The shy 18-year-old, who joined the clubvia last year's draft, believes the best part of becoming a Bulldog has beenthe way his teammates have coaxed out of hiding a new side to his personality.

"All the boys down here are reallyfriendly. I'm a pretty quiet guy, but they get a bit out of me, which isgood," Everitt told westernbulldogs.com.au.

"We had a bad loss on the weekend, buteveryone is still happy enough and we just keep looking forward to the weekend."

Having found more of a voice at the club,Everitt is also looking for ways to cope with the pace of the game at the highestlevel. However, he feels he is advancing, after just a trio of seniorappearances.

"It's been okay, and I'm still tryingto find my feet a little bit with the game and how fast it is," he said.

"I feel like I'm getting there slowly.I just go out there and try and do my bit for the team, and that's all you'vegot to try and do.

"The boys have been really welcominginto the team, which is really good, and they've helped me along and got myconfidence up early in the games, which is good."

It was just over a year ago that Everittalmost lost his desire to play the game after enduring some personality clashesat the Dandenong Stingrays where he was playing under 18s.

But his selection for the Vic Metro sidechanged all that, and his passion for the sport was suddenly reignited. 

"Myattitude towards football has changed the most in the past 12 months," hesaid.

"Last year, I didn't play too well atthe start of the year and I wasn't going that good and I was having secondthoughts about it.

"Then I came to Vic Metro and I got alittle bit more confidence up. Being drafted also gave me a little bit moreconfidence, knowing that I can play football. It's been good like that."

There was understandably hype surroundingEveritt's drafting last season, owing to the fact his older brother is noneother than experienced ruckman Peter, aka “Spida” Everitt.

It was a hype that didn't worry the youngersibling. Now that he has broken into his own senior side and is forging acareer in his own right, Everitt just hopes people will look at him as Andrejs,and not "Peter's little brother".

"You just sort of don't worry aboutit. You are your own person, and I know that I'm mainly recognised as Peter'sbrother, but eventually I just want to be known as my own player," hesaid.

"We're different players anyway. He'sbigger and a ruckman, and I'm the running defender.

"He hasn't really given me advice,because we're two different people, but he's just told me to go out there andenjoy it and have a bit of fun and don't go chasing kicks, and it will all workout."

The 15-year age difference between thebrothers has meant Andrejs has grown up watching Peter play AFL. It has alsomeant high expectations were placed on him from a young age.

"I don't think the expectations havebeen that big on me in the AFL; it was more in my younger days, in under 15sand 16s," he said.

"I always got recognised, and if Iwasn't playing good, then people would get up me and say, "You're meant tobe good because you're Peter's brother".

"But it'snot too bad in the AFL."

But, the fact he has been able to watchPeter play since he was three years old has been a positive experience forEveritt, as he has always known just what to expect from an AFL career.

"It was probably a good thing to beable to watch him and get an understanding of the game really early," hesaid.

"That'sprobably made my progression in the AFL a lot easier."

So can we expect Everitt's hairstyle –which currently consists of shoulder-length dreads – to change as often as hisbrother's has?

"I don't think so. This will come offat the end of the year and then it will just be normal," he said.

"I'drather get it off."