Zodiac
Years ago

Tom Fullarton Quits Bullets for AFL

The Bullets have also announced the release of Tom Fullarton from his contract at the player's request. Fullarton informed Head Coach Andrej Lemanis he wished to pursue opportunities within AFL and requested an immediate release from his contract, which the Club has agreed to.

The 200cm-tall small forward came through Queensland and Australian under-age representative teams as well as the AIS-Centre of Excellence in Canberra and joined the Bullets as a development player for the 2016-17 and 2017-18 NBL seasons and was to move into the main roster on a two-year contract from the 2018-19 season with an option for an additional season.

Bullets General Manager Richard Clarke was disappointed but realistic regarding the situation.

"When Tom first signed with us he had to make the decision over playing basketball in the US College system or continuing in the AFL pathway. That he chose basketball and the Bullets was a big decision for him, and we knew that AFL would remain a strong consideration and alternative. Over the past 2 seasons we have invested into Tom’s development, in particular Andrej, and it is disappointing that we won’t get to see the results of that investment. However, from our experience when a player makes a decision like this there is no benefit in trying to change their mind, you only end up with a bad situation for both parties."

“Tom has put a lot of thought into this decision, when I met with him to discuss his reasons it was obvious that it wasn’t something he was taking lightly and he understood that it was a decision that would have an impact on others. It was also clear that he had decided that AFL was the pathway he wanted to pursue and as such we have agreed to release him to follow that pathway. We retain his rights should he return to basketball, but at this stage we wish him the best with his AFL goals.”

The Bullets have two remaining roster spots with the addition of Holt and departure of Fullarton, and Clarke indicated they would take their time to ensure getting the right players for those spots.

“We have one spot for a starting import small forward, ideally someone with a similar skill set to Torrey Craig when he was with us. We will take our time with that signing, it is important we get the right fit in terms of both skill set and personality to fit the group. Andrej and I will likely travel to the NBA Summer League in July to meet prospective players.”

“We still have one import spot available, so our final roster position can be either a local player or an import - it is basically a minimum salary role so we will look at who give us the best balance in the squad. We will look to take our time on this decision also, and continue to monitor player’s performances in the QBL and other leagues. Mick Downer and I have also just returned from the NBL Next Gen camp in Melbourne where there were some interesting prospects for with that final roster spot or development player positions” he said.

http://www.nbl.com.au/news/article/42100-brisbane-bullets-re-up-stephen-holt-lose-fullarton-to-afl

Topic #43377 | Report this topic


Anonymous  
Years ago

Lemanis to sign Paul Henare to fill the roster spot.

Reply #689836 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Von Hofe would fill that role nicely

Reply #689838 | Report this post


AD  
Years ago

So is he going to Brissy or GC?

Reply #689843 | Report this post


LC  
Years ago

Brisbane Lions.

Great young hooper lost to AFL.

Reply #689845 | Report this post


Thunder Jam  
Years ago

Thanks for another thread on Tom....

Reply #689846 | Report this post


skull  
Years ago

The NBL needs to stay right away from anything to do with the AFL...

Reply #689851 | Report this post


AD  
Years ago

"The NBL needs to stay right away from anything to do with the AFL..."

Actually with all this talk of AFL clubs wanting NBL teams, it does raise an interesting point.
Young Aussies who have chosen Basketball are attractive recruits because they can be brought into the AFL via the back door (they are referred to as "Category B Rookies") ie bypassing the Draft(s) completely. Realistically they are free-hits for the AFL club.
The downside being that the kids are older than your average AFL draftee, were perhaps better suited to Basketball, and importantly have been away from any Aussie Rules competition for 3 years.

Soooo
What happens when Collingwood identifies a young talent. Pays them good money for a few years to play Basketball, all the while engaging in "cross-skills training", before picking them up as a free Cat-B Rookie.

Keep in mind that many elite AFL draftees are identified as early as the national U16's, and that the draft age has been progressively increased to 18, because teams used to draft 16yr olds.

Reply #689854 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Exactly skull and AD. NBL needs to keep away from the sneaky AFL. Finally a few understand how dangerous they are.

Reply #689863 | Report this post


Proud  
Years ago

So sad about this mainly because he was the one Bullets player I was getting excited to see this season but that won't be happening.

