Ayce Taylor turns NAB League second chance into AFL Draft chance
Cut by Oakleigh Chargers before the NAB League season, Ayce Taylor’s AFL dreams looked all but over until the Northern Knights came calling with a second chance.
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AFL Draft hopeful Ayce Taylor is proof of the mantra “when one door closes, another opens”.
Cut from the Oakleigh Chargers’ NAB League list at the start of the year, the 19-year-old’s football dream appeared all but over until a second chance arrived at Northern Knights.
Fast-forward 12 months and Taylor has attracted interest from several AFL clubs having proved himself an ultra-reliable defender at under-18 level.
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“Getting the opportunity (at Knights) just made me want it more,” he said.
“It hurt getting cut (by Oakleigh), I thought I was better than some of the blokes down there.
“It only takes one person to see something in you, to believe in you, and give you an opportunity and I took that and ran with it.”
Taylor played 13 games for the Knights this season, averaging 11 disposals, 3.4 marks and 3.2 tackles, while shutting down some of the best forwards in the competition.
It earned the Heidelberg junior an AFL Draft state combine invite and he again didn’t disappoint, finishing third in the standing vertical jump test.
“I like to base my game on my athleticism and my jumping and a lot of that stems from basketball,” Taylor said.
“I’m an intercept marker, but I also like to get up the ground and when I’m on someone decent I like to run off them when the time’s right.
“It was pretty cool (at the combine), it was a good experience just to see the level of talent. I liked the professionalism of it all.
“It was a good opportunity to talk to clubs, knowing that they see something in me and like the way I play.”
At 190cm Taylor is capable of playing on talls and smalls and is projected to be a late pick or rookie draft selection.
The Essendon fan was pleasantly surprised when told he was on the draft radar earlier in the year.
“We had a game in Tasmania and I was eating breakfast with the boys before the game and (Knights talent manager) Rhy (Gieschen) came over and said, ‘can we have a chat, do you want to have breakfast with me?’” he recalled.
“At first I thought ‘not really’ (laughs), but I came over and he told me I was getting AFL interest, just put your head down and keep working hard. As the season went on I thought I improved a lot, towards the end I was really able to ramp it up.”
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