dam,,, he was a good playa

Watched him play about this time last year at the Aus School Champs. Faced off against Lake G (Dante Exum and co.) in the Gold Medal game and scored 30 odd points in a winning performance. Stocky point guard. Really liked his game.

what a disgraceful turn of phrase from AFL.com.au website "Rather than being a typical beanpole basketballer", how derogatory. It is not appropriate for a professional sport to be promoting a culture in which discrimination and stupid comments are acceptable. many tall people would attest that being made fun of because of their appearance by alf wankers was not a pleasant experience.

if the AFL ever wants to be taken seriously internationally it might be wise to leave its 70s chauvinism/sexism/racism/ etc at the door...and stop poaching ballers.

Anon you're crazy, the average AFL player earns in 3 years what an NBL player earns in his 12 year career, smart move by Luxford, good luck to him.

Lance, harden up.

lets just hope he makes it in AFL and doesn't end up like ben richmond and be delisted after 2 years and stuck in no mans land.

yes your right Melbourne Boy it's my fault, I should just accept that being a loudmouth tosser and getting away with it is apart of 'your' sporting culture. How dare I or anyone draw attention to comments that made by the AFL that they deem inappropriate and unacceptable from a pro sport.

If you're offended by the word beanpole you've gone too far up your mountain of moral high-ground Lance

Would never have made good coin with basketball, but definitely not slow! just can't shoot too well.

I only saw him play at the U17 WCs but these seems like a smart move.

At sub 6-foot you have to be brilliant to make it in basketball, and there are so few spots in this country, whereas there have been plenty of mid-range athletes make a pro or decent semi-pro career in Aussie rules.

it's called being tolerant and respectful you should try it some time.

Lance, everyone has the right to be offended, that doesnt mean the person who said the thing that offended them is wrong or should be silenced.

Anon, you sound like your talking about Dante Exum. Luxford would never play in the NBA or on a 'high level' Euro team. Considering how he has performed at juniors he would of most likely been a fringe to mid level NBL player. So taking a shot at AFL makes more financial sense than the basketball pathways for him.

If a player was never going to represent Australia in basketball let them go. It appears the poaching of basketball players to AFL accounts for about 10% of all 'basketball' stories in the mainstream media anyway.

It has been said that football is only an Australian sport which is true but if he only has 3 or 4 years or an AFL list he can still go and make pretty good money playing in country leagues. It's not un-common these days to see players making 20, 30 even up to 50 grand a year playing country footy and still having full time work because they only train 3 times a week. I don't see him making that type of money in SEABL or Big V if that's his ceiling.

Ryan Bathie is a perfect example, he was a fringe NBL player who'd earn $50k max as a professional athlete and if he played oversees it would be for no more money than to pay for his extended holiday.

Yes Geelong delisted him so he missed his chance of earning $300k in the AFL, but now he can start a career in the real world whilst still earning $20-30k on top of that to play football at a lower level where he trains twice a week and has fun.

Really, outside of the elite Aussie players, so we'll say we ranked them 40-600, basketballers earn peanuts compared to AFL players ranked 40-2000.

Paul, I'm not trying to silence anyone, i'm happy for anyone to have and respectfully express their opinions, but I was drawing attention to the AFL.com.au use of the word 'Beanpole' to denigrate someone who is tall. Granted, it is not the most offensive word imaginable, but it is still unnecessary and insulting.
And before various anons wish to suggest this is some PC issue, if they had witnessed as I did, various 'footy' types bullying a friend because they were different, (tall and thin) to the point where my friend changed the way they would walk and carry themselves to appear shorter and hunched over you may be more aware of the subtle insults that creep in and become acceptable until someone rebukes them.

If the boy nominated for the AFL draft, I would suggest he was not actually poached...

Scott Pendlebury? Brett Meredith? Jack Watts? All guards

Lance, you think it's "unnecessary and insulting" and that's your right, but not everyone agrees with you and the AFL is well within their right to use that dscription.

He was good enough for Nbl teams, he could of
Played Nbl at the click of his fingers,

yawn

Luxford was a little small and slow for the next step. Bet his 'creator' Trevor Brunette would not be too happy that he left basketball.

God knows his got a eye for talent. I know it first hand that a current AIS player went down to the Werribee u18 & Youth League tryouts and was told by Trevor that he was not good enough. This was just 12 months ago. The player went back to his VYC club and averge 20 pts a game.

Nice work Trevor