Sam Colquhoun starred for South Australia in the national championships and will earn a chance with Port Adelaide. Picture: Simon Cross
TEENAGE star Sam Colquhoun is heading to Port Adelaide.
In a recruiting coup, the rebuilding Power has committed to taking the Central District running machine with its first pick at next Tuesday's AFL pre-season draft.
Surprisingly overlooked at the national draft, Colquhoun trained with Essendon on Monday but returned to Adelaide yesterday after Port sealed a deal with his management team.
The Power - with pick three - selects before the Bombers in the pre-season draft. Only GWS (one) and the Western Bulldogs (two) have picks before Port and neither has shown interest in drafting Colquhoun, clearing his passage to the Power.
Colquhoun, an All-Australian half-back at under-18 level, trained with Port last week but kept his draft options open by trialling with Essendon, which was "super-impressed" with his running ability on Monday.
But when former Bomber Brent Prismall turned his back on a one-year contract offer from the Power, the Alberton-based club turned its attention to Colquhoun.
"We've liked him for a long time and were very surprised that he wasn't taken at the national draft," Port football operations manager Peter Rohde said, noting the club's last pick at the draft was No.30.
"We were considering taking him as a rookie selection but given Essendon's interest we had to jump in ahead of it. So hopefully we'll officially have Sam on board next week."
Colquhoun's manager Justin Reid orchestrated his return from Melbourne yesterday after talking with Bombers football manager Danny Corcoran.
"Essendon seemed very keen on Sam but when Port made a commitment to draft him it seemed pointless for him to keep training with them," Reid said.
"We're just really pleased that he's found his way onto an AFL list because he's a real talent who was very unlucky not to get drafted last month (at the national draft)."
Colquhoun, 17, starred for SA at this year's national under-18 championships, winning SA's MVP award and making the All-Australian side. He averaged 28.4 disposals and six marks in five games, reading the ball brilliantly at half-back, running hard and using his possessions with great effect.
SA coach Brenton Phillips took some of the blame for Colquhoun's draft failure because he used him as a loose man in defence, which raised questions about his accountability.
But Phillips said he has no doubt Colquhoun has the talent and work ethic to make it in the AFL.
"Once his (AFL) chance comes, that club will stand to benefit enormously," Phillips said.
Colquhoun said he was delighted to find an AFL home after his national draft disappointment.
"Having had a taste of training with AFL clubs in the past couple of weeks it's made me even more determined to have a crack at it," he said.
Colquhoun, 179cm and 72kg, will resume training with Port today. His pre-season selection means the Power can only rookie-list former Melbourne forward Liam Jurrah.
Jurrah, 24, is training at the club every day in the hope of reviving his career, which netted 81 goals in 36 games with the Demons.
Port says it will make a decision on Jurrah's future on Friday after taking into account his attitude, fitness and looming Alice Springs court case in March.
The Power has two picks in the rookie draft, which is shaping as the smallest in history.
Less than 30 picks are likely to be used after the AFL slashed rookie lists from six to four ahead of 2013 following a two-year spike as new franchises Gold Coast and GWS were introduced.
Clubs can list a maximum of 40 senior players and four rookies next year, but many will adopt a 39-5 or 38-6 breakdown for salary cap purposes.
Adelaide has committed to re-drafting Nick Joyce in the pre-season draft and will have one rookie selection.
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