Pint-sized Sumner rides the bumps

SOUTH Australian draft hopeful Byron Sumner likes the rough stuff and he's got the battle scars to prove it.

Sumner, 18, started the season with Woodville-West Torrens in the SANFL's revamped underage competition but climbed up the ranks after representing his state at the NAB AFL Under-18 Championships in June.

He broke into the Eagles' reserves side in round 14, was promoted to the seniors two weeks later and took less than a quarter to adapt to the bigger bodies and pace of league football: holding his spot for another week.

Sumner started brightly in the round 17 clash with North Adelaide, but by half time looked as though he'd gone five rounds in the ring with Mike Tyson.

"I copped a knock to the head, but I kept playing on until I noticed blood dripping down my shoulder," he told afl.com.au.

"I thought it was my neck but there was nothing there, so I felt my ear and there was a big split in it.

"I didn't even realise what had happened."

Sumner required five stitches but returned for the second half.

At 172cm and 68kg, he was one of the smallest players invited to the NAB AFL Draft Camp in Canberra last month though his size hasn't discouraged his hard-nosed approach.

Sumner and another prospect, Derick Wanganeen, won plenty of admirers for their poise and flair during the championships.

However, SA talent manager Brenton Phillips said he'd been more impressed by the pair's defensive efforts.

"Both Byron and Derick are extremely good at getting in and under and winning the contested ball," Phillips said.

"In the final quarter of our last game against Vic Metro at Etihad Stadium, those two lads really stepped up in terms of their work rate and ability to get at the opposition. They laid strong tackles and didn't allow the ball to jar out of contests.

"For two small-framed footballers that work rate was first-class."

Sumner said it was no coincidence he and Wanganeen had turned it on at the same time.

"Derick and I are really close," he said. "We do work together in games sometimes and before that game [against Vic Metro] we actually spoke about it.

"When we first met at the state academy in December last year we looked at each other and saw that we were the only two indigenous lads there.

"We decided that we'd push each other through right until the end and we did that throughout the whole state series."

Sumner, cousin of Port Adelaide premiership players Shaun and Peter Burgoyne, has been tipped to go as early as the second round of the draft on November 26.

The lifelong West Coast fan has already been interviewed by the Eagles, Collingwood, North Melbourne, Fremantle and the Sydney Swans but is doing everything possible to keep his mind off the big day.

"I hope I get drafted but I'm not in control of that," he said. "If it happens, it happens and I'll be pretty excited.

"At the start of the year I set myself some goals, like to play state football and make my SANFL debut, and I didn't hold back.

"I just wanted to achieve those goals and I did, so I have to be happy with that."

Log on to afl.com.au on D-day, Thursday, November 26, for the most comprehensive coverage of the 2009 NAB AFL Draft. We’ll have live chats, live audio streams, in-depth player profiles, club reaction and our famous afl.com.au Draft Tracker.