ARARAT’S Tom Williamson was one of the top all round performers at the AFL draft combine in a boost to his chances of being drafted at the end of November.
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Williamson topped the agility test with a time of 8.15 seconds and ran second behind Horsham’s Jarrod Berry in the three-kilometre time trial.
He also ranked inside the top 10 for the three vertical leap tests, the kicking test and the beep test.
AFL Wimmera Mallee development manager Jason Muldoon said the results could have surprised a few outside of the Rebels camp.
“Not so much from inside the camp though,” he said.
“He’s a really good athlete. His results were exceptional but it wasn’t too much of a surprise.
Tommy just works so hard at his game and his fitness and so he got the results he deserved.”
During the time-trial, Williamson and Berry developed a plan to push each other resulting in a time of nine minutes 50 for Williamson. Williamson is less than a month away from being a bottom aged Rebels player because of his December birthday, making his performance even more impressive.
Muldoon said as exceptional as Williamson’s test results were, the interviews would have been his strength.
“Once you sit down and talk to Tommy for a while you realise that he comes from really good stock,” he said.
“He’s a real humble young man and he lets his actions on the ground do the talking.
“All of his numbers are great but it’s his character that carries him through.
“Maybe the recruiters wouldn’t have had the chance to look at him in that way before and it’s in that regard he would have really helped himself.”
Muldoon said Williamson could not have done anything more to boost his chances of getting drafted at the end of November in either the national draft or rookie draft.
“It certainly wouldn’t do his chances any harm,” he said. “He’s ticked all the boxes that he possibly could and now he’ll just be focusing on his exams. It’s about what clubs want now.”
As a 188-centimetre tall, athletic player, Williamson was classed as a medium-sized defender at the combine.
“It’s the Jason Johannisen type model that clubs are looking for now and his testing shows that he fits that bill well,” Muldoon said.