It’s a tough name to get your head around at first, but Cam Ellis-Yolmen made sure it’s a name people will remember in the opening round of the NAB Cup at AAMI Stadium on Sunday.
Donning Adelaide’s colours for the first time, Ellis-Yolmen was a standout among the young Crows.
Affectionately known as ‘Curly’, the 20-year-old oozed class in defence. The 188cm, 89kg, utility showed athleticism belying his size, standing dangerous small forwards like Terry Milera and Brendon Ah Chee. He showed great closing speed and smooth movement with the ball, demonstrating it was more than just his hairstyle that resembled a young Andrew McLeod.
Entering his second season, Ellis-Yolmen said he was thrilled to make his Adelaide debut.
“It was awesome, just to get out there with the boys and get the Crows guernsey on, finally,” he said.
“I was happy to receive a chance to play in the NAB Cup. I’m just looking for my next game now. Hopefully, that’s this week against Fremantle.”
Coach Brenton Sanderson said he liked what he saw from the uncapped Crow.
“Cam showed he’s going to be a player for us in the future,” he said.
“He’s got that raw talent. He can make a few mistakes, but his raw ability is very good.”
Ellis-Yolmen’s impressive performance in the opening round of NAB Cup matches was just reward for his approach to the pre-season. In his first pre-season, the Woodville-West Torrens was stuck near the rear of the pack in endurance testing. This summer, he’s kept pace with the midfielders.
“It’s my second year and I really wanted to go out there and attack it harder than I did at the start,” he said.
“My fitness has been the biggest improvement. I’ve been doing the extra endurance sessions on Saturday mornings. I’ve improved heaps on last year, and that’s showed in my testing results and also out on the track.
“I’m just feeling so much better.”
The Crows snaffled Ellis-Yolmen with their last pick (No.64 overall) in the 2011 Draft.
At the time, South Australian Talent Manager Brenton Phillips said Ellis-Yolmen had the makings of a potential first-round selection but a knee injury in 2010, which required a full reconstruction, saw the exciting teenager miss a year of football and enter the draft as a bit of an unknown.
Adelaide’s recruiters decided to take a punt on Ellis-Yolmen, who had played as a key-position defender/forward and even a ruckman in his junior career, when they saw him run through the midfield for the Woodville-West Torrens Under-18s.
However, he’s returned to defence this pre-season and has enjoyed the change.
“I’ve found defence really good. All the play happens in front of me, which allows me to read the ball well. I’m happy to be back there,” he said.
“It’s tough playing on smaller guys like Milera and Ah Chee. They are really fast and slick players. You have to be aware where they are all the time or you’ll get burned.”
Ellis-Yolmen’s Crows debut followed his first taste of AFL football for the Indigenous All-Stars earlier this month. The skilful Crow, who is of Aboriginal and Papua New Guinean descent, relished the opportunity to play and learn from his childhood heroes including Sydney Swans star Adam Goodes, whom he models his game on.
“It was awesome playing alongside the Aboriginal boys I’ve looked up to all my life,” Ellis-Yolmen said.
“Being able to play next to them was a great experience. Goodesy is someone I idolised growing up. Just to talk to him and relate to him was amazing.”
