There is always a draft bolter. Just not quite like Sullivan Robey.

This is the kid who was once too small, too slight and too slow. You wouldn’t know it to see him now, having grown 17 centimetres in the past two years and transformed from barely 60 kilograms dripping wet to a hulking teenager who bullies his midfield rivals.

Sullivan Robey has gone from unwanted to a potential top-five pick in next week’s AFL draft. Credit: Eddie Jim

It is the body built in a home gym that united the Robey clan after his mother Brooke’s devastating bowel cancer diagnosis last year. Doctors gave her the all-clear just before Christmas in a timely dose of good news.

None of Robey’s football rejections compared to seeing his mum endure cancer.

“It was tough for all of us, and it was definitely hard

See Full Page