Matthew Paddle certainly wasn't on Brock-Burrum's radar last summer and, after a year off, the 18-year-old didn't have football uppermost in his mind either.

But older brother Ben was signing for the Saints and Matthew decided to come along too.

"One of my mates at work played there and he said it was a good club," Paddle explained.

"I had a slow start to the year. It's been a busy year in terms of work so it was about finding the motivation to spend my Saturday playing footy and training on Monday and Thursday night.

"But after the first game, I really got into it, started rocking up at more trainings and trying to play my best footy."

Paddle played four games in the reserves but quickly caught the eye of coach Kade Stevens.

Given a chance in the senior side, he grasped it with both hands.

"Matty's small but he's got a heart like a lion," Stevens said.

"He didn't do pre-season and he might not have even have trained leading up to his first reserve game, he just filled numbers.

"But he enjoyed it, loved the place and ended up playing for the full year.

"Despite his size, he never took a backward step.

"He would tackle the biggest player on the ground, he was fearless and someone you could rely on to do a job, whatever it was."

Paddle took everything in his stride although there was one disappointment.

"I wanted to play seniors with my brother but he got injured, shot himself in the foot with a nail gun and missed the rest of the season," Paddle said.

"They liked my aggression, determination and pressure.

"I've always been pretty hard at it and aggressive so it was easy to keep doing that.

"It was easy for me to step up, the way the team supported me and the boys got around me.

"Matty Seiter was really good. He helped me a fair bit, made me feel very comfortable, telling me 'you don't have to be the best, you just have to try your hardest, that's all we want from you.'

"I knew that if I was in a bit of a situation, as a young fella, he was always going to back me."

ALSO IN SPORT

Paddle played 10 senior games for Brock-Burrum and proved himself to be anything but a one-trick pony.

"I started off in the forward line but Stevo put me in all sorts of positions, on the wing and then he stuck me in the back line for the last four weeks," Paddle revealed.

"It was a bit of change going from the forward line to the back line but it was easy for me because I knew exactly what I needed to do.

"It's been a great season, one of my favourites."

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