From being self-described as ‘so far off the mark’ following his first session, to an AFL debut on Sunday, it’s been a whirlwind ride for Caleb Lewis.

After becoming SUN #162 in Sunday’s defeat against the Western Bulldogs, he is this week’s SIXT Player to Watch.

Four hundred and nineteen days had passed between Lewis’ selection in the 2025 Mid-Season Rookie Draft, when he was remarkably plucked out of the Southern Football Netball League, and the opportunity to run out in front of almost 15,000 fans at People First Stadium on Sunday.

The 22-year-old has ridden the highs and lows of injury rehabilitation and played in just about every position possible in a SUNS journey that began in unique fashion.

“To be honest, it all came along pretty randomly. I was working in the warehouse one day and I got a phone call from a random number,” Lewis told SUNS Media.

“It was [SUNS List & Recruiting Manager] Kall Burns and I almost thought he was playing a prank on me. I spoke to him a few times over a few weeks. He eventually told me the SUNS were pretty keen on me and it all spiralled from there.”

So keen were the SUNS that Lewis found himself on the Gold Coast on draft night.

“I was at Alex Davies’ house. It was pretty cool. I’d met a few of the boys that night that I’d seen running around on TV, and then the next day I’m in at the club,” he continued.

“That first meeting, it’s pretty overwhelming.

“I reckon that first day leaving the club was when the penny dropped on the level of football here. I remember my first training session. I walked away from it going, ‘I’m so far off the mark’ – I didn’t think I was cut out for it all.”

A VFL suspension late in the 2025 season, followed by an injury which kept him sidelined for much of the 2026 pre-season, didn’t do Lewis’ pursuit of an AFL debut any favours.

“I slipped a disc in the off-season, and I think I only completed under 10% of pre-season. That was a really big struggle, both physically and mentally,” Lewis continued.

“More so the mental side. Coming into a new year, new faces, new people. You want to connect on a social level, but you also want to go out and train with them, and you want to build something together.

“Getting straight back into it and playing half of that Brisbane practice match, it all kind of worked itself out, which was really, really rewarding at the start of the season.”

Despite being drafted as a forward, Lewis quickly found himself 100 metres away, deployed as a key defender as SUNS coaches looked to make the most of his strong aerial ability as a weapon down back.

It presented a new challenge for Lewis, who had kicked 66 goals in just 19 games for local club Dingley 18 months earlier.

It’s a change he credits with helping spark a strong return to the forward line in recent weeks, having kicked eight goals across his last two VFL outings before Sunday’s AFL debut.

“I think any forward will tell you they like kicking goals more than punching a ball. But I think it’s definitely helped my football journey, and then my move back forward over the last few weeks.

“Playing as a defender has definitely helped my ability to understand the play a bit more, understand what defenders don’t really like, because some forwards did that to me when I was playing down back.

“At the start I was a bit hesitant to embrace it. I feel like once I embraced it, it strengthened my game a lot more at both ends.”

While putting his best foot forward on the Gold Coast, Lewis still keeps a keen eye on how the mighty Dingley Dingoes are faring back home.

“I've got family there, I've got my close mates there. My whole family basically lives in Dingley as well, so it's all one tight-knit community.

“Every chance I get to go back, I get back.

“They're sitting pretty on top of the ladder at the moment. They're two wins clear, but that was the same story last year, so hopefully they won’t get knocked off in the granny for the third time.”

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