Squires had made a name for himself in the top flight of the NTFA inside one year.

He lobbed up in the back pocket of its team of the year and polled among the top 10 vote-getters for the Hec Smith Medal award.

“I had a pretty good year last year, put in a pretty good preseason and just got fit,” the 23-year-old said.

So Squires had thought. Those profound words hurt like the burn of a long run.

The transition to the TSL appeared tough, even before pulling on a pair of boots.

“Just the commitment and the workrate was just so different,” Squires said.

“The preseason was like nothing I have ever done.”

That was sorely tested when feeling spent to the point of exhaustion more than once, as he put trust in coach Zane Littlejohn to pull through. 

“There were a couple of days where we had massive training sessions when we ran from town to Hollybank and back,” Squires said.

“That was certainly a real tester, but we got through it. Zane’s so much all about mental strength and we work a lot on it, which helped.”

Fast forward just four senior games into the state league career and it’s Squires who is paying back Littlejohn in spades.

The coach moved the boon acquisition from defence to attack and the Bombers rookie pulled in his first five-goal haul pretty quickly.

The emphatic performance in the side’s 38-point victory earned Squires the three votes in the TSL player of the year award.

Littlejohn could well dispute the votes.

Not that Squires did not deserve three, but that the North Launceston forward could have played an even better game a week earlier.

Barely a handful of disposals failed to deter praises for his defensive pressure up forward, a trait earned from the year spent at George Town.

“I kinda got stuck there because we didn’t have a strong team,” Squires said.

“I was actually previously a forward, but I used to have to go back and drift across.”

Squires, who stands at 183cms, is enjoying the makeshift role of tall forward but still feels he has a lot to learn about the highest level of the game in the state.

“I’ve probably been rushing a little bit more,” he said.

“I think I got four marks inside 50 this week that I should have held.

“I actually thought I was borderline in the team the first two weeks, struggling to hold my position, but hopefully I should be right for a couple of weeks.”