A COUPLE smashing yo-yo test results highlighted the NSW/ACT contingent of Northern Academies as the Swans and Giants Academies tested themselves at Preseason Combines over the weekend. In what was a couple of huge efforts, Murray Bushrangers talent and Giants Academy member Ellie Hall and Swans Academy bottom-age midfielder Sophia Slater duked it out on separate days in a mammoth endurance battle.

>> TOP 5s | 2024 Preseason Testing – Giants & Swans Academies (Boys)

Hall, who missed all of 2023 due to an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury, recorded an incredible 17.07 on the yo-yo test, clearing the previous best out of Western Australia the week before by four levels. If that phenomenal effort was not enough to savour, the following day Slater got to 17.08 without even missing the line. The Swans talent was narrowly short of surpassing level 18, which would have earned her the overall Rookie Me Combine testing record outright, but instead Slater shared the honour.

The other player to record a 17-plus level yo-yo test was Charlotte Canavan, while Giants Academy over-ager and Allies representative Sophia de Castella finished equal fifth, and was the start of her group’s testing. The daughter of marathon runner, Robert, de Castella was the best performing Giant overall, finishing equal second in the standing and running vertical jumps as well to finish with a physical performance rating (PPR) of 86 per cent.

The overall top PPR score from the weekend belonged to Swans defender Ellie Veerhuis who recorded a score of 88, featuring in the top five of the standing and running vertical jump, and agility test, while clocking the fastest 20m sprint time of 3.168 seconds. Veerhuis was the only player who recorded sub-3.2 seconds, with another Bushranger in Tamika Rourke not far behind with an outstanding 3.204 seconds.

Other players to top their respective tests were Lauren Bull in the standing vertical jump (52cm), Amaia Wain in the running vertical jump (63cm) and Stephie Wilkins in the agility test. All three are Swans Academy members, as the red and white took the honours in all the respective tests. Another strong performer over the weekend was 17-year-old Giants Academy member Ella Randall, who finished with a PPR score of 81 per cent, the same as Wain, while Canavan hit 80.

PRESEASON TESTING TOP 5s

STANDING VERTICAL JUMP

1. Lauren Bull (Swans Academy) 52cm
=2. Amelia Martin (Swans Academy) 50cm
=2. Sophia De Castella (Giants Academy) 50cm
=4. Ellie Veerhuis (Swans Academy) 49cm
=4. Tessa Wilcox (Giants Academy) 49cm

RUNNING VERTICAL JUMP

1. Amaia Wain (Swans Academy) 63cm
=2. Sophia De Castella (Giants Academy) 62cm
=2. Ella Randall (Giants Academy) 62cm
=4. Tessa Wilcox (Giants Academy) 61cm
=4. Ellie Veerhuis (Swans Academy) 61cm

20M SPRINT

1. Ellie Veerhuis (Swans Academy) 3.168 seconds
2. Tamika Rourke (Giants Academy) 3.204 seconds
3. Lily Sullivan (Giants Academy) 3.229 seconds
4. Lauren Bull (Swans Academy) 3.233 seconds
5. Megan Mifsud (Giants Academy) 3.239 seconds

AGILITY TEST

1. Stephie Wilkins (Swans Academy) 8.455 seconds
2. Sophia Slater (Swans Academy) 8.522 seconds
3. Imogen Brown (Swans Academy) 8.556 seconds
4. Ellie Veerhuis (Swans Academy) 8.67 seconds
5. Tamika Rourke (Giants Academy) 8.73 seconds

YO-YO TEST

1. Sophia Slater (Swans Academy) 17.08 level
2. Ellie Hall (Giants Academy) 17.07 level
3. Charlotte Canavan (Giants Academy) 17.04 level
4. Kiera Yerbury (Swans Academy) 16.06 level
=5. Imogen Brown (Swans Academy) 16.05 level
=5. Sophia De Castella (Giants Academy) 16.05 level