With three Joes and two Scotts in the team, adapting to a whole new code isn’t the only confusing thing for Joe Scott.
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Alongside teammates Josef Glamuzina, Joe-Ioane Toetu and Vaughn Scott, just trying to work out who is being called on has been enough of a headache for Tumut centre Joe Scott.
However the former East Wagga-Kooringal defender is finding his feet in Southern Inland circles.
He forced his way into the starting line-up last week and will wear number 12 against on Saturday for the clash with CSU at Beres Ellwood Oval on Saturday.
Scott admitted it has been a rough transition, but the 26-year-old thinks he’s finally getting the hang of a whole new style.
“The first few weeks was a real challenge as I turned up the Tuesday before round one and I’ve never played the game before,” Scott said.
“A few blokes have had to go out of their way to teach me a few rules and I sort of learnt the hard way the first few weeks and gave a few penalties away but it pushed me to fix it too.”
Rolling away after completing a tackle and referees playing advantage were two of the things Scott really struggled to comprehend at first.
Going low for a tackle has been another eye-opener.
“I was trying to grab them around the chest rather than grabbing them around the legs as I’m not used to that with AFL,” he said.
“I would be going to wrap the ball up but in this game you get big fronters who are 130 kilos, you might have one bloke in each AFL side who is over 100 kilos, but if you try and grab these fellas around the chest they are big and strong.”
With a change at work and an overseas holiday on the card, Scott didn’t believe he had the time to commit for another season in the Farrer League.
So instead he decided to show some schoolmates what the “aerial ping pong” player could do.
Coach Morgan Grivas has been impressed with how he’s adapted.
“He’s really strong with ball in hand and run hard to find holes in the line to help give us motivation to shine out wide,” Grivas said.
“He’s proven to be a pretty natural athlete and has performed well for us so far.”
Despite working his way into the Bulls line up, Scott doesn’t expect to be a rugby union convert for long with plans already in place to return to the Hawks next season.