Brisbane Lions FC
Born: 1 September 1991
Height: 182cm
Weight: 78KG
Junior Club: Mudgeeraba
Senior Club: Labrador
Schools:
Regional Selection:
Queensland Selection:
Draft Details: Queensland Zone Priority Selection – 2010 Rookie Draft
AFL Debut: -
Jumper Number: 43
AT A GLANCE: A standout junior footballer who turned to cricket because he was told he was ‘too small for football’ only to reinvigorate his AFL dream when older brother Dayne was an immediate hit with Collingwood in his 2009 debut season. But that’s where the connection ended – he won a 2010 rookie spot at the Brisbane Lions all on his own merits on the back of just six senior games with Labrador in the QAFL State League.
A running half back flanker/wingman destined to end up in the midfield, he was born in Melbourne but was a Gold Coaster from age two and played football from the age of five at Mudgeeraba. He won the Gold Coast League U12 B&F Medal, played in a Queensland Primary Schools side alongside Collingwood draftee Josh Thomas and Gold Coast signing Jesse Haberfield, and was runner-up in the U14 League B&F Medal. He represented the Gold Coast Stingrays at U14 level and the South Coast U15s, played the first six games of his U16 season in 2007 only to give football away to concentrate on cricket. “Footy was always my dream and my passion – cricket was something I played in the off-season - but I was pretty small as a young kid and realistically I thought I had more chance of making it in cricket,” he explained. Playing cricket against men from the age of 12, he has played two years first-grade cricket with Mudgeeraba/Nerang in the Gold Coast competition as a wicket-keeper/batsman, and in the 2008-09 summer was chosen in the Open age Gold Coast representative team.
But it all changed in May 2009. “Watching Dayne play at Collingwood reignited the footy spark and I decided to have a crack at it,” he said. “I figured you only get one chance and I’d forever wonder if I didn’t at least try my hand at footy.” He joined Labrador via a family connection, and after a three-week training block played his first game in Round 9 of the QAFL Reserves. After four reserves games he was elevated to the seniors and has played Rounds 12-13-14-15-16-17. He started at half back, played a little on the wing, and had an occasional run in midfield. With the Labrador seniors out of finals contention, he dropped back to the reserves in Round 18 so that he’d be eligible to play in the reserves finals and able to further his ‘exposure’ to AFL recruiting scouts. He did enough to earn an invitation to the AFL State Screening session in Melbourne in October, and although disappointed to miss out in the National Draft he kept training privately every day and was overjoyed when the Lions offered him a Queensland zone priority rookie list spot.
