Mid-season draft: Michael Knoll joins Sydney
South Adelaide ruckman Michael Knoll has gone from playing local footy in Melbourne less than 12 months ago to being selected by Sydney in the mid-season draft.
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Michael Knoll hadn’t touched a Sherrin two years ago and was playing in Vermont’s reserves in the Eastern Football League as recently as August.
But the former basketballer is now on an AFL list after being selected by Sydney in Monday night’s mid-season draft.
The code-hopper’s first competitive game was a VFL practice match for Box Hill in 2017 after quitting basketball to pursue football.
The 205cm, 103kg ruckman mixed his time between the state league and local football last year, including six games in Vermont’s reserves.
He played three games at Box Hill and was an emergency for the Hawks’ winning grand final side.
“A lot of the time I wasn’t finding out until the day before the game where I was going to be playing,” Knoll said.
“I’d be held as the emergency for Box Hill. It was hard for Vermont because they never knew until the very last minute so it was hard for them when they’ve already done team selections.
“It was asking a lot for a club to drop players that have just been told that they’re playing on the weekend.”
The 26-year-old played college basketball at St Ambrose University in Iowa for four seasons before returning to Australia.
MONTROSE OUT TO AVOID RELEGATION
BALWYN FACING PLAYER POINTS SQUEEZE
Vermont coach Harmit Singh said No.1 ruckman Liam Buxton, who has since joined Casey Demons, and the Eagles’ player points squeeze kept Knoll out of the seniors.
“Liam probably relished the opportunity to ruck the majority of minutes rather than having that equal split,” Singh said.
“It took a lot of courage to do what Michael did and commit to football and the ground he has made in a short period of time is really impressive.
“Hopefully he can come in and impact as soon as this year and that’s the great thing about this rule that (he goes) from playing at Vermont to maybe getting an AFL game.”
Knoll crossed the border to SANFL club South Adelaide in the off-season and has since blossomed into one of the competition’s best big men.
He was awarded the Fos Williams Medal earlier this month as South Australia’s best player in a state game against the WAFL.
“I really loved Box Hill and loved the club and the people there but unfortunately being affiliated with Hawthorn, it just meant I wasn’t able to play week-in, week-out,” Knoll said.
“Going to South (Adelaide) just gave me that opportunity for my own development … and also just to be noticed by AFL clubs.”
Knoll believed he was going to go to Essendon as cover for injured ruckman Sam Draper.
Instead the Swans swooped with pick No.4.
“I guess this was always the goal and the dream when I started playing footy two years ago,” Knoll said.
“When I started, I would have hoped I would be here so now that I am, it’s just the perfect situation and worked out just the way I wanted it to.”
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Originally published as Mid-season draft: Michael Knoll joins Sydney
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