Australian rules football clubs are casting their nets wider than ever in search of talent.
The game has grown immensely in the past decade from a multicultural standpoint and its overseas advance is growing by the year.
The game’s evolution took another significant step on Saturday when the Werribee Tigers and Sandringham Zebras had opposing international ruckmen in the VFL – both from the US.
Eric Wallace had the big-man duties for the Tigers, with Jason Holmes taking him on in a Zebras jumper.
Tigers coach John Lamont told Star Weekly he could not have envisaged such a duel not so long ago. “In terms of the game’s development, it was a pretty big thing,” he said.
“That was something a little bit unique.”
Wallace is a North Melbourne-listed international rookie aligned with the Werribee club.
The 26-year-old, from Winston-Salem in North Carolina, came on the radar of the Kangaroos at the AFL draft combine in 2012 when he showed outstanding athleticism and speed.
After playing the first nine games in the development league this season, Wallace has put together four consecutive senior games for the Tigers and is starting to make his mark.
“He’s improved a lot,” said Lamont, who has observed Wallace’s AFL journey from the day he walked into North Melbourne. “This is his third year and he’s come on in an enormous way.”
If Wallace does go on to make it to the AFL, he would not be the first American to do so.
Don Pyke, a two-time West Coast premiership player, and Sanford Wheeler, a former Sydney player, blazed that trail in the 1990s.
