Calder Cannons’ Cooper Duff-Tytler admits he might have made the call to choose football over basketball earlier if he knew what was to come.
The Woodend teenager had made his name in both basketball and football, including representing Australia in basketball.
Late last year he made the call to focus on just playing football.
Since then Duff-Tytler’s name has been on the minds of AFL recruiters with the ruck-forward set to be taken in the top few picks in the draft.
“If someone had told me it would go this well, I probably would have made the decision sooner,” Duff-Tytler said.
“I’m pretty happy with it. I think it was just the work that I put in over the previous years, even through basketball.
“Just learning the work ethic and it translating over into footy, I think it held me in good stead.”
While there has been hype surrounding the tall, Duff-Tytler said he had just focused on what he could do and in the end it was up to AFL recruiters where he is selected.
After a back injury early in the pre-season, Duff-Tytler cracked in and did his first full pre-season focusing on just one sport.
He said he felt that he was able to stay mentally prepared in whatever program he entered.
“Getting back to Cannons in January, February, March it was good to be able to focus and I played some strong footy at the start of the year,” he said.
“It kind of showed when I got that consistency, my game has improved.”
Duff-Tytler, who also played school footy at PEGS, was part of the Victorian Metro side for the national championships mid-year.
He said it wasn’t quite what he and the team had hoped for.
“I wasn’t overly happy with my nationals campaign,” he said. “I would have liked to have done a bit more and as a team we would have liked to have gone better than going 2-2.
“We had kind of been hoping to win the whole thing.
“I think I still showed off some traits and stuff which is important, but I would have liked to do a bit more.”
Duff-Tytler got his opportunity in the Victorian Football League as well with Essendon, kicking three goals on debut.
He said he felt that he belonged at that level.
“I was excited to kind of step up to VFL level and see how my game would translate,” he said. “Essendon did a really good job of embracing me and bringing me in, which is key for me having a decent day.
“It was good to get that experience and to play ok, even better.
“My game was good enough to step up to the next level, maybe some people didn’t expect me to play that well.”
Duff-Tytler said being able to play ruck and forward was one of his biggest strengths and would open more doors heading into the AFL.
He said it had been a pretty surreal experience having AFL clubs come to his house to chat.
Heading interstate would be an exciting challenge which Duff-Tytler said was something he was prepared for.
With the draft soon approaching on November 19, Duff-Tytler is focused on his year 12 exams.
“I’ve kind of done everything I can for the draft now,” he said. “I’m just trying and prepare myself for when it does happen to be ready to come into a club, just through individual training.
“Not much more I can do for the draft now, I can focus on exams.”
