It’s been a whirlwind fortnight for young Tasmanian Avery Thomas.
Since being selected by the SUNS with pick 28 in last month’s draft, the 18-year-old has found himself spinning like the iconic Looney Tunes character Taz with little time to process what’s happened in a landmark couple of weeks for the young defender.
Within a day, the 18-year-old Launceston local ditched the woolly socks for sunscreen to live out his AFL dreams in a gruelling pre-season on the Gold Coast.
“It all happened so quickly – I got drafted Thursday night and then I was on a flight up to the Gold Coast on Saturday,” Thomas said.
“It’s been good to be up here for a couple of weeks now and get used to the climate, which is well and truly different to Tassie.
“The heat especially hit me on Monday in our first big session.
“It’s definitely going to take a little bit of getting used to but I’m looking forward to it.”
Whilst the young defender is yet to come to terms with Queensland conditions, he has quickly found his feet, leaning on his adopted SUNS family.
One of six talents who were welcomed to the club following the draft, it hasn’t taken long for the Austworld Centre to feel homely.
“I’m living with Dimma to start off with which has been really good to build that connection early,” Thomas added.
“All the boys have been super welcoming, I’ve probably migrated toward Trac (Christian Petracca) and Bodhi (Uwland),”
Lauded as a versatile and athletic medium defender with the ability to take on both key and small forwards, Thomas has an array of options to learn from in a SUNS backline oozing with top-tier defenders.
There’s one particular member of the SUNS defensive brigade however who he’ll be eyeing to emulate.
“Drummo (Assistant Coach Josh Drummond) has said that Bodhi is a good guy to learn off because he plays similar to me, so it’s been really good training with him.
