TWELVE months ago Anthony Morabito was a bottom age player in a star-studded Western Australian side.

Now he is one of the big names in the side that has not conceded a game so far in this year’s NAB AFL Under 18 Championships.

Four WA boys were taken with the first seven picks at last year’s National Draft causing Morabito to realise an AFL career was a very real possibility.

“I set myself after last year. After seeing the older guys like Nicko (Nick Naitanui) and Richy (Daniel Rich) make that transition I thought I might as well set that as my goal,” he said.
 
“Last year I was coming in as a younger guy and we had the likes of Richy and Nicko and you are really in awe of them because they are such great players.

“This year we tried to get around the younger players a bit more and I think it has really helped.

“I’d say some of my best mates in the team are some of the younger boys.”

Morabito has spent much of the year playing for Peel Thunder in the WAFL after moving from Bunbury to Mandurah to give himself the best chance of getting drafted this year.

“I’ve been around the club. When you’re not doing a proper session you can do a weights session or recovery session. People around the club notice that and say ‘he’s get his head screwed on’,” he said.

Morabito is living by himself and is studying commerce at University while also trying to build a football career.

He admits his mum still makes the regular trip from Bunbury to help him with the cooking and cleaning while gardening is ‘not even on the agenda’.

But the 17-year-old is getting the hang of living away from home and in all likelihood will have to move to an even bigger city somewhere in Australia next year to kick off his AFL career.