Ahead of his first senior grand final, Brandon Leary is an understandable mix of nerves and excitement.
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No stranger to winning premierships, having won an NTJFA flag with Tamar Demons in 2019 and the NTFA Shield with George Town last year, the 18-year-old has had an outstanding TSL season.
He's booted 35 goals in his first 16 TSL games, earning a team of the year spot and putting him as the hot favourite for the Matthew Richardson Medal next year.
And it's some George Town legends that North Launceston have to thank.
"Throughout my junior years, I always had the idea in my head to move to a TSL club," he said.
"Then down at George Town, Allan O'Sign and people like Luke Crane always said to me 'you should go in to one of the TSL clubs and have a crack and see if you can do well at one of those'.
"I tried to get into it last year but then COVID and all of that and then this year I managed to get to pre-season."
Describing the move as "pretty difficult", Leary thanked the likes of coach Brad Cox-Goodyer and captain Jay Foon for making life as a Bomber easy.
Forwards coach Nathan Parkin was also named as someone that's helped him out a lot with the change in scenary.
"From a social standpoint, I am a bit of an anxious person, so I was comfortable in George Town in the country with all my mates," he said.
"That made it a bit hard to move in but now that I've done it, it's really not."
The move has been made even easier throughout the season, with 18 other debutants donning the Bombers' sash this season.
"Obviously we are a really young side and the other blokes around my age, you obviously connect with them a bit differently than you connect with the older, more mature blokes.
"It's been good to have some younger blokes who you know to make you a bit more comfortable playing."
His outstanding season drew high praise from Cox-Goodyer as he analysed his debutants
He's electric in front of goals, he obviously came second in the league goal-kicking only playing 15 [regular season] games," he said about Leary.
"He's got a massive future ahead of him and hopefully he's in the Devils program next year."
Josh Partridge
As a sports-mad fan who loves to remain challenged, sports journalism always seemed the path for me and it's allowed me to do things I never thought possible. A keen racquet sports player, I'm experienced in that field, allowing me to do my job at a strong standard.
As a sports-mad fan who loves to remain challenged, sports journalism always seemed the path for me and it's allowed me to do things I never thought possible. A keen racquet sports player, I'm experienced in that field, allowing me to do my job at a strong standard.
