Feeling better than ever, Tom Read is ready to make his AFL dream a reality

COLIN Casey reckons ruckman Tom Read would be front-page news if not for his past health issues.

19/11/14. Emerging Sturt ruckman Tom Read - 18yrs (Erindale) is an AFL national draft prospect, after overcoming health issues in previous years. Pic Keryn Stevens

COLIN Casey reckons ruckman Tom Read would be front-page news if not for his past health issues.

“Everyone would be talking about him,” the dual premiership Sturt player and Double Blues’ development manager says.

“He’s a very talented lad, can take the football at bootlace level as well as the other kids ... he’s a better mark than most, is a more than capable kick and he works hard.”

Read, of Erindale, has impressed this past season while playing five games for the Double Blues’ under-18s, four for SA in the national under-18 championships and for Pembroke’s First XVIII.

But where the 200cm, 92kg, big man stands with clubs ahead of next week’s AFL national draft is a mystery because of an unusual illness that has threatened to derail his dream of playing at the highest level.

Three years ago Read was struck down with orthostatic intolerance, a debilitating condition that saps a sufferer’s energy.

His blood pressure would drop and heart rate would rise whenever he was upright because his vessels were not pumping enough blood around his body.

“We originally didn’t really know what was going on,” Read says.

“I was just tired, exhausted ... and didn’t really snap out of it.”

Read missed a lot of school and played sporadically but only in five-minute bursts from the goal square.

“I’d get out a couple of times a week at school, but a lot of the time I was just watching movies and taking it easy.

“It was pretty frustrating, not being able to play as well or as much as I could.”

It took 18 months before a Melbourne doctor diagnosed Read and put him on medication to manage it.

Over the next two seasons he began playing three quarters of games.

This year he got through full games, switching between ruck and full-forward.

“All the time I was slowly getting better.

“Right now I feel brilliant.”

The first questions recruiters ask Read relate to his health and how it will affect his next few years.

He insists he is “almost out the other side” and will only improve as he builds his fitness base.

“I tell the clubs the worst is behind me and it’s only looking up.

“With the right sort of fitness and management I’ll be able to play at 100 per cent in the near future.”

Read plans to watch the draft at home with family.

“When I was little it was always the dream to grab it out of the ruck in the last seconds of a grand final to kick a 100m goal.

“To be able to play footy at the highest level would be amazing.”

Casey says an AFL club will not regret giving Read a chance.

“Fingers crossed that someone takes a punt because when he comes good they’ll have an absolute gem.”