AFL draft: Geelong selects Max Holmes from Sandringham Dragons
Geelong traded one of its future first-round selections to draft the son of a Olympian, who has played only one NAB League game but impressed recruiters with his athletic gifts.
Geelong
Don't miss out on the headlines from Geelong. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Geelong pulled a draft surprise on Thursday night by selecting bolter Max Holmes, the son of former Olympic track and field athlete Lee Naylor.
The Cats completed a pick swap with Richmond, trading next year’s first-round selection for pick No.20 to select the Sandringham Dragons wingman.
They also used pick No.33 to grab West Australian ruckman Shannon Neale.
Naylor competed in the 1996 and 2000 Olympics and was a Commonwealth Games gold medallist.
Talent ambassador Kevin Sheehan said Holmes had only shown glimpses but was worth investing in.
“They’ve picked a player here that has got brilliant speed and we haven’t seen much of him,” Sheehan said on Fox Footy.
“Melbourne Grammar boy, was a star at school level. His 17th year comes up last year and of course hurt his elbow and didn’t play much at all.
“He then played a terrific practice trial match at the start of this year — the clubs were all starting to talk about him — and then at testing, he was just super elite, grown as well so he’s picked on his athletic ability and raw potential.
“Once the Cats saw he was still on the board, decided to upgrade and take him.
“He’s 189cm, he’s got some special attributes with the way we saw him late in the year.”
In the past few years, Holmes has bolted off with a long list of titles and competed for Australia at youth level.
At his last athletics meeting he won the under-18 national 400m hurdles. He was also third in the 400m.
He’s no slowcoach over the 100m either, with a time of 11.2sec to his credit.
Athletics watchers regarded the Melbourne Grammar Year 12 student as a potential top-liner.
He suffered a broken arm playing for Melbourne Grammar in Round 1 of the APS last year. He played only two school matches and one for Sandringham Dragons.
The Dragons saw little of him but rated him as an AFL prospect.
Holmes did get an APS season under his belt in 2018 and as a Year 10 student he finished sixth in Melbourne Grammar’s best and fairest.
In 2013 he had been picked in the School Sports Victoria track and field team, in the 100m and 4 X 100m.
In the years since he’s done both sports, football in winter and athletics in summer.
“But now I’ve decided to concentrate on football,’’ Holmes said in August.
“I had my last race in December, and that’s it. I came to what I enjoy more, and footy is what I enjoy more.’’
Naylor encouraged him to take the step forwards football.
“Max has always loved both, but it looks like he thrives and is himself playing footy,’’ she said.
“I love the fact he did athletics, because it gave me the chance to hang out at the track and reminisce and feel like I was back in the day, but he’s achieved what he wanted to achieve in athletics — national championships, competing for Australia — and he’s proved he’s got some great speed and if he can parallel that on to a footy field …’’.
She added: “Track and field is a lonely sport, it’s an awesome sport, but with footy you can play with mates.’’
Originally published as AFL draft: Geelong selects Max Holmes from Sandringham Dragons
Shock scenario in Bailey Smith stalemate
Bailey Smith’s Western Bulldogs exit has set up a potentially rare scenario that could deliver a shock result as Geelong’s offer hits a stalemate.
Costly trends and silver linings among Cats’ first-half record
After a historic prelim final in 2023, Geelong’s 2024 campaign hasn’t exactly gone to plan, with the Cats’ scoring inefficiency and defence two areas which have led to several frustrating losses.