GEELONG Talent ID Manager Troy Selwood is clear about one thing with new Cat Max Holmes.
He might have an athletics background, but Holmes is a ‘serious’ footballer.
While Holmes ran second in the Under 18 National 400 metre hurdles and runs a 100m sprint in just a tick over 11 seconds, he’s been playing XVIII Football at Melbourne Grammar since year 10.
Holmes is the son of former Olympic track and field athlete Lee Naylor, who competed at the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games and was a Commonwealth Games gold medallist.
“He’s got a lot of improvement in him and think he’s going to be a great fit for our footy club, not just in the short term but definitely medium to long term,” Troy Selwood says.
“He was probably prioritising his athletics career in the last 12 to 18 months, but we felt if he had have played a little bit more football this year then he probably would have risen up not only our draft board, but maybe other clubs boards too.
“We were able to capture him playing football in 2018, he played a little bit of NAB league football last year as well.”
The Cats were so keen on Holmes they traded their way up the draft to ensure he made his way down the highway.
Geelong struck a trade with the Tigers, sending its 2021 first round selection to Richmond in return for pick 20.
“We saw an opportunity with Max sliding through the later first round to trade a future first. We obviously rate him really highly,” Selwood says.
“They’re big decisions that we’d sort of fleshed out in the days and weeks leading into the draft, so you don’t take those decisions lightly.
“We had some draft equity and capital in the 2021 draft from I guess the Jeremy Cameron trade as well, so we just thought the opportunity was a really good one for us and we’re absolutely wrapped to have Max at the football club.”
