Alec Corso, 12, is making waves in representative Aussie rules, with his Victorian School Sports coach Leigh McQuillen comparing the talent to Fremantle midfielder Murphy Reid and praising him as “a bit of a standout”.
“When we went away, that was on full show. You could see the way he affected the game with his lateral movement and the way he hit the scoreboard,” McQuillen said of Corso’s performance at the championships, held in Queensland in August.
“(He’s a) bit like Murphy Reid, in the way he offered a lot of X-factor and point of difference.”
Finishing the championships undefeated, Victoria’s campaign was plagued by bouts of inclement weather.
But it was a fine weather match with Western Australia, where Victoria came away with a 5.3 (33) to 1.3 (9) win over the competition’s second-best side, in which Corso shone.
“The way he hit the scoreboard, but also set up a lot of our forward thrust, was probably his highlight,” McQuillen said.
“Corso has a lot of traits that players don’t. I would have said the same thing when I saw Murphy Reid play.
“I’d be very surprised if he doesn’t go a long way.”
It comes as fellow Cobram FNC product Eamon Hyde played a critical role in the under-15s’ successful tournament.
McQuillen said the fact that Cobram has produced two players who had represented their state in the past three years said a lot about the club’s junior development program.
“They’re on the right track, if you’ve got two kids coming through at one club,” he said.
“For a club to have two kids put on a map over a three-year period is huge.”