WESTERN Australian midfielder Hugh Boxshall is shaping as this year's draft bolter after pushing aside the disappointment of missing an invite to the national Combine and finding another way to put his name up in lights.
A big-bodied midfielder in the mould of Elliot Yeo, Boxshall's season had been interrupted by untimely injuries, but the teenager still believed he had done enough to earn a chance to showcase his physical attributes on the national stage.
Gutted to just miss out, he dusted himself off and instead produced an outstanding performance at the WA State Combine to rank top five nationally in the 2km time trial (No.2), agility test (No.3), standing vertical jump (No.2) and running vertical jump (No.4).
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Boxshall now has momentum ahead of the 2024 Telstra AFL Draft, with recruiters being drawn to his mix of size, versatility and athleticism despite not seeing him on the national Combine stage.
"At the time, I was pretty gutted to miss out because I was being told that I could have made the national Combine, but in hindsight I was really happy to make the state Combine and really appreciative of getting that invite," Boxshall told AFL.com.au.
"At the end of the day, it's just to showcase your skills and your testing and it's all the same tests, so I was really happy and relieved to get that invite and I think I put my best foot forward.
"I've always been a pretty big runner and the state program do really well in training all of us three times a week, but I did extras on top of that at home and mainly focused on the 2km, so I really wanted to get a good time in that."
Boxshall's Combine performance came after a patch of excellent form late in the year with Claremont's colts team, culminating in 30 disposals in the premiership-winning Tigers' Grand Final against Swan Districts.
It was colts coach Ricki Smith who had seen the potential for Boxshall to move into the midfield at the start of the season and encouraged him to attack the role and force his way into the State 18s team.
"I played as an intercepting half-back all my junior years, and then all of a sudden this year I've just kind of tried the new role early in the season to go into midfield and I really liked it and I flourished in that role," Boxshall said.
"I always wanted to play in the midfield and I felt like I had it, but my colts coach got me in there and also said at that stage in the pre-season, 'I reckon we can get you into the state team'.
"Off that form in the midfield, I got selected and played a couple of good games and then returned from state and played a couple of good games as well. So that's kind of where it came from."
Through Boxshall's form late in the year and his combination with co-captains Hamish Davis and Austin Van Der Struyf, the Tigers midfield turned from an Achilles heel into one of the competition's weapons.
Boxshall was also played as an inside midfielder at the Under-18 Championships before filling a variety of roles with school team Scotch at PSA level, finding a way to stay connected with his teammates and be a valuable contributor across three squads.
His coaches describe him as intelligent and coachable, with a clear understanding of what's required to succeed and a drive to executive it.
They're traits that served him well through a pair of untimely injuries this season, including a torn quad at the start of the year that ruled him out for the early stages of WA's under-18s program and the first game of the National Championships.
They also served him well when overlooked at the start of the year for the WA summer training squad, and again when he didn't make the cut for the national Combine, using each setback as more motivation to showcase what he can do.
