By Jason Phelan

Like many of his young teammates before him, Maverick Weller's introduction to AFL football wasn't an easy one, but the highly-rated Gold Coast SUNS onballer is delighted to have finally taken the first step in what promises to be a long career.

Weller's raw talent at under-16 level saw him earmarked as a GC SUNS concession signing at an early stage, but even when he eventually joined the club as a 17-year-old the AFL debut he craved was still a long way off.

The former Burnie Docker worked tirelessly to transform his body shape while impressing on the field during Gold Coast SUNS apprenticeship in the VFL.

He learned to cope with some physical adversity along the way with a depressed cheekbone fracture against Geelong an unwanted lesson in the unforgiving nature of the game.

But the day Weller had dreamed about for most of his life finally arrived when he received a call-up to the GC SUNS team to face the Western Bulldogs in round two.

He couldn't have been better prepared for his big day, but even so, he admits those first frantic minutes came as a shock to the system.

"I fumbled my second handball and it went straight over my head for a goal. I just thought 'Well that doesn't normally happen'," Weller recalls.

"It just shows how cut throat it is at this level.

"But Bocky [Nathan Bock], Brownie [Campbell Brown] and Gaz [Gary Ablett] got around me and told me to stay composed and I felt like I was slowly able to get myself into the game a bit better.

"I'm just trying to soak up as much information as I can and improve.

"I've got the first game under my belt now, but as soon as I woke up the next morning I was ready to go again. My body was screaming, but in my head I was already thinking that I wouldn't mind doing that again."

Having worked so hard as the GC SUNS prepared for their elevation to the big time, Weller admits it was difficult when he learned that he wasn't going to be part of the club's history-making team that played Carlton in GC SUNS first AFL game for premiership points.

Niggling injuries picked up during the pre-season campaign and Guy McKenna's desire to see him work on a few areas of his game combined to keep the 19-year-old out of that first side.

"It was definitely hard to watch the game, but I always try to take good things out of bad situations," he says.

"Things happen for a reason, but you learn from it and get on with it.

"I'll just keep trying to take steps forward. Even if you've got to take a couple sideways every now and then, the goal is always to keep getting better."

It's the same philosophy McKenna is applying to the AFL's newest team that was soundly beaten in its first two outings.

The scoreboard hasn't been flattering and the GC SUNS first steps have been tentative, but Weller says the process and not the end result must be the primary focus for now.

"Winning is really important and we're obviously out there to win as many games as we can, but we're all about improving first and the wins will follow," he says.

"There are a lot of different things that determine if a team is playing well or not. We're not dissimilar to any other club in that we break down every game into various key areas that we concentrate on.

"The stats say that we're not far off, but it's just getting the chain of events right throughout the course of a game that's important for us.

"That is breaking down for us at times at the moment, but a lot of our players have only played two games together now so we're only going to get better.

"It's going to take time, but the beauty of having a younger group is that everyone has so much improvement in them."

Despite his age, Weller's high standing amongst his teammates saw him included in the club's leadership group in January.

He admits to being a little daunted by rubbing shoulders with Gary Ablett, Nathan Bock and Campbell Brown, but is also thrilled to be right in the thick of the action as Gold Coast SUNS inaugural AFL season unfolds.

"It's quite challenging being the youngest in the group, but at the same time I'm just trying to learn as much as I can off some of the great leaders that we have at our club," he says.

"I really enjoy it and I love the club so I enjoy having a say in trying to steer the club in the right direction along with all the other guys.

"We're all trying to move that process of improvement forward as fast as we can, but we'll enjoy it along the way as well."