
Fox Footy brings you everything you need to know from the three days of testing.
Day One
NORTHERN Knights captain Jade Gresham was the star on day one, dominating the skills testing in an evening session at Etihad Stadium on Friday night.
Gresham, a 177cm midfielder, was one of four players to kick truly with all five of his set shots in the goalkicking test.
Nick O’Kearney, Oleg Markov and Morrish Medal winner Clayton Oliver also registered perfect scores.
But Gresham also ranked seventh in the clean hands test and sixth in the kicking test to round out a satisfying day.
Vic Country defender Kieran Collins was the star of the clean hands test, which grades players on their ability to hit targets by hand from various distances. He scored 29 of 30 points.
Midfielder Mitch Hibberd, who is Tasmania’s brightest prospect at this year’s draft, scored 24 out of 30 points in the kicking test.
Day Two
SUDANESE ruckmen Gach Nyuon and Mabior Chol wrote the headlines on Saturday, with Nyuon equalling Nic Naitanui’s running vertical jump record.
The Under 18s All-Australian recorded a 362cm jump, narrowly beating Chol by just five centimetres.
Both impressed in the aerobic testing, with Chol leading his countryman in the standing vertical jump after hitting 334cm.
Chol also raised eyebrows in the repeat 30m sprints — which comprises of six consecutive sprints — recording the second best time of 24.30 seconds, behind only Daniel Rioli.
Meanwhile, Nyuon ran a 2.95 second 20m sprint.
Aside from those two, likely No. 1 pick Jacob Weitering recorded the third best standing and running vertical jump measurements.
Rioli, whose father is the cousin of Norm Smith Medal winner Cyril, impressed in the sprints testing.
The 179cm forward recorded the fastest time in the repeat 30m sprint (24.15 seconds) and hit 2.89 seconds in the 20m sprint.
Only Alex Morgan and Kurt Mutimer (2.88 seconds) were quicker in the 20m sprint.
Tasmanian midfielder Kieran Lovell recorded the fastest agility test in 7.9 seconds, while Josh Schoenfeld dominated the beep test in the afternoon.
His level of 16.2 was the second highest ever recorded in the beeps, with Hawthorn youngster Billy Hartung (16.6) still the leader.
Day Three
WEST AUSTRALIAN Josh Schoenfeld continued to prove his running ability, smashing the all-time 3km time trial record by three seconds on Sunday.
Schoenfeld, a versatile 186cm midfielder, finished the trial in 9.15 minutes — a staggering 32 seconds ahead of second-placed Thomas Jok.
Tasmanian midfielder Mitch Hibberd finished in third, but was 47 seconds behind Schoenfeld.
Read the article on Fox Sports here
Last Modified on 17/11/2015 22:45