I heard that Mark Bradtke's son has also is looking at going to AFL instead of persuing basketball (or tennis like his mother). Let's hope we get more teams and make basketball a far more attractive prospect

Reply #689866 | Report this post


FSTOS  
Years ago

Imagine how good basketball would be in Australia without the AFL. What a waste of great athletes.

Reply #689868 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

"Imagine how good basketball would be in Australia without the AFL. What a waste of great athletes.Imagine how good basketball would be in Australia without the AFL. What a waste of great athletes."

That's probably the quote of the year.
Dumbest quote of the year.
The average AFL player gets over $300000 pa.

"The wage for a first-round draft pick has been set at $88,000 in the first year of the deal, while rookies will be paid at least $71,500.
The minimum salary for players beyond their second season has been set at $100,000.

Reply #689871 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Average is $300g but when the superstars are getting 1.5 million a season the back Enders are on not that good money. With a salary cap of 12/13 million if your top five players take between 4/6 million that don't leave a lot left for the rest of the 38 on the roster. So the average might be $300g but most guys earn between $75 to $250g for twelve months, not six months like the nbl guys. The afl PR machine is always in overdrive.

Reply #689875 | Report this post


Cram  
Years ago

Yeah Austin Bradtke has signed with the Demons as a Cat B rookie. It is disappointing to lose the son of a legend like that. Its always going to be a risk though while the opportunities and pay gap remains. With only space for around 50-odd Aussie NBL players, compared to 700+ AFL spots.

Reply #689878 | Report this post


Bear  
Years ago

Firstly, good luck to the kid, also to young Bradke who is going to Melbourne. Everyone needs to remember that a sports person's career opportunity is short and they can be cut from a team or injured seriously at any time ending and shortening their careers even more.

I will never blame anyone for looking after their own interests and coaches who pretend they are hard done by when they invest in a project only to see that person more to what they see as greener pastures just need to move on to the next project and get over it.

The AFL is Australia's premier sporting body, compared with the NBL it is far bigger, better organised, supported by big business and the media, provides better pathways and many other benefits not only the financial ones.

Kids of the talent level of these two and some others who choose football can stay in basketball and do well, even try to go overseas if they are good enough, but it is their decision, end of story!

We need to remain fans of the NBL and keep supporting it because it is starting to head in the right direction, there is a heap of talented juniors coming through, but spots are limited right now.

For every kid like this who chooses another pathway there are dozens of others just as good waiting in the wings, coaches need to respect people's decisions as do we from the beeches. Wish them well and don't be so judgemental IMHO...

Reply #689879 | Report this post


Bear  
Years ago

'bleeches'

Reply #689880 | Report this post


Neb  
Years ago

He originally was an Aussie Rules player who changed over to basketball, so he has just gone back to his original sport anyway. Still a shame though.

Reply #689886 | Report this post


Kriss  
Years ago

That 88k for a first round draft pick does not include match payments for playing senior football. A regular best 22 player will be 150k easy.

Reply #689887 | Report this post


Cram  
Years ago

Bear I don't know if you were referring to me, but I'm not being judgmental about losing these young guys, just disappointed as a basketball fan. I completely agree with what you said about doing what is best for themselves and wish them the best.

Reply #689895 | Report this post


Bear  
Years ago

No CRAM, just generally speaking, not directed at your comment at all.

Reply #689896 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

"Imagine how good basketball would be in Australia without the AFL. What a waste of great athletes."

Exactly. The problem is many basketball fans tend to have a soft approach to this tragedy as they also like the AFL so don't mind.

Reply #689906 | Report this post


Cram  
Years ago

The same could be true of any number of sports all over the world though too. If only rugby league didn't exist, the Wallabies might not be embarrassing.

The Australian Volleyball federation probably hated the emergence of basketball in the 90s too.

No sport has a natural right to athletes, and in Australia, with so many good athletes around, in so many different sports, code switching is going to be inevitable.

Reply #689915 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Tell me everything's rosy with the NBL and local basketball and I give you this...

There's a bunch of second rate athletes and 30 year old second tier Americans running around MSAC at the Next Get camp and we lose two potentially exciting basketball talents to another sport.

There's Bogut spruiking the value of the NBL as a pathway and the very next day...

Reply #689932 | Report this post


Reality  
Years ago

@anon its all bout the cash and the ability to make it sooner.

Reply #689936 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

They will be back playing basketball when they get cut in a few years time.
Happens alot.

