Image courtesy of the Gold Coast Bulletin

Broadbeach youngster Joel Wilkinson has been signed by the Gold Coast SUNS.

Wilkinson, a one-time track & field sprinter of part-Nigerian heritage, has been claimed as a Queensland zone priority selection just two years after he turned his sporting focus to Australian football.

The 18-year-old from Elanora on the Gold Coast confirmed his selection with a standout performance at the recent AFL Draft Combine (formerly Draft Camp) after he’d trained with the Gold Coast club on a trial basis in July-August during the latter stages of their VFL campaign.

“This means absolutely everything to me,” said the 186cm defender/midfielder, who captained the Queensland U18 side this year before a collarbone injury in June ended his 2010 season.

“As soon as I started training with the (Gold Coast) I fell in love with the club and knew it was where I wanted to be. The boys, the coaching staff … everyone was just so supportive and it’s going to be an exciting place.”

“I’m just looking to train as hard as I can over the pre-season, learn as much as I can, and see what happens during the NAB Cup.”

Wilkinson is studying biomedical science studies at Griffith University with a view to becoming an orthopaedic surgeon.

He was one of the standout performers in a vigorous testing regime at the Draft Combine in Canberra late last month, breaking two sprint records.

He clocked 2.75 seconds to break a long-standing 20m sprint record set by Port Adelaide’s AFL Rising Star winner Danyle Pearce in 2004, and topped the field in the repeat sprint, in which each player was clocked six times over 30m in two minutes, with a 10-second recovery.