American Aussie Rules hopeful Drew Martin has the potential to become the next version of Nic Naitanui.
That's the view of the AFL's national and international talent manager Kevin Sheehan, who claims Martin possesses similar traits to the acrobatic West Coast ruckman.
Martin, standing at 201cm and 92kg, was one of 18 Americans who participated in Los Angeles' U.S combine in early May. It's fair to say he left an impression on those who watched on.
"He is super-elite quick," Sheehan told ESPN. "He did a 2.85 in a 20m sprint which is very rare. He's Nic Naitanui quick.
"He then ran third in the 3km time trial, so he's a real athlete.
"He may well turn out to have the potential [like Naitanui] to change direction, accelerate and break the game open."
While naturally gifted in a physical sense, it wasn't his athletic prowess which initially caught the eye. Instead it was his unrivalled commitment to make the tryouts.
"He had just graduated college with a finance degree on Saturday, [and] the same day the combine started," Sheehan said.
"So he then jumped on a flight from Oregon to Los Angeles that night, and the next morning he's trying out for a sport he had never heard of a month ago and certainly never played."
The AFL will invite four participants back to Australia later in the year, giving them an opportunity to impress club selectors and possibly follow in the footsteps of countrymen Mason Cox (Collingwood), Jason Holmes (St Kilda) and Matt Korcheck (Carlton), who have fought their way onto AFL lists.
Sheehan says the prospect of having Martin further demonstrating his ability was exciting.
"We were absolutely delighted with the standard of athlete," Sheehan said. "We are super excited about Drew. There's a real potential for him to convert to our game and be successful at it."