AFL 2018: Northern Knights Tom McKenzie on radar of seven clubs
COMPOSED across halfback and tough in the clinches, smooth mover Tom McKenzie has lived up to his billing as Northern Knights top AFL draft prospect for 2018.
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TOM McKenzie is rarely fazed.
As Northern Knights top draft prospect for 2018, the 18-year-old has handled the weight of expectation with aplomb while juggling school football at Ivanhoe Grammar with TAC Cup and Vic Metro duties.
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The Fitzroy Junior Football Club product roams halfback with composure beyond his years and has proven his fearlessness in the clinches when deployed as an inside midfielder.
He handled most of his seven interviews with AFL clubs at the recent draft combine with little fuss, relishing the chance to talk football with those embedded at the elite level.
That was until he walked into his meeting with Geelong to be greeted by skipper Joel Selwood and Brownlow medallist Patrick Dangerfield.
“That was pretty daunting seeing them,” McKenzie said.
“Once you get into it, they make you feel pretty comfortable.
“They just want to get to know you and ask you a few football questions and I love football.”
McKenzie has rocketed into draft calculations in the past two seasons after he “just scraped in” to the Knights’ TAC Cup squad last year.
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Listed at 183cm and 71kg, he was recognised as Northern Knights rising star after playing 11 games as a bottom-age player in 2017.
His performances led Knights talent manager Rhy Gieschen to forecast AFL clubs would “certainly like the look of” McKenzie, a pre-season prediction which has proven true.
McKenzie, from Northcote, met with Geelong, Collingwood, Fremantle, West Coast, Sydney, Melbourne and North Melbourne at the draft combine.
He has been mooted as a possible second-round pick in what is considered a bumper draft crop.
“At my season exit interview after my bottom-age year with Rhy and (coach) Justin (Wenke), they both said, ‘in order for you to get drafted you have got to show you can play in multiple positions’,” he said.
“I think I have been able to show that with being able to get into the midfield, show I can play an inside role, win my own ball and also play halfback, wing and a bit of half-forward as well.
“The key in the modern game is to be versatile and if I can be as versatile as I can hopefully that will go a long way to possibly being drafted.”
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McKenzie’s younger sister Ellie is sure to be on the radar of AFLW clubs in coming years after she made a strong impression in the TAC Cup Girls competition.
The talented sibling combination were best afield on the same day in April, highlighting the level of skill in their bloodlines.
“Everyone tells me my sister is a much better player than me. She will be a gun in the future,” McKenzie said.
“I think we might be the first brother-sister combination in the Northern Knights. It’s pretty exciting.
“As a bottom bottom-ager, she has come in and done really well from the get go.
“For someone who has had a pretty interrupted year through injury she has done really well and I can’t wait to see how she goes in the future.”
McKenzie listed his kicking efficiency and decision-making as the strengths which would enable him to prosper if chosen by an AFL club.
“I was pretty injured in my first pre-season but I was still lucky enough to play every game available in my bottom-age year and was that outside player and wingman,” he said.
“This year I have totally changed my game and learned to play an inside role.
“Moved into the midfield for the first half of the year and then have gone back to halfback. “Compared to two years ago I think I am a completely different player.”
Described by Gieschen as a “smooth mover”, McKenzie averaged 23 disposals, five marks and four tackles in seven TAC Cup matches this year.
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