Marcus Krasnadamskis’ body language foreshadows the basketballer-turned-footballer’s emotions towards his two standout sports.
The mention of footy widens the teenager’s eyes, brightens his face and inflects his voice with excitement.
The energetic spark Krasnadamskis brings to footy which has captured AFL recruiters’ attention is patent on his face when discussing the sport.
“I love the culture and physicality of footy compared to basketball,” Krasnadamskis said.
“I really like to get in there where basketball is non-contact and the culture is so different.”
The draw of footy’s combativeness makes sense given Krasnadamskis was this year nominated for the Big V’s Youth Championship Men Defensive player of the year despite playing just 13 of 22 regular season games, leading the competition in steals per game (3.69) and also averaging 10 points and five rebounds playing for Knox.
The basketball resume is headlined by representation at the U20 Australian National Championships, Victoria’s Under-18s at Shanghai in 2024, and a gold medal at the Australian School Championships for Berwick College last year.
Krasnadamskis, who has a crazy highlights reel to drool over, trained five times per week for the sport and lined up alongside emerging stars Luke Fennell and Austin Rapp.
His trajectory had him potentially on course to pursue college basketball in America.
By contrast, the only representative footy he’d played were a pair of U16s games for Eastern Ranges.
Yet the Carlton fan grew up dreaming of representing the Blues; a stark juxtaposition from his jaded apathy towards taking basketball further.
His self-description of his basketball is a fitting metaphor.
“Angry on the court because I was never a big fan of offence; I preferred being annoying and getting into people’s heads,” he said.
Those within basketball strongly advised Krasnadamskis to choose between the sports earlier in the year and he held on for as long as possible, before his first two games for Eastern Ranges convinced him of his path.
Not until that period in early June did he tailor his training towards football, which had previously been the outlet from the grind of basketball.
“I really always knew which way the decision was going to go,” Krasnadamskis said.
“Footy has always been there, it was the first sport I played as a kid and it’s something I never really hated and I really missed the culture of it last year, it killed me that I wasn’t playing.
“I went through spurts with basketball where I didn’t really enjoy it anymore, before friends and school brought me back to it.”
After being Eastern Ranges-listed in 2024 but unable to play due to those basketball commitments, Krasnadamskis didn’t make the initial list in 2025, but was promptly added after dominating for Berwick’s Under-19s in the first two months of the season.
He has played the last 10 games for Eastern Ranges, averaging 14 hitouts and 11 disposals as a 202cm ruck/forward.
An invite to the State Combine held on 5 October highlights AFL clubs’ interest.
“He’s a handy ruck who’s mobile, great at ground level and is starting to come into his own,” Eastern Ranges coach Lauren Morecroft said.
“He has lots of upside in his body, is still growing and has competitiveness which you can’t teach.”
That competitiveness is what Krasnadamskis is keen to advertise, aware of the timid stigma that surrounds footballers transferring from basketball.
“I want to show that I’m not just this kid coming from basketball; I can play football too,” Krasnadamskis said.
“A big one for me is physicality, I want to bring a lot more of that because I am quite skinny but I’m not afraid to use my body.
“And I want to show I can pick the ball up off the ground because I’ve played a lot of midfield so I can be a ground-level presence.
“It’s been confronting this year but not in a bad way: it’s getting real.
“It’s starting to become more evident that I may have a chance of getting drafted and that’s a big thing for me.
“I can’t thank the boys enough for trusting me to come back again and allowing me to show my abilities and be the player I am.
“Going from not playing a game last year to everything opening up for me is unreal.”
Exposure to high performance basketball environments has kept Krasnadamskis grounded amid the footy hype but he’s aware that he’s positioned himself well in a short time frame.
“It would mean the world (to play AFL),” he said.
“It’s been a dream since Auskick so I wouldn’t waste the opportunity or doubt myself.
“I’d take it as it comes and be certain with everything I’m doing.”
