By Tara Murray
Calder Cannons rising star Cooper Duff-Tytler had a tough decision to make.
The talented youngster from Woodend, was just at home on the basketball court as he was on the footy field.
He had represented Australia in basketball at junior level, while the small glimpses on the footy field had him part of the AFL futures game on grand final day on the MCG.
When he was selected in the AFL Academy, which includes 30 of the top players in the country, Duff-Tytler decided he needed to make a decision.
“I think my love for the game and ultimately i chose what I thought would give me the best opportunities and most successful in,” he said. “Ultimately it came down to what I wanted to do every day in my future.
“I could have continued playing both. For me I didn’t want to keep kicking along doing both and separating my time and trying to keep up with the others.
“I wanted to put all my time into one sport and try to excel and get the best out of myself.
“Hopefully I’ll utilise my opportunities and give myself the best chance to be successful next November.”
Duff-Tytler said he couldn’t have imagined being part of the AFL Academy 12 months ago.
He said while it was something that you always see others part of, it wasn’t something that had crossed his mind due to basketball.
The group earlier this month held its first camp with Duff-Tytler saying it was a really good achievement.
“It was a good experience to come together for the first time and meet all the boys,” he said. “It’s a good group of boys and I think we all got along well.
“I’ve got a back niggle at the moment which kept me out of training, but I was able do to do some running on the side and all the off field side experience.
“Getting to talk to some of Geelong’s AFL boys and just education around high performance and nutrition.
“Got to do some club interviews at the end which was exciting.”
Selection in the academy was on the back of his futures game performance and his back part of the Coates Talent League season.
He made his debut in round 12 and played six matches for the Cannons, named in the best in four of them.
“The last three months after basketball ended I got to play some consistent footy with Woodend-Hesket as well as Calder,” he said.
“It was good just to get out there and put some games together and gel with the different teams that I was playing with.
“It was exciting to play down at Woodend and make the senior debut for the local club as well as getting to put on the Cannons jersey with the boys I’ve done a fair bit of training with over the past three months.
“Hopefully a lot more to come”
With both schools footy at PEGS and Cannons commitments, Duff-Tytler said he was hoping to sneak in a couple of games in with his local side next season.
As part of the academy, the players will train with an AFL club during the pre-season.
Duff-Tytler will train with Essendon in the new year to allow him to recover from his back complaint.
He’s hoping that next pre-season he’ll be doing a full AFL pre-season.
“Watching the draft this year, with some mates and some people I play with… Just the motivation and reinforcement that it’s an exciting 12 months ahead,” he said.
“If you put your head down and do the work you can get the results at the end ultimately what I’m aiming for come November.
