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Suns academy star reveals he nearly moved interstate

ALEX Davies is the Suns’ gun academy graduate who was nearly lost to an interstate rival.

The tall midfielder has dropped a bombshell in the wake of his official move on to the Suns’ primary list, revealing he contemplated leaving the academy to move interstate for football. “For my footy development I had to move,” Davies said of his decision to leave his family home in Cairns at the age of 16.

“There were always options of going to Victoria and I was looking at every option.

“I had a look at maybe going down south.”

The fork-in-the-road moment occurred just after

Davies, already in the Suns academy, decided to pursue Australian rules more heavily after also being one of the biggest prospects for Cairns Taipans NBL club, which also had him in its academy.

Davies had two options, move to the Gold Coast and finish his schooling at All Saints while spending more time with the academy coaches at the Suns and getting exposure to senior football at QAFL club Broadbeach, or go to Victoria and link with football clubs in the south.

The latter would have meant he would be no longer eligible for the Suns to pre-list via its academy concessions, opening the door for rivals to poach the player who, along with Jack Bowes and Bailey

Scott, has been among the best to come through Gold Coast’s academy system.

Davies, 18, was rated as a player who could have gone in the first round of the 2020 draft if he had not been linked to the Suns.

He chose the former, with the 191cm player revealing the success of fellow Cairns junior Bowes, who was drafted with pick 10 in 2016 and has so far played 59 AFL games, convinced him to steer away from the lure of Victoria and stick with the Suns.

“It was the right decision,” Davies said in reflection.

“Having security with the Suns, being in that program and being exposed to players and staff and coaches here has been great.”