How hard was the decision? Because as a young guy, you've got a lot of things to weigh up.

a little bit I guess I was just kind of trying to play as good as footy as I could early in the season and I thought the contract stuff would just kind of sort itself out so yeah my main focus at the start of the year was just to play consistent and some good footy and then I knew my manager would do a lot of work behind the scenes so I'm a Gold Coast boy and I love it here so I'm really excited to be here

Does that play into your decision as well?

Yeah, definitely.

Well, I've never really experienced that, so I wouldn't really know firsthand until I've probably experienced it.

But I don't know, not really.

Like I've played here on the Gold Coast my whole life and I like it here.

It's a bit more, you're kind of out of the fishbowl, which I kind of enjoy up here.

We know it's never as bad as what, especially the Melbourne media paints it out to be, but what's the vibe like in the building at the moment?

yeah, there's, yeah.

Um, there's always going to be that external noise that we've had at the moment, especially after not the best patch of, um, games, but, um, within the four walls, like it's been good.

Like we're a really connected bunch of lads.

Um, So, yeah, we don't really read into it.

And we're lucky up on the Gold Coast.

We don't really get too much of the Melbourne media slamming us unless you go looking for it sometimes.

What was that whole thing like?

Y- it's only, you're only young, obviously, but was there a moment where you thought, "Yep, I can play"?

Uh, not...

I wouldn't say there's a specific moment.

Um, obviously, um, when you're first coming to the AFL, all you wanna do is play footy, so I kind of was focused on trying to get into the senior team as quick as I can.

And obviously, there's obviously good players in front of you at the time, so you're just trying to get in the team and respect your teammates.

And then once you're in, trying to play as consistent footy as you can, and then, um, I guess, um, enjoy your footy as well.

What is it about that school and, and why so many terrific sportspeople across so many different sports are produced out of that place?

place?Oh, oh, PVC's a great school.

In, in this next three-year phase of your development, um, what, what do you need to work on most to take your footy from where it is now to a level that you'd like to get it to?

Um, yeah.

Uh, well, I definitely wanna try to build on my, my tank and my...

I, I mean, you can always get better, so I wanna be bigger, I wanna be fitter, I wanna be stronger.

So, um, I think all those three things, and I'm definitely...

I've started to, um, see how good I can be at the level and, um, I've found, found a lot of confidence, and I know that I belong at that level now.

So now it's just kind of to build on top of that, and I'm sure I will with age as well.

What is it about that school and, and why so many terrific sportspeople across so many different sports are produced out of that place?