GOLD Coast has invited former Townsville Crocodiles player Tom Howard to trial with the club after the basketball franchise folded due to financial pressures.

Howard, 21, suited up in three NBL games for the Crocs before the team ran in to trouble earlier this season, with the 200cm big man catching the attention of AFL Queensland scouts.

Port Adelaide premiership ruckman Dean Brogan and Adelaide star Josh Jenkins are prime examples of NBL players successfully making the switch to footy. 

The Suns could sign Howard as a category B rookie, the same mechanism that saw them poach Karmichael Hunt from the NRL.

"We found him (Howard) through the AFLQ talent pathway," Suns football manager Marcus Ashcroft told The Courier Mail. 

"We’ve got guys up there attached to our academy who work closely with the AFLQ and they test a lot of these types of athletes from other sports.

"It's how we found Charlie Dixon and Zac Smith, who both came from other sports.

"He's big, he's a good athlete and he's got good co-ordination and he is a competitor. The tools are there, so we've invited him down for a few weeks to see how he goes. 

According to the newspaper, the Suns also plan to submit a proposal to the AFL for funding assistance for category B rookies to lessen the financial risks to clubs who want to take a chance on talented athletes from other sports.

AFL clubs can sign athletes from other codes or former players who have not been involved at any level for four years as category B rookies, which means their wage does not count towards the salary cap.