LACHIE Whitfield is hoping to follow up the "best moment of his footy life" with some more success when his Greater Western Sydney side takes on St Kilda at Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
The top pick in the 2012 NAB AFL Draft, Whitfield suffered through a tough rookie season, playing in a lone victory over Melbourne late in the season from his 19 appearances.
But it has been a totally different start to 2014, with Whitfield playing his part in GWS' shock round one victory over the Sydney Swans.
"It was unreal," the 19-year-old told AFL.com.au. "We went into the game knowing we'd had a pretty good pre-season and would at least give it a red hot crack.
"But to get the win against the Swans was the best footy moment of my life and it was the same for a lot of the boys, just to get some early reward after a long, hard pre-season.
"We were complete underdogs. No one really gave us a chance.
"It's been a long summer and to get some reward after that was a great moment for all of us."
The classy youngster impressed all and sundry with his precise kicking and toughness last year, comfortably living up the hype that comes with being a No.1 draft pick.
But internally, Whitfield admits he was having a tough time as the losses mounted up.
"It was quite tough," he said. "Getting hammered from week to week hadn't really happened before to me or a lot of the other boys.
"It was something I just got used to by the end of it, which isn't a great habit, and it was quite foreign.
"I think that's why the win over the Swans was so joyous, just because all of last year was such a grind and we went through a lot of low points throughout the year.
"So to start on a high was really good."
Whitfield enjoyed another strong pre-season heading into 2014 and is getting used to his new role pushing up from the wing and deeper into the forward line.
He is also looking forward to playing alongside GWS debutant and last year's No.2 draft pick Josh Kelly, who Whitfield described as "all class".
Following its performance in round one, GWS now finds itself favoured by many to create more history and win consecutive games for the first time when it faces Nick Riewoldt and the Saints.
But Whitfield isn't getting too far ahead of himself.
St Kilda showed some good signs of its own in its opening-round win over Melbourne and welcomes Lenny Hayes and Leigh Montagna back from suspension.
"They've got some absolute class players," Whitfield said.
"It's always going to be a tough game when you've got the likes of Montagna, Hayes and Riewoldt in the one team.
"We've just got to play our best footy and give it a crack against some mature bodies and really try to give them a run for their money.
"We haven't really spoken about (back-to-back wins), it's just about giving the energy and effort we brought last week against the Swans.
"We think if we emulate that, we're a good chance to put up a fight against the Saints."
