Maverick, i’s been a couple of weeks now since you signed with the club, how are you feeling about it all now and has it started to sink in? Well coming up here this week has been really good because it hasn’t really sunk in being in Tassie, whereas now that I am up here and training with the guys it has hit me and it is really exciting. There are a lot of unknowns still, like who I will be playing with, who will sign with the club, meeting the staff members, and then the new stadium but it is all really exciting. So how does everyone back home feel about your signing with GCFC, have you had much response?
Yeah, it was on the front and back page of the paper back home. Lots of people have come up to me saying ‘wow you must be so excited’. It all adds to the excitement but as I said before it all hasn’t completely sunk in just yet. Everything just builds up and then all of a sudden it’s just like wow I am moving to the Gold Coast. It is a big thing back home, as it’s a footy state so it’s big news for two young blokes to be drafted out of the same little town and make this big adventure up to the Gold Coast.
You and Luke Russell are friends aren’t you, it must be great to be making the move together?
Yes well I’ve known Rusty since we were about eight, we’ve played football together and we’re in the same class at school. We follow each other around a fair bit so it’s great.
How are you finding the GC weather compared to Tassie?
Yeah a lot hotter, I have done a lot of travelling through sport when I was younger. I played up in Darwin and learnt how to adjust there. Its’ going to be a hard pre-season but I know I will adjust into it. It is only 10 degrees back home, for 2 months we have had rain everyday.
You’ll have to learn to surf when you move up?
Yeah, I have been doing a bit of body surfing with the boys while I have been up here this week. Surfing is definitely on my list! I am into the water sports though like jet skiing and skiing so hopefully I will be able to pick surfing up, but I’m sure the boys will help me out.
So are you going to school when you move up to the Gold Coast?
I am in year 11 at home, so I need to finish off school. I am hoping to go to All Saints. It will be a pretty tough year but I hope to get a pretty good ticket whilst I’m there.
Who is your favourite AFL player?
Luke Hodge and Joel Selwood. I like how Luke Hodge goes about his footy, he is very courageous and gives anything for his team. I play more like Joel Selwood and model my game on him. What is your preferred playing position?
I am a mid-fielder. What are you most looking forward to about joining the GCFC and moving to the coast?
This week has been so good as I have had excellent staff around me. Like Andrew Weller, Guy McKenna and all the coaching team who have good footy brains, so I have been able to train hard and they have been able to monitor my body and tell me when to ease up. I don’t get that back home, I am in the gym with my headphones on doing my own thing. So this is exciting for me because I will be able to improve my game a fair bit with those sorts of people around me. And I guess then there’s the weather and the lifestyle too, it’s unreal on the Gold Coast. AFL is a dream for any kid and hopefully I will be able to play AFL footy with this club. What do you get up to when you’re not playing footy? Well in the winter it’s wet so not much, but I did a lot of athletics when I was younger in the off-season. I hangout with friends, jet ski, water ski. It is very relaxed in Tassie so you sort of just go and do whatever you want like go to the bush or on the beach and just relax.
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