Myrtleford has a budding Crocodile Hunter.
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Classy forward Tom Ellard plans to open a reptile park in Melbourne's CBD in five years.
The 24-year-old owns around 20 snakes, including the 12 most venemous in the world, comprising the number one, coastal taipans, along with eastern browns and death adders.
He was also bitten on the hand last year in Queensland by a tiger snake, the fourth most venemous snake.
"He gave me a call and opened with, 'now I don't want you to panic, I'm OK," his Melbourne-based mother Vivienne said.
"I said, 'where are you'? He said, 'I'm in hospital, I'm in ICU (intensive care unit), but don't panic'.
"I knew one day I could possibly get that call."
It's not the first time he's been bitten.
"I've been bitten by a lot of snakes, like python-wise, it didn't really put me in shock, we found out it didn't inject any venom (dry bite) thankfully," he said.
Ellard has always been fascinated by snakes.
"We had a property in WA, so we've always been surrounded by animals," Vivienne said.
"We lived on the same road as the school and it would get past time when he should have been home and I'd start to worry, so I'd go looking for him because his sister (Jordan) had come home and said, 'he's just wandering up and down the road mum, looking for animals'. I said, 'what do you mean'?
"What I didn't realise was that he was picking up the roadkill and burying it (laughs)."
The primary student also made an impact on school colleagues when the kids screamed 'snake' (is there a word, on land, which creates as much hysteria?) and Tom calmly picked it up by the tail and placed it back in the bush.
"He was never scared of them," Vivienne said.
Ellard admits he's a little 'left of centre'.
"Yeah, I cop a fair bit, people going, 'why would you do it'? I give the same answer, 'it keeps me happy'," he said.
"The way I look at it, I'm trying to change everyone's opinion on them, people think they're horrible creatures, but they're not that bad."
The Crocodile Hunter - the late Steve Irwin - had a similar philosophy.
"I looked up to him a fair bit," he said.
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"I had every one of his TV series and all his movies, so when I was younger I thought, 'this is what I'm going to do', he was a good Australian icon for everyone."
Ellard never met Irwin, but he did watch one of his shows before his death.
"Mum and dad said, 'go for it, try and make a change in the world'," he said.
Ellard certainly made an impact when he introduced Sebastian - the pet python - at a club function.
"Tom just strolled out out with a snake wrapped around his neck," team-mate Hugh Wales said.
"There were a few screams, but once he said it wasn't too dangerous, everyone calmed down."
An apprentice carpenter, Ellard puts every cent towards his dream.
"He can't wait to get into crocodiles, he wants a full-on reptile park, it's all he talks about," Vivienne said proudly.
"We say to him if you have a hobby and you can make it your work, you're a winner."