MELBOURNE, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Former college basketballer Jason Holmes will become the first born-and-bred American to play top-flight Australian Rules when he takes the field for Melbourne team St Kilda on Saturday.
The 2.03m (6ft-8in) Chicago native and brother of Andre Holmes, a wide receiver for NFL team Oakland Raiders, will make his Australian Football League (AFL) debut against Geelong two years after being signed as an international rookie by the Saints.
Holmes, 25, played college basketball for Mississippi State before heading Down Under where he has reinvented himself as a ruckman in Australia's high-contact indigenous sport.