South Australian midfielder Mattaes Phillipou has voiced his desire to become a one-club player with whichever organisation he gets drafted to.
The Woodville-West Torrens product is expected to be taken in the top-ten of this month’s AFL draft, and with neither South Australian team possessing a first-round pick, a move interstate looks to be in the cards for Phillipou.
With multiple players opting to return to their home state throughout the trade period, the ‘go-home factor’ has been a topic rife with discussion, yet the young prospect doesn’t see himself following that path.
“I’ve always been a guy that’s wanted to go to one club and have a long career there,” he told Sportsday SA.
“I’ve studied Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan quite heavily coming through, being a basketball guy, looking at those two characters they’re very loyal and that’s how I aspire to be like with whichever club I get drafted to.
“I see myself taking an opportunity interstate and then staying there for a very long time.”
Phillipou is a lifelong Port Adelaide fan, yet hasn’t let that limit his scope, having already spoken to almost every single club in the AFL prior to the draft.
“(I’ve spoken to) pretty much every club except Brisbane, which is understandable with the whole Ashcroft, Fletcher situation,” he said.
“I didn’t have any expectations of how many (clubs) I wanted to get to, so to have pretty much all of them is pretty cool.
“I barrack for Port, I got a message from Robbie Gray today which was pretty surreal, just encouraging me, showing a bit of support which was unreal.
“Whoever I get to will be the team I want to go to, at the moment I don’t really know where that’s going to be, so we’ll have to find out.”
Regardless of where he ends up, the big-bodied midfielder wants to have an immediate impact at a club in whatever role is asked of him.
“I reckon my strengths are my size, I reckon I’m a pretty unique build for a midfielder, my athleticism with that as well is something I feel is a point of difference for me,” he said.
“My skills are just pretty good, at the level I feel they need to be at the moment, I think I probably need to get them to another level, especially kicking-wise before I hit the ground running in the AFL.
“Defensively I just want to get a bit stronger tackling-wise and make sure that I’m not a liability when we don’t have the football.
“(My role) depends on the team I go to, but one thing I do know is I’m going to learn a lot from the guys that are already there and I’m excited for that.
“I’m going to try my absolute hardest to have an immediate impact, but I think the biggest thing for me is just getting to a club and wanting to learn straight away.”