AFL club name Simon as international rookie

AUSTRALIAN Football League (AFL) club Richmond Tigers have signed their first international rookie.
Gideon Simon, a small forward from Mt Hagen who’s 172cm and 71kg, spent three months at Richmond this season as part of his AFL international scholarship.
He played in the reserves at Richmond’s affiliate, Coburg Tigers, where his form impressed the Tigers enough to upgrade him to their international rookie list.
Richmond recruiting manager Matt Clarke said on Friday that the Tigers planned to turn Simon, who just turned 18, into a “tackling machine”.
He noted that Simon had rated highly in the sprinting and agility events at the NAB AFL Draft Combine, which finished at Etihad Stadium on Friday.
“Yes, he’s little but he’s powerful,” Clarke said.
“The thing that impressed us (during his stint at Punt Rd) was how well he fitted into the group.
“Our players were disappointed when he had to go back home.
“The coach (Damien Hardwick) said, ‘he does everything right as a person, he does everything right on the ground. Let’s give him a chance’.”
Simon broke through his shyness at his press conference on Friday to describe Australian football as “tough” and “fun”.He said he played in the midfield in the Port Moresby competition.
“Here I’m too short,” he said. “They will play me in the forwards.”
Simon first came under notice when he was selected in a PNG under-14 team that played in the Queensland state championships.
In 2011, when he was 16, he became an international scholarship-holder at the AFL Academy, which is based at De La Salle College in Port Moresby.
Being on the Tigers’ international rookie list means he can be upgraded to the senior list if required.
Every club has the capacity to draft one Irish player plus three others onto its international rookie list.
Those players are not counted on the senior and regular rookie lists. This encourages AFL clubs to try their hand at developing outside talent.
Ten international players tested at this week’s draft combine, from countries as diverse as PNG, New Zealand, China, Ireland and the United States.
The three US players are basketballers who’ve recently graduated from university, meaning they’re 22 or 23 years of age.
Several AFL clubs have expressed an interest in drafting the former basketballers, who are all in the 195cm to 201cm range,
AFL international development manager Tony Woods described Simon’s elevation onto Richmond’s international rookie last as “a great pioneering story”.
“We’re excited by not only Gideon’s story, but the young players coming in behind him,” he said.