Reply #689969 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Yeah ask Hugh Greenwood who is doing it so tough in the AFL.

Reply #689973 | Report this post


Zodiac  
Years ago

Corey Maynard quit the NBL and since has only played a couple of games at Melbourne.

Reply #689980 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

^ Zodiac. Corey was out of the NBL. Nobody wanted him. That's why he went to AFL.

He's done well to get an another "opportunity" as a professional sportsman.

I would add that IMO he has already earned more in his season & a 1/2 of AFL than he did in his 2 or three years as a Basketball Pro.

Reply #689986 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

I think you'll find Bradtke's son has made the right choice as IMO I don't think he was going to be good enough to play basketball professionally.

Good luck to him.

Reply #689987 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Don't forget about Craig Moller, who will go on to represent Australia vs China this off season

Reply #689989 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Luxford didn't last long either.

Reply #689991 | Report this post


AD  
Years ago

It's interesting to think, if for example there were no other sports, and all Australians only played say Soccer. How good would we be?
Could we contend for a world cup?

Certainly I reckon if we only played Basketball we'd be #2 in the world. But would that be enough?
As it is, when our best players go the NBA, we feel a surge of pride and wish them luck. But if BBL was our national sport? And the difference was just about $$?

Interesting....

Reply #689992 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

^ Would Luxford get a roster spot on any NBL team? IMO, no.

So he had a good 3 years earning some good money.

Hope he also managed to get some sort of education and saved most of what he earned for a deposit on a house.

It didn't work out for him, but at least he had a crack.Straight out of school earning 70k-100k/year? That's a better start than most people get.

Reply #689994 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Moller should've made it at afl but wasn’t old enough to play under blinkers Ross Lyon coaching and in the end loved basketball more.

Reply #690005 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Moller should've made it at afl but wasn’t old enough to play under blinkers Ross Lyon coaching and in the end loved basketball more.

Reply #690006 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

AD yes we would dominate both those sports. Such a shame.

Reply #690009 | Report this post


Cram  
Years ago

Is there anywhere that basketball is the number one sport? Arguably Lithuania, which explains why they so often punch above their weight. But anywhere else? Philippines?

Almost every country in the world has (association) football as a clear number one, with a few random outliers like Canada with Hockey, NZ with Rugby, us with AFL (though not as clear as the others)

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Correct - Lithuania and Philippines.

It is a real shame soccer and basketball aren't #1 and #2 team sports here like in most countries with our sporting talents.

Reply #690062 | Report this post


Cram  
Years ago

I dunno, I like the variety of sports. I'll regularly go to games of most Australian top flight leagues (no NRL or Netball) and enjoy different things from each.

Plus, usually when there's only a couple of sports, there tends to be a lot of animosity between the two (rugby fans vs football fans in england as an example).

I think it is good to have different sports available, but I agree that as a country we spread the talent, airtime and crowds pretty thin.

Ideally Rugby league and Netball would't exist and their players/fans/airtime could be spread among the other sports and I would be perfectly content.

Reply #690082 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

^ Also Serbia. 6 million population. Silver medal in Rio Olympics. Also, current European champions.

Reply #690112 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

So Cram you're the same as me then but just increasing the number of sports you ideally want.

Reply #690116 | Report this post


AD  
Years ago

Gotta be honest though.
I used to follow Perth Glory a bit, watch a few games.
And I have coached junior Soccer, its a great junior sport.
It doessn't really float my boat as a spectacle.
Appreciate I am clearly in the minority on Earth, but 0-0 draws just annoy me.
Or worse where one team dominates all game, then makes one mistake and concedes a goal.

Reply #690120 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

What's the #1 sport in America? NFL maybe in terms of crowds and ratings but the amount of kids playing might be on the decline due to concerns about concussion.

Reply #690130 | Report this post


Cram  
Years ago

American football (whether NFL college or high school) is easily number 1 in U.S. in terms of media coverage, money and ratings.

Reply #690134 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

In terms of concussion and injury concerns AFL, NRL etc. will face the same problem as NFL when medical research advances. This will spell a decline in eggball sports.

Reply #690143 | Report this post


Bear  
Years ago

@CRAM the NCAA College Basketball March Madness tournament alone is huge in the amount of money it makes and the number of viewers it attracts, just saying!

Reply #690548 | Report this post




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