LAST year a dreadlocked Geelong star turned heads with a stunning seven-goal performance in the TAC Cup Grand Final, but five months earlier, a little known Queenslander recorded a baker’s dozen in central Queensland.

It was April 22, 2017, and 16 year-old Kane Haua walked off the ground having snagged 12 majors for his side Boyne Island Tannum Sands (BITS) Saints side against Rockhampton Kangaroos. The Gold Coast Suns Academy prospect was putting his best foot forward, and finished the season with 35 goals from 14 games. At the end of the year, he would relocate to the Gold Coast, studying full-time at Griffith University while balancing two part-time jobs and training with the Academy.

Haua has impressed Academy coach Andrew Raines as the top-age Queenslander sets his sights on achieving his AFL goal. In speaking with the Gladstone Observer’s sports editor Nick Kossatch, Raines spoke of Haua’s determination to make it at the highest level, and some of the traits he possesses ahead of next month’s Academy Series.

“The attributes he shows is his speed and his running ability,” Raines said.

“He’s got a high work rate too; he works really hard up the ground and he works hard to get back towards goal so we’re thinking about playing him forward in our upcoming Academy series.

“His pressure up forward is really good too, he tackles really well and he’s very aggressive and strong so that’s what we’re liking at the moment.”         

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Andrew Raines, Gold Coast Academy coach

Raines said the teenager had some untapped talent and he would have to continue to develop in order to make the Allies squad for the National Under 18 Championships in June.

“He’s (Haua) got a long way to go in terms of the next step and the next level,” he said.

“Whether he can match it with other Academies around Australia and obviously there’s the best in Victoria and WA if he’s fortunate enough to get an opportunity in the division one [side] which is later in the year.”

For now, Haua is looking to make an impression through the Academy Series, which pits Gold Coast against the other three northern Academies in the Brisbane Lions, GWS Giants and Sydney Swans. Previously, the carnival was looked as as a Division 2 to the National Under 18 Championships, but was changed last year so the two Academies in each state could show off their own talent rather than a mixed team. Tasmania and Northern Territory remained in the carnival, with all six teams to be combined to form an Allies side for the division one championships.

Raines said Haua had been a member of the Gold Coast Suns Academy for a couple of years, and had shown signs of development, including representing Queensland in an under 17s match last year. The Gold Coast Academy coach said once the prospects finish school, they are invited to come down to the Gold Coast, relocating off their own back and chase their AFL dream, a dream Raines knows has no guarantees of coming to fruition.

“The young kids aren’t guaranteed a spot, it’s more for their own pathway, and they do various other things to, like go to uni, move to a bigger town anyway so that’s the whole process,” Raines said.

“He’s been down since November last year or December, and he’s relocated well, he’s living at Griffith University on campus, and doing university there full-time.

“He’s balancing working, he’s got two part-time jobs so that gets him busy, on top of his training, so that’s a bit of a brief background how he’s come into the program and how he’s relocated from central Queensland to down here.”

Raines said the new Labrador recruit could play for as many as four sides this season if he plays to his potential: his home club, the Gold Coast Academy, the Allies, and, later in the year, the Gold Coast Suns’ NEAFL side when they call-up Academy prospects.

The full interview with Andrew Raines can be heard here.