Gold Coast SUNS defender Jack Hutchins will make his AFL debut against Port Adelaide at AAMI Stadium on Saturday.
The 19 year-old Victorian, has been selected to line up at Full Back, replacing Michael Coad in the Gold Coast SUNS starting 22.
Like many of his multi-talented teammates Hutchins’ emergence as a genuine AFL prospect came down to a choice between two sporting loves. Always a more than handy junior footballer – he represented Vic Metro at under 16 and under 18 levels – it was Hutchins skill in the pool that soaked up most of his youthful sporting attention.
In 2009 Hutchins swam alongside Eamon Sullivan in the 50 metres freestyle at the national championships in a trial for the World Swimming Championships in Rome. But a month later the former Haileybury College student was off on a tour of South Africa with the AIS-AFL Academy squad.
He met GC SUNS Football Manager Marcus Ashcroft and Senior Coach Guy McKenna while there and the rest, as they say, is history.
Hutchins hails from Mansfield in the foothills of Victoria’s Alpine district. He’s a strongly built, agile and ruthlessly competitive backman who was last season rapidly forging a name for himself as the GC SUNS first choice fullback.
