SECOND year blues should not be something this year's NAB Rising Star winner Rhys Palmer suffers from as he is already looking forward to the upcoming pre-season.

Palmer has been lauded for his superb first season in the AFL after Fremantle picked him up at selection seven in last year's draft from East Fremantle, but the 19-year-old knows he has to work even harder next year to improve.

The ball-winning ability and tenacity Palmer showed to become Fremantle's most prolific midfielder impressed all this year, but his kicking did come under scrutiny. He isn’t shying away from that and will be working hard on improving his disposal.

"Backing up next year will all happen over summer for me. You've got to work hard, get into the gym and out on the track to get as fit and strong as possible to be prepared for next season," Palmer said.

"My whole game needs improving, that's just one thing I need to work on over summer and hopefully I can become a real damaging kicker."

Palmer jumped straight off the plane on Thursday from Melbourne and returned to Fremantle where he again fronted the media, so he hasn’t had a chance to let winning the award sink in yet.

When he does, he is keen to talk to Paul Hasleby, a past Rising Star winner himself, to see how he can follow up with a strong second season.

"I'm sure when I get home tonight I will sit down with my folks to have a chat about it and it might sink in then," he said.

"I haven’t spoken to him (Hasleby) yet because I've been flat out but I'm sure he will call me and give me some advice. He has before saying that it's great to play in the first year but it's just as important to keep going in the second. I'm sure I will work with him over pre-season to make sure I'm really fit."

Fremantle coach Mark Harvey was proud to see Palmer receive the award and has marvelled at the burden he wanted to shoulder all season.

"It's been a credit to Rhys that he has been able to sustain what he has done all year and to deal with a lot of other things that first year players don’t usually have to," he said.

"He has brought it upon himself in many ways to get involved in the game more than I normally see from first year players. That includes barking orders at stoppages as a first year player and to his credit he backs that up with how he plays. We are very happy with what Rhys has done in his first year and hopefully there's more to come."