OFF TO THE AFL: Burnie’s Robbie Fox is a Sydney player after being added to the club’s rookie list on Monday.
Written by the Advocate Tasmania’s Alex Fair, published November 30 2016.
Robbie Fox has made a couple of really good life choices in recent times.
The first for the Burnie product was making the move to Victoria to expand his football horizons, which saw him end up at VFL club Coburg under the coaching of Peter German,
The second was to embrace the challenge put to him by German to transform himself from a running defender to an inside midfielder warrior.
These decisions have led the 23-year-old to the current destination in his football journey, a place on the rookie list at Sydney.
When his name was read out with the 34th pick in Monday’s rookie draft, all the sacrifices Fox had made suddenly seemed worth it.
The 2012 Dockers premiership player admitted it was tough at times to hold onto his AFL dream.
“When I was 18 or 19, I did feel the AFL was a long way away, but it wasn’t until my time at local footy (Aberfeldie in the Essendon District League) and then at Coburg (from 2015) that I really started to believe,’’ he said.
“I didn’t realise the step up that was needed with the VFL, so my first year of VFL was getting used to it, but then I had a good pre-season and realised if I had a big year, anything could happen.”
His move to the midfield for the Lions came from necessity, and saw him picked on the wing in the VFL team of the year after averaging 21 touches and seven tackles
“The club didn’t have many big midfielders left, so they wanted to get me in there,’’ he said.
“Once I started learning how to do that well, it just all went from there.
“When I was younger I was still very focused on basketball (Fox represented Tasmania at under 20 level), and I was a very skinny, small outside player, and I didn’t really understand where to run to. Learning more about the game, as well as putting on more size, has helped me grow as a player to get me where I am now.”
Fox said he was excited to be joining a powerhouse like the Swans.
He spoke to coach John Longmire on Monday, who said the club were fans of Fox’s “power”.
“I was speaking to one of their recruiters, and he said an inside midfielder is what they were after,’’ Fox said.
“They were keen for a power athlete and someone that could use the ball, and the fact they’ve lost Tom Mitchell (to Hawthorn), I think they have an attitude that ‘you can never have too many players that can play midfield’.
“I will really be working hard to get myself into the team for the NAB Cup, and hopefully be part of the team in round 1 if the chance ((via an upgrade) comes.”
Fox was one of three Tasmanians involved in the rookie draft, with Brady Grey re-drafted by Fremantle and Henry Schade picked up by Collingwood.
