Gold Coast secures exciting NT Thunder youngster Malcolm Rosas

NT Thunder livewire Malcom Rosas has become the first player to be pre-listed by Gold Coast as part of the club’s new academy zone.

Gold Coast and AFLNT made the joint announcement in Darwin today with Rosas signing a two-year deal.

Rosas said he was thrilled that the hard work he had put in over a number of years had paid off.

“I’ve worked hard, especially over the last couple of years, to improve my game and now I’m on an AFL list, it’s a dream come true," Rosas said.

“Many people in the Northern Territory have put a lot of time and effort into getting me to this position and I can’t thank them enough.

"It’s going to be a big step up to playing AFL football for the SUNS, but I'm looking forward to putting my head down and working hard to make the NT proud."

Rosas becomes the first player drafted to the club since the AFL recently announced that the Darwin region would form part of the club’s Academy program.

As part of the AFL’s assistance package the club was awarded the opportunity to pre-sign players from its academy region (including Darwin) before the draft without having to bid for them.

The talented 18-year-old excited many during his Allies campaign and the small forward also impressed at the NAB AFL Draft Combine earlier this month, finishing third overall in the 20m sprint (running 2.92 seconds) and ran a solid time of 6:33 minutes in the 2km time trial.

Coming through the ranks at NTFL club Darwin Buffaloes, Rosas has represented NT Thunder at under-16, under-18 and senior level as well as the Rio Tinto Flying Boomerangs in 2016 and the AFL Academy.

Rosas made his NEAFL debut in 2018 and played a further five matches this year, where he finished the season strongly.

General Manager Football Operations Jon Haines, was looking forward to what Rosas Jnr could bring to the club.

“He’s an exciting young talent who has performed at a high level over the last couple of years, across a number of different football programs” Haines said.

“It’s a credit to Malcolm and his family what he has been able to achieve in the past couple of years and we look forward to welcoming them to the football club.”

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