{"id":281398,"date":"2025-11-13T08:52:16","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T08:52:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/281398\/"},"modified":"2025-11-13T08:52:16","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T08:52:16","slug":"afl-prospect-avery-thomas-overcomes-shattering-death-of-father-clyde-to-be-tasmanias-top-draft-hopeful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/281398\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL prospect Avery Thomas overcomes shattering death of father Clyde to be Tasmania\u2019s top draft hopeful"},"content":{"rendered":"

AFL<\/a> young gun Avery Thomas has emerged from a tough couple of years to be Tasmania\u2019s No.1 draft<\/a> prospect.<\/p>\n

Thomas was selected in his state\u2019s initial under-16s side two years ago, only to be dropped and feeling he may have missed his chance.<\/p>\n

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Avery Thomas\u2019 heartbreaking journey to AFL draft.<\/p>\n

Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today \"Download<\/a><\/p>\n

While that was a tough moment in his young life, nothing compared to the unimaginable tragedy that unfolded just months later.<\/p>\n

While sitting at his year 10 graduation, Avery\u2019s father Clyde suffered a shock heart attack.<\/p>\n

Despite the best efforts of medical staff, Clyde couldn\u2019t be revived.<\/p>\n

\"AveryAvery with his dad Clyde. Credit: Supplied<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was obviously really sudden and really out of the blue … I feel like it made me realise that tomorrow isn\u2019t promised,\u201d Thomas tells 7NEWS Melbourne reporter Xander McGuire.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was good that morning, but by lunchtime he was gone.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really puts (things) into perspective.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really want to work hard every day and to reach my goals. And that\u2019s really helped me to get where I am today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Left reeling, Thomas picked himself up off the canvas with the support of his mother Alison.<\/p>\n

\u201cMum\u2019s been awesome, by my side literally the whole way,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s always pushing me to be better and pushes me as hard as I can to achieve my goals, which I love. I\u2019m so close with her, she\u2019s been awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MumMum Alison has been a constant support for Avery. Credit: Supplied<\/p>\n

After missing out on selection for Tasmania\u2019s under-16s trip to Gold Coast, Avery immediately went back into the gym and on the running track.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got dropped for that Gold Coast trip. It was obviously a bit flattening, but I just had to move on and get back to work,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was definitely a moment where I thought, \u2018am I really good enough to go to the next level\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe dream was always to play footy so I stuck at it and just wanted to come back better. I went back and wanted to get fitter and stronger, so I hit the gym a fair bit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just wanted to work on my craft a little bit so I\u2019m able to break those lines. I just wanted to come back a more enhanced player.\u201d<\/p>\n

And two years later, he had not only cemented himself in the state side but was also the only player from Tasmania invited to the national draft combine.<\/p>\n

\"ThomasThomas in action at the combine. Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cBit of a shock (to be only Tasmania player in combine), but mum also told me \u2018this is all the work you put in and it\u2019s paying off\u2019,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like for the last couple of years I\u2019ve been able to prove a few people wrong and it gets to where I am now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Avery says he models his game on tough Collingwood defender Brayden Maynard.<\/p>\n

He plans to watch next week\u2019s draft with close friends and family at his house.<\/p>\n

Avery doesn\u2019t care where he ends up, he just wants to get drafted.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m super, super nervous … just obviously get to draft night and hopefully get my name called out,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe plan is to just watch at my house with a couple of my best mates and just family. Hopefully it all goes my way.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe dream of playing AFL football in front of a crowd of 90,000 … it\u2019s a bit of a pinch me moment, I\u2019d be stoked and probably speechless to be honest.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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10 min read<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AFL young gun Avery Thomas has emerged from a tough couple of years to be Tasmania\u2019s No.1 draft…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":281399,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,30306,64,63,55,639,588,85],"class_list":["post-281398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-afl-draft","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sport","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}