Williamstown forward Corey Ellison has surged into mid-season draft calculations

After being overlooked for almost six years, Williamstown key-forward Corey Ellison could be just days away from receiving his AFL call-up.

Corey Ellison is a mid-season draft hope. (Photo by Morgan Hancock/AFL Photos)

Corey Ellison runs his eye over the VFL fixture looking for Williamstown’s next AFL-aligned opponent.

The full-forward, who is one of just 24 mid-season draft hopefuls to have completed a medical, likes to challenge himself against “the boys that are doing it full time”.

“It’s good when you have an OK game that you know you can match it alright with people that are on an AFL list,” Ellison said.

“I always look forward to when we verse an AFL aligned club to see where we’re at as a team and how you go individually against the boys that are doing it full time.

“It definitely builds your confidence when you come up against a bloke who has been in and out of the AFL over the last few years and you can match it with them.

“It gives you a lot of confidence that you can play at the level or close to it.”

Corey Ellison celebrates a goal. (Photo by Morgan Hancock/AFL Photos)

Ellison won a VFL premiership with Casey in 2021 playing at full back.

But an adjustment in colours and position has catapulted the 23-year-old into the eye line of AFL recruiters.

Ellison has kicked 37 goals in 27 matches for the Seagulls, including seven goals across his past three outings against three AFL-affiliated sides.

Ellison said Willy coach Justin Plapp often told him ‘they (AFL clubs) are still looking’ but the star forward has felt it increase rapidly in recent weeks.

“He (Plapp) would never get into specifics to keep me focused on playing each week,” he said.

“But I sort of had thought there has been some interest around over the past year or so and then it’s ramped up a bit more recently.

“It’s sort of come up quickly in the last few weeks hearing there are two or three that have shown a bit of interest, which is pretty exciting.”

Ellison fires at goal. (Photo by Morgan Hancock/AFL Photos)

Ellison has recognised his kicking as a strength and has put time into becoming a higher-possession forward.

“Get the ball a bit more, as silly as that sounds,” he detailed as his current focus.

“I think I am a pretty good user of the ball so I have tried to get that more into my game, it’s probably only been a marginal increase on last year but that’s been a focus.

“I have been working on things I can control, that’s a really big one; I can control my aerial work, I can control what I do on defence and I can control helping others.

“It’s been big for me, not worrying about how many goals I am kicking or how many marks I am taking, just getting my contest sorted and tip in as much as I can.”

Ellison leaps for the ball playing for local side Cranbourne. Picture: Stuart Milligan

Ellison played for the Dandenong Stingrays.

When he’s not kicking goals for the ‘Gulls, Ellison is a schoolteacher at Kambrya College in Berwick.

The hours ahead of the mid-season draft will be jam-packed, as he holds hopes for one career path while locking away another.

“I have got a day off but I have to reapply for my job at school for next year, so I could potentially have an interview that day,” he said.

“I will be stressing out about that before I go into stressing about the draft … I keep saying I won’t watch it but I won’t be able to help myself, so I will probably have it on somewhere in the corner.”