Box Hill Hawks defender Sam Collins hopeful an AFL club will take a chance and sign him in Tuesday’s national draft.

MOST AFL Drafts are firmly focused on youngsters from the TAC Cup. Every now and then, however, a club will take a punt on a mature age player from the VFL. Could Box Hill’s Sam Collins be the one?

VFL Footy: Box Hill v Coburg

THIS Tuesday in Adelaide, Box Hill Hawks’ Sam Collins is hopeful of joining an AFL list as a mature age recruit for 2016.

The tall defender, who played in the past two VFL grand finals with the Hawks, said had been contacted by a number of AFL clubs.

“I’ve spoken to a couple of clubs and got some really good feedback on my year and got a bit of insight to where I’m at, so it was nice to speak to some clubs,” Collins said. “I’m not really keen on revealing those clubs at the moment.”

Collins, who recently finished his tertiary studies, was undecided as to whether to work towards being a financial planner or pursue a career in the AFL.

“If nothing happens in the next couple of weeks, I’ll happily play at Box Hill again,” he said. “I love the guys and culture. Hopefully, we can win a grand final and everyone can put another consistent year in and go one better.

“Ideally I’d love to play AFL football and get that opportunity to do something you might never get to do again. However, if that fails, I’m pretty excited to get stuck into a finance role.”

The 21-year-old graduate of the Oakleigh Chargers TAC Cup program previously had a utility role, playing as a forward, ruckman or defender when needed.

Sam Collins marks strongly over Frankston’s Josh Tynan Picture: Mark Wilson

But, this season, Collins played majority of the year as a defender, finishing up with a total of eight best-on-grounds while kicking one goal for the season — in the grand final.

“This was my most interesting year so far, I think in previous years I’ve been a bit more versatile, but this year I really went in with the mindset of playing that defensive role and playing it well,” he said.

“I’m really comfortable and confident playing in defence, however I think I’ve got the ability to really impact games when I go up forward and try clunk some marks.

“I don’t have a preference for either, I’m really confident playing in the backline, at the same time I’m really happy to go up forward and influence up there.”

With all the speculation and talk surrounding the annual draft, Collins is keeping his feet firmly on the ground.

“I’ve seen the articles written, I suppose you never really know what’s going to happen. I played some consistent footy this year and worked on the things I needed to work on,” he said.

“All I can really do is put my best foot forward which I think I’ve done, so I suppose it’s nice to be mentioned in those articles, but at the same time it might not work out and that I have a long road ahead to get where I want.”

Originally published as Box Hill Hawks defender Sam Collins hopeful an AFL club will take a chance and sign him in Tuesday’s national draft.