Thursday, 20 December 2018:
 | | Australian Olympic swimmer KYLE CHALMERS poses during a portrait session in Adelaide, Australia. | |
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Three years after convincing Kyle Chalmers to keep swimming, Jacco Verhaeren says he won't be tempted to do it again after the Olympic champion's decision to pursue AFL after the 2020 Tokyo Games.
But the Australian swimming head coach hopes success in the Tokyo Olympic pool will help change Chalmers' mind.
"I am not concerned over the next two years that it (AFL switch) will be a distraction for him," Verhaeren told AAP.
"He is too focused an athlete to allow that. But hopefully after another successful Games he can make up his mind.
"Hopefully for swimming he will stay in the sport."
Chalmers, 20, dropped the bombshell that he would switch to AFL after the Tokyo Games where he will defend his 100m freestyle title.
However, Verhaeren was not that surprised after already successfully thwarting an AFL move in 2015.
Back then Chalmers came close to following the footsteps of his father Brett, who played 75 AFL games for Port Adelaide and Adelaide.
After Chalmers injured his wrist and ankle playing schoolboy AFL, Verhaeren helped convince the young gun to solely focus on the pool and have a crack at his first senior team at the 2015 world titles.
Chalmers not only made the team, he collected 4x100m medley relay silver and didn't look back.
History shows the next year he became Australia's first 100m freestyle Olympic champion in 38 years - all by the age of 18.
But Verhaeren said this time he would not be trying to talk Chalmers out of an AFL switch.
"No. I know he is very passionate about the game," he said.
"Years ago we spoke about a focus change to swimming from AFL because at the time he was playing a bit.
"That brought great success and he is where he is now.
"But if he wants to try something else there is no reason why he shouldn't want to go and achieve his goals."
Asked if he thought Chalmers could make the AFL transition, Verhaeren was supportive but admitted he wasn't sure if it was even possible.
"Of course it is quite a transition from an aquatic environment to going to a contact sport but who knows?," the Dutch master coach said.
"But I would need to be more of an AFL expert to understand if it is actually possible."
Chalmers has openly admitted that he doesn't really follow swimming and told reporters he was still not convinced he had made the right career choice even after being crowned Rio champion.
"The most important thing right now is that he is focused on being successful in the pool this year and the next," Verhaeren said.
"What happens after that is up for him to decide. He has plenty of time to think about it."
