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Liam Stocker says he is happy to live with the pressure of Carlton potentially giving up a top draft pick to land him.
Carlton traded their 2019 first-round pick to the Crows, in exchange for Pick 19 in this year’s draft - which they used on the inside midfielder - as well as their 2019 first-round pick
It was a brave move from the Blues who many are suggesting will struggle again in 2019 and therefore could be afforded a very early pick in the next draft, while the Crows are expected to return to finals action and may subsequently have a 2019 pick in the teens.
Admitting there is further pressure laid on due to the mechanics of his drafting, Stocker made it clear he will welcome any extra burden.
“I think certainly, but it’s a healthy pressure,” Stocker told Sam McClure on SEN’s Time On.
“I’ve always put pressure on myself whether or not I’ve had that external force there, so I don’t think it will hamper me too much.
“Certainly it makes games with Adelaide more important and I think we’ve got a couple of boys on the list who’d agree with that, but it is just healthy pressure and I’m pretty happy to have it.”
Aside from his unusual pathway to the AFL on draft day, the 2018 Morrish Medallist also had an unique upbringing having spent around the first half of his life living in Beijing and Hong Kong with his family.
“I was born in Camperdown in New South Wales and when I was four months old, Dad got a job offer out in Beijing so we packed up and moved to the big smoke in China,” he said.
“Then in 2004 we moved over to Hong Kong and then finally, in 2010, moved back here to Sandringham.”
Of his unconventional journey to the elite level, Stocker added: “I certainly didn’t forget about footy, (but) I sort of thought it was out of reach, just because most of the sports I was playing were Hong Kong dominant - rugby, rugby 7s, backyard cricket.
“I had a kick with Dad on the concrete, it wasn’t quite the same, and heading off to Auskick was a baptism of fire because I was the only eight-year-old there and everyone else was 16.
“The love for the game was certainly there in the Grand Final functions and the strong Australian contingent over there but I certainly didn’t feel I had the chance to play AFL, no.”
Listen to the chat with Liam Stocker in the player below: