Richmond draftee Bigoa Nyuon tipped to make Saints regret letting him slip to Tigers
Former AFL star Darren Bewick, who has watched Richmond draftee Bigoa Nyuon develop at Rowville Secondary College, says the 195cm midfielder has the attributes to emerge as the Tigers’ next Sudanese star.
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The Sudanese refugee Richmond drafted from St Kilda’s Next Generation Academy has been hailed a brilliant athlete who has “just scratched the surface” of his football potential.
The Tigers secured 196cm defender Bigoa ‘Biggie’ Nyuon when the Saints declined to match their bid of pick No. 54 at Thursday night’s draft.
Rowville Secondary said the Saints “did a really good job” developing Nyuon, although come draft night they chose to take Gippsland Power midfielder Leo Connolly at No. 64 instead of Nyuon.
Nyuon – who has was four sisters and three brothers – was nicknamed ‘Biggie’ by his kindergarten teacher because he loved rapper Biggie Smalls.
The family fled to Australia when Nyuon was a toddler and all eight children were raised by single mother Mary in Cranbourne.
Nyuon excelled at athletics early when Mary decreed football too rough before she eventually let her son play for Hallam.
Older brother Gach spent 2016 on Essendon’s rookie list. Nyuon will join fellow Sudanese talent Mabior Chol at Punt Rd as they hope to join Aliir Aliir (Sydney) and Majak Daw (North Melbourne) as success stories.
“The Tigers have got a bloke who’s 201cm (listed at 196cm) and athletically through the roof,” Rowville football academy boss Darren Bewick said.
“He tested the fastest over the state and national combine for speed (20m in 2.85 sec), he’s got a great leap, he kicks the ball really well and I think we’ve just scratched the surface.
“He’s got all the attributes to be a really good player.”
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The popular teenager returned to Rowville to address the Year 7-8 students on Friday.
“He’s a very likeable young man, a king down here, and he spoke about what it meant and how he got to speak to Dusty Martin that night,” Bewick said.
“The Tigers have got a ripper kid and I hope they’re able to furnish his ability. If they can they’re going to have a really, really good player.
“For him to be able to firstly come to this country as a (three-year-old) with eight brothers and sisters and his mum taking care of them all … and he’s never forgotten that, he’s really appreciative of people that help him along the journey.
“He’s a ripping kid. He’s taken on everything that’s been presented to him, and sometimes he’s needed a little bit of a push, like all boys, but he loves the game and loves the team aspect of it and it’s only going to hold him in good stead.
“His journey has just begun and I think it can really turn into a really special one.”
Saints NGA manager Jack Henty spoke to Rowville regularly and helped get Nyuon to school for early study sessions every Thursday.
“The Saints were fantastic,” Rowville sports academy director Craig Jamieson said.
“I spoke to Jack once every couple of weeks and we met with Biggy every three or four weeks checking on how he was going with his subjects.”
Nyuon will join fellow Rowville alumni Jon Patton (Hawthorn), Hayden Crozier (Western Bulldogs), Tom North (Fremantle), Taylor Garner (North Melbourne), Taylin Duman (Fremantle), Jack Maibaum (Sydney) and Sam Hayes (Port Adelaide) on an AFL list in 2020.
My little brother just got drafted and is going to my team. I am so happy l think I died and went to heaven!@Richmond_FC !!!!! https://t.co/8D7rx6SqyT
— Nyadol Nyuon 🯠(@NyadolNyuon) November 28, 2019
Originally published as Richmond draftee Bigoa Nyuon tipped to make Saints regret letting him slip to Tigers