28 December 2004 Herald Sun
Grey Morris
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/ ... 22,00.html
ETHIOPIAN recruit Goaner Tutlan got his first taste of Australian football with Darwin club St Mary's yesterday and liked his first course.
Looks the part: Ethiopian Goaner Tutlan takes a mark for St Mary's against Southern Districts in Darwin yesterday. Goaner booted four goals in the Saints' victory.
Tutlan, 22, kicked four goals from eight shots at goal in St Mary's 19.12 (126) to 2.7 (19) win against Southern Districts.
Tutlan was mobbed by teammates after soccering a goal off the ground in the first quarter.
And he got a bigger cheer from St Mary's fans when he had the poise to tap a spilled chest mark on to his left boot and soccer another one through in the last term.
His lead and chest mark before narrowly missing a 40m shot on a 45-degree angle had all the elements of a veteran.
Carrying a corked right thigh from a first-quarter clash, Tutlan said after the final siren that the basics of kicking and marking the oval-shaped ball had been the easy part.
"That part of the game was no real worry," he said. "Where to go and the time to move was the toughest, it's a part of the game I need to work on.
"But it was OK out there, my teammates helped me out a lot by looking for me when they had the footy."
Tutlan is part of Victorian Toby Granger's international recruitment program, where African athletes at the top of their chosen sports are given an opportunity to learn and play Australia's national game at the highest level.
Granger has funded Tutlan's NTFL "experiment" in a bid to fast-track his pathway to the AFL, beginning with interest from AFL clubs and being registered in next year's AFL national draft.
Essendon has already touched base, entering him in its development squad before this year's draft.
One person impressed with Tutlan's athleticism was St Mary's reserves coach Chris Gundersen, who rates the Ethiopian's jumping and speed as his greatest assets.
"It was Goaner's first real run in a game of football and I was very impressed with what he showed," Gundersen said.
"Because of his athleticism, we can use him in all sorts of positions. We're just trying to teach him the basic structure of forward play, but that will come with a bit of knowledge.
"His jumping, speed and quickness of hand and mind are pretty good assets to have when you're learning the game."
The Saints' premiership-winning coach Damian Hale is also impressed, but wants 196cm Tutlan to bulk up.
"He's just a freak, he's got all the dimensions, let's just hope he can pick the game up and put some meat on his bones," Hale said.
"He eats nothing, so Darren (assistant coach Darren Flanagan) has gone out and bought about 300kg of steak to make sure he has heaps of steak and eggs for breakfast every day."
Sounds like the kid has real potential. Judging by the pic he certainly needs to beef up before the season proper.
