In their last opportunity to showcase their talents in front of the AFL recruiters before draft day, our Queenslanders have shone at the NAB AFL Combine.
Mabior Chol, Ben Keays, Eric Hipwood, Reuben William and Corey Wagner all flew down to Melbourne for three days of screening and club interviews from Friday through until Sunday.
Draft prospects participated in an in-depth evaluation of their potential to play at the highest level. Testing measured athletic attributes such as speed, agility and endurance along with refined drills to assess their football skills.
Yeronga’s Mabior Chol has boosted his draft stocks when he recorded the second fastest time in the repeated sprint test, where competitors were required to do six 30 metre sprints with only 10 second breaks between each.
His time of 24.30 was just 0.9 seconds off the overall record of 23.40, recorded by Joel Wilkinson in 2010.
Chol also showed his aerial prowess in the jumping tests, topping the charts with the highest reach of anyone at the combine from a standing start, when he was able to reach 334cm jumping directly vertical.
Chol was also was second in the running vertical jump, measuring total height of 257cm off a run up. That puts him just 5cm off Nic Naitanui and Gach Nyuon’s record of 362cm.
He is also finished fourth in the relative vertical jump, which measures the height of the actual jump minus the starting height, not how high in total the individual gets.
Ben Keays’ tank came to the fore in the endurance tests, recording impressive results in both the 3k-time trial and shuttle test. His 10:09 minute run in the 3k was good enough for sixth.
Eric Hipwood showed his versatility across the weekend, finishing equal fifth in the goal kicking exercise, as well as strong results in the running vertical leap and 20-metre sprint.
Hipwood was unable to take part in the shuttle run on Saturday due to a virus, but completed all other tests.
Reuben William was unable participate in any physical testing due to a groin injury, but still took part in all medical screenings and club interviews.
Corey Wagner’s weekend was also interrupted due to a groin strain, limiting him to the kicking drills and club meetings.
The top performers and Queensland results for each test can be found here
Top Performers and Queensland Results
Absolute standing vertical jump (cm)
(Records total height reached in jump from a standing start)
Mabior Chol – 334cm
Gach Nyuon – 330
Jacob Weitering – 327
Andre Parrella – 325
Mitch King – 324
Jesse Glass-McCasker – 323
Jack Firns – 322
Matthew Flynn – 321
Callum Moore – 319
Eric Hipwood – 318
Ben Keays – 291
Absolute running vertical jump (cm)
(Records total height reached from a run up)
Gach Nyuon – 362cm
Mabior Chol – 357
Jacob Weitering – 344
Andre Parrella – 342
Jesse Glass-McCasker – 340
Callum Moore – 340
Matthew Flynn – 339
Eric Hipwood – 338
Liam Jeffs – 338
Harry McKay – 337
Lachlan Tiziani – 337
Ben Keays – 306
Relative vertical jump (cm)
(Records how far off the ground the jump is from a standing start)
Jordan Snadden – 75cm
Alex Morgan – 71
Mitch King – 70
David Cuningham – 70
Lachlan Tiziani – 69
Oleg Markov – 69
Stephen Tahana – 69
Daniel Rioli – 69
Tom Doedee – 68
Jack Firns – 68
Matthew Kennedy – 68
Darcy Tucker – 68
Mabior Chol – 67
Eric Hipwood – 58
Ben Keays – 51
Relative running vertical jump (cm)
(Records how far off the ground the jump is from a run up)
Lachlan Tiziani – 97cm
Gach Nyuon – 94
Matthew Kennedy – 91
Mabior Chol – 90
Liam Jeffs – 90
Jordan Snadden – 90
Darcy MacPherson – 89
Blake Hardwick – 86
Hisham Kerbatieh – 86
Callum Moore – 86
Stephen Tahana – 86
Eric Hipwood – 73
Ben Keays – 61
20m sprint
Alex Morgan – 2.88 seconds
Kurt Mutimer – 2.88
Liam Jeffs – 2.89
Daniel Rioli – 2.89
Thomas Glen – 2.90
Declan Moutford – 2.90
Callum Moore – 2.91
David Cuningham – 2.91
Hisham Kerbatieh – 2.94
Jordan Snadden – 2.94
Eric Hipwood – 2.97
Mabior Chol – 3.03
Ben Keays – 3.18
30m repeat sprints
(Six 30 metre sprints with 10 seconds rest between each)
Daniel Rioli – 24.15 seconds
Mabior Chol – 24.30
Oleg Markov – 24.32
Thomas Glen – 24.46
David Cuningham – 24.51
Jordan Snadden – 24.54
Wayne Milera – 24.61
Will Snelling – 24.64
Liam Jeffs – 24.74
Luke Partington – 24.76
Eric Hipwood – 25.27
Ben Keays – 26.36
Agility
(Weaving in and out of poles without touching them, getting to the end of the course)
Kieran Lovell – 7.90 seconds
Alex Morgan – 8.07
Clayton Oliver – 8.11
Aidyn Johnson – 8.15
Tom Doedee – 8.19
Jesse Glass-McCasker – 8.22
Oleg Markov – 8.23
Will Snelling – 8.24
Darcy MacPherson – 8.24
Ben Crocker – 8.25
Ben Keays – 8.58
Eric Hipwood – 8.68
Mabior Chol – 8.81
Shuttle run (beep test level)
(Running back and forth over a 20m distance before they hear the beep)
Joshua Schoenfeld -16.2 level
Mitchell Hibberd – 15.4
Darcy Tucker – 15.3
Declan Mountford -15.2
Jacob Weitering – 15.1
Matthew Kennedy – 14.12
Kieran Lovell – 14.10
Will Snelling – 14.10
Tom Cole – 14.10
Oleg Markov – 14.8
Darcy MacPherson – 14.8
Ben Keays – 14.4
Mabior Chol – 13.5
Three-kilometre time trial
Joshua Schoenfeld – 9:15 minutes
Thomas Jok – 9:47
Mitchell Hibberd – 10:02
Declan Mountford – 10:04
Brayden Hackett – 10:06
Ben Keays – 10:09
Daniel Rioli – 10:09
Will Snelling – 10:10
Mason Redman – 10:12
Nash Holmes – 10:16
Eric Hipwood 10:50
Mabior Chol 10:52
Clean hands test
(The player takes the ball and then receives a random instruction from a caller; he must then handball (6 metres left or right, 8 metres left or right and 10 metres left or right) to a target)
Kieran Collins – 29 (out of a possible 30)
Darcy MacPherson – 28
Tyrone Leonardis – 28
Daniel Rioli – 27
Rhys Mathieson – 27
Mitch King – 27
Jade Gresham – 26
Bailey Rice – 26
Darcy Tucker – 26
Declan Mountford – 26
Kurt Mutimer – 26
Jordan Snadden – 26
Eric Hipwood – 22
Ben Keays – 20
Mabior Chol – 15
Goalkicking test
Jade Gresham – 30 (out of a possible 30)
Nick O’Kearney – 30
Oleg Markov – 30
Clayton Oliver – 30
Kieran Lovell – 25
Tyrone Leonardis – 25
Matthew Kennedy – 25
Mitchell Hibberd – 25
Liam Jeffs – 25
Eric Hipwood – 25
Matthew Allen – 25
Nick Coughlan – 25
Mitch King – 25
Ben Keays – 20
Corey Wagner – 8
Mabior Chol – 14
Kicking test
(Each player takes six kicks form various distances and angles. He receives the ball from a caller, who then randomly requests a specific kick (20 metres left or right, 30 metres left or right and 40 metres left or right) be made to a target judge.)
Mitchell Hibberd – 24 (out of a possible 30)
Nick Coughlan – 23
Darcy MacPherson – 22
Thomas Glen – 22
Matthew Allen – 22
Jade Gresham – 21
Nick O’Kearney – 21
Rhys Mathieson – 21
Declan Mountford – 21
Jordan Snadden – 21
Ben McKay – 21
Charlie Curnow – 21
Ben Keays – 16
Corey Wagner – 13
Eric Hipwood – 16
Mabior Chol – 15
By Andrew Wiles – @andrewjwiles
