THIS time of the year feels a little different to how it usually would for Matt Allen.
Last summer, the South Australian all-rounder was a development rookie with Big Bash League club Adelaide Strikers.
He has always been a talented cricketer: a medium-pace bowler and quick-scoring top-order batsman.
But after stress fractures in his lower back stopped him from bowling last year, and his confidence grew more on the football field, Allen's priorities changed.
He pulled out of the South Australian cricket under-17 team this summer to focus on his footy, and although he's still opening the batting for school St Peter's College, he has noticed the opportunities more time has presented.
"I'm not as busy as I have been in the past few years, and it's allowed me to spend more time with various football teams and pre-season training," Allen said.
"It's freed up more time with my footy. It's a new thing, a new feeling, but I'm enjoying it."
Allen is like hundreds of players across Australia who will spend 2015 trying to show they are good enough to be drafted by an AFL club.
Last weekend the 193cm forward took part in the under-18 South Australian football squad's camp, and did well in the running tests.
Where Allen is different is that he is still weighing up whether football is the sport he pursues.
"My passion at the moment is probably with football," he said. "But I still love cricket."
The shift towards football came last year, when the onset of the back injuries restricted his ability to have an impact in cricket.
He was told he could bat but not bowl, and at that point wondered whether that sport was for him.
"Being an all-rounder, it takes away 50 per cent of your game," he said.
"That made me think about footy a little more seriously."
Allen grew up in Mt Gambier, and moved to Adelaide as a boarder in year 10 last year.
It was then when he first realised the challenges of playing two sports and liking each equally – he was asked to train with the state under-16s football squad, but couldn't play in the championships because it clashed with a school cricket tour.
In moving towards next year's NAB AFL Draft, the 17-year-old Glenelg prospect knows there are no guarantees.
He is keeping his options and mind open, but is glad he made the decision to spend more time focusing on his footy.
"It was probably last year when I thought that if I wanted to give footy a shot, it was all starting to happen and I had to work as hard as I can.
"In some ways, I thought the dream was all starting to become more real," he said.
"There's so much work to still be done but it's an exciting start, I suppose."
