Mykelti Lefau has represented New Zealand in the previous two ANZAC campaigns in Wellington and after being included in the NZ wider squad on Monday, Lefau has a goal of running out on the MCG in the International Cup Grand Final in August 2020.
After relocating to Australia in his early teenage years, Auckland born Lefau picked up the game of AFL while playing with friends at school before joining the Pakenham Football Club in Melbourne’s East.
The 20 year old, only took up AFL four years ago and is a star in the making with his ferocious attack on the footy along with his solid defence.
Lefau joined the Casey Demons in 2017, where he made three VFL appearances in his first season with the Demons last year and has followed that up with a trio of games in 2018 as a 195cm, 96kg key-position player – including an eight-tackle, 11-hitout performance in Casey’s 77-point defeat of Coburg in Round 12.
Early on, Lefau juggled the physicality of AFL with time spent in the development program of National Rugby League club Melbourne Storm for a few years, before deciding to focus on the former.
At the 2017 AFLNZ National Combine in Wellington he impressed several AFL scouts as the standout athlete.
The top 40 athletes who have been involved with the AFL New Zealand High Performance programme were invited to attend.
18 years old at the time, he recorded the best results in three out of the five tests and finishing second and third in the remaining two. With a Running vertical leap of 100cm, Mykelti just sits behind AFL record holder Nic Naitanui (102cm) and is now the New Zealand record holder.
Read more: New Zealand wider squad announced in two year plan
