Former Marist College basketballer Shae McNamara has been with the Magpies for more than a week, training alongside an Irish player.

He caught the Magpies’ eye after sending this video of him kicking and handpassing an American football on a gridiron.

Standing 202cm tall, McNamara played this year with a professional German basketball team and the Magpies see him a potential ruckman.

Collingwood football boss Geoff Walsh confirmed this morning that the Magpies had flown McNamara out for a trial, but he was still quite green.

“We’re conducting a few physical tests, getting him to handle our footy, seeing how all that goes. He’s not setting the world on fire, but he’s going OK,” Walsh said on radio station SEN.

The Magpies’ interest was piqued when McNamara contacted several AFL clubs with an audition tape.

Click here to see his workout video.

“He had some contact through Paul Roos at the Swans and through that ignited his interest in AFL footy. He sent a resume with some video attached to all or most clubs. He got some replies - we were one - and we spoke to him and did a little bit of digging in terms of his athletic background.

“In the end, we thought, we’ve been in the international recruiting (game) through the Irish players for a while. This boy looked good in terms of his athletic profile, so we thought we’d bring him out.”
McNamara is 24, but Walsh said age was not such a factor with ruckmen.

“If this guy measures up to all the parameters of our game – and at 202cm he’d play in the ruck – well, then age is not such a barrier,” he said,