CORONAVIRUS destroyed his draft hopes this year, but Cooper Sharman is hoping to take the tough road to realising his AFL dream when he plays for SANFL giants Woodville-West Torrens next year.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Eagles won the SANFL premiership this year and opted to snap up the 20-year-old to bolster their forward stocks for next season.
Sharman was superb for junior club Leeton-Whitton in this year's shortened AFL Riverina Championship, bagging a league-high 23 goals and causing plenty of headaches with his speed and and strong overhead marking ability.
He was considered unlucky not to find an AFL home in last year's draft, and the COVID-19 pandemic has come at the worst possible time.
Sharman was due to play VFL for Coburg this year before the league was cancelled, and viewed South Australia as a lower risk option.
"I've opted to go over there rather than go back to Melbourne," he said.
"That's my thinking at the moment, it's a bit more security for myself. Obviously it (COVID) is getting a lot better in Melbourne, but I think it's a safer option going to Adelaide."
Sharman said he wanted to use this season to enjoy his football before having a more serious crack at generating interest from AFL clubs before the 2021 draft.
"It would have been nice (to get some interest) but my main focus this year was just to have a bit of fun with footy. Attention from AFL clubs wasn't my main goal," he said.
"I was real happy with my year, I was able to play some consistent footy, even in a couple of wet weather games we had which I haven't been able to do the last couple of years.
"It would have been nice to have played a bit better in the grand final (loss to Wagga Tigers). If I had of played as well as I had all year we might have been a better shot at winning that game, but overall I was pretty happy."
Sharman is confident he is ready to take the next step into state-level football.
"I was looking forward to playing state league footy this year, I wanted to see how I went at VFL level but SANFL's going to be another challenge," he said.
"Especially with AFL clubs tending to draft more mature age players, it becomes pretty exciting that if I play good footy there's a good chance I could have my name raised by recruiters again.
"I'll definitely aim for a big pre-season and have another crack at next year's draft. I'm in the gym and eating heaps of food trying to bulk up, I've put a couple of kilos on.
"I don't need to get too heavy I think, the way I play. There seems to be a lot of older bodies that have been around for a long time in SANFL, so they'll definitely try and be physical with me."
READ MORE
