Draft combine step towards AFLW dream for Newcastle products

The 19-year-old is one of three Newcastle products named among 83 invitees from across the country for the state-based testing.

Marnie Robinson and Holly Cooper, both 18, were also nominated to take part in the NSW event at Sydney Olympic Park on Monday.

All three are in the Sydney Swans Academy and played for an Allies team, which comprised the best under 18 players from NSW, ACT, NT and Tasmania, in the Australian championships.

Robinson, who was devastatingly ruled out of the Draft Combine on Saturday due to a hip issue, went on to be named in the under-18 girls All-Australian team following her efforts on the national stage.

It is the second year in a row that Turner Funk has been invited to take part in the Draft Combine, which involves physical testing.

Athletes are tested in vertical jump, running vertical jump, 20-metre sprint, an agility test and a two-kilometre time trial.

Last year only comprised the 2km run, which Turner Funk completed in Newcastle.

"Last year it was just the run around the local running track in Newcastle, so this year is going to be a lot different," Turner Funk said.

"It's mentally a bit of an adjustment from being in my backyard of Newcastle to going to a facility to do the testing.

"Last year was pretty difficult because it was just me running, so I didn't have any pace to go by. I was just running like a bat out of hell until I collapsed. I did OK but I think I could have done a bit better. I'm super grateful and excited to do it again and do it properly as well."

All players invited to attend the 2023 AFLW Draft Combine are eligible to be selected in the 2023 AFLW Draft, which will be held following this AFLW season.

Salamander Bay's Pippa Smyth earned a contract with GWS when she blitzed testing at the 2017 AFLW Draft Combine.

"I'm trying to stay as calm as possible," Turner Funk said.

"If I learnt anything from last year it's not to get super excited about lots of things because it's just another thing on the board for me at this point."

The OOSH educator and hospitality worker took a gap year this year to concentrate on her dream of earning an AFLW contract while Robinson and Cooper have juggled year 12 studies in pursuit of the same goal.

"I just really want to do my best," Cooper said of the Draft Combine.

"It's still a learning curve as well but I'm just going to go out there and do my best. I just want myself to feel good after, knowing that I put 110 per cent in."

Swans Academy coach Kristie Whittard described all three players as invaluable team members and said the Draft Combine was a way to test themselves against the country's best rising talent.

"Athletic and genetic, those are the key indicators they're looking for in doing those types of testing, to get a read on where they sit against the rest of the talent across Australia at the same age in order to be draftable," Whittard said.