At Carlton : 2016 - 2017
Debut : NA
Carlton Player No. NA
Games : Nil
Goals : Nil
Guernsey No. 48
Height : 208 cm (6 ft. 10 in.)
Weight : 105 kg ( 16 stone, 7.5 lbs.)
DOB :12 October 1991
Carlton recruited former US basketballer Matthew Korchek as a Category B International Rookie in 2015. Almost certainly the biggest and heaviest man ever signed by the Blues, Korcheck is an imposing 208 cm (or 6 feet, 10 inches) tall, and weighs in at 105 kg.
While playing in the NBA with the Arizona Wildcats, Korcheck was invited to an AFL assessment camp in Florida in April, 2015. At that time he had seen only a few brief minutes of the Australian game on television, but was interested enough to attend. The big man’s agility amazed Carlton’s contingent (including ruck coach Mathew Capuano) so he was offered a contract, and signed very quickly. After a brief visit to Melbourne in July, Matthew returned home to arrange a more permanent relocation. He was back at Princes Park to start pre-season training in November, and his progress will be keenly watched.
Asked about his first impressions of his adopted game, Korcheck answered, “Tackling. As a basketball player, you always get called for the little tick-tack fouls, you barely touch someone and they blow the whistle. You get really angry and you want to hit somebody, and this is a sport I can actually hit somebody, so it’s really exciting. I love the physicality of the sport, the conditioning and just how hard the players have to push themselves,” he said.