Jarrod Garlett confident he can make an instant impact after being drafted by Gold Coast Suns
JARROD Garlett is an enigma. Shy but full of confidence, stick skinny yet fearless and comfortable that he can play AFL.
JARROD Garlett’s plans for his new life as a Sun are simple — free time will be spent at church with skipper Gary Ablett and fishing with new housemate Jarrod Harbrow while work hours will be attacked with a 100 per cent commitment to becoming an AFL star.
And if anyone is up for some extra training at first light he will be in that too.
Garlett is an enigma.
He is shy but full of confidence in his ability, stick skinny yet fearless and comfortable that he can play against the hardened pros in the AFL.
He forced his way into South Fremantle’s senior WAFL side this year and began to run rings around the bigger bodies.
“I don’t mind it, they’re going to have to catch me first,’’ he said with a chuckle.
He also makes football look easy yet is a proven workhorse.
Suns list manager Scott Clayton says Garlett’s natural ability speaks for itself as do the exquisite skills on both sides of his body but there is a lot more to the package.
“He tackles and he is tough, he is going to be a beautiful inside — outside player,’’ he said.
“But the thing that really underpins that is self belief, Jarrod thinks he is going to be a really good player and we agree.’’
It is fitting that Garlett’s AFL career is starting on the Gold Coast because it was on a beach where he put in the hard yards that got him drafted.
Garlett was raised by his grandparents since he was just a few months old.
Every day for years his grandfather, Rev Sealin Garlett, has instilled in the 18-year old in equal measures a strong work ethic and faith in God, would take him down to the beach for gruelling running sessions.
The routine paid off at the draft combine, where he ran a level 15.2 beep test, came second for the standing vertical jump (76cm) and finished in the top-10 for the clean hands and goalkicking tests.
Clayton revealed Garlett was quite ill with tonsillitis and won the Suns over with his efforts under duress.
“It was quite amazing, that was another tick for us, he would have been entitled to pull out but he rolled up and tested in everything,’’ he said.
The Suns’ two other recruits, Victorian teammates Peter Wright and Touk Miller describe him as the X-factor player of their draft crop.
“He is skilful, moves really well and has got heaps of X-factor which everyone knows about,’’ Miller said.
Wright, whose running prowess for such a big man elevated him to pick eight, says Garlett is on another level.
“He is quick, I tried to chase him down at Skilled Stadium and he had me covered, he made me look like I was standing still,’’ he said.
Originally published as Jarrod Garlett confident he can make an instant impact after being drafted by Gold Coast Suns