HE'S already proven himself to be one of the best emerging talents in the AFL Central West competition, but Zac Yandle is focussed on taking his game to a higher level.
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After a season which saw him named the league's under 17s best and fairest for his stand out performances in the title-winning Bathurst Giants outfit, as well as playing in his club's first senior men's grand final, Yandle continued to train.
His goal was to be selected as a member of the Greater Western Sydney Giants Academy under 18s squad for season 2021 and he's already taken the first step towards that.
Yandle was selected to take part in the phase one six-week training program run by the academy.
"I tried to make it a big goal last year coming out of juniors really to try and make an impact and try and push myself and strive for something a lot better," Yandle said.
"Either way, even if I'm not successful, I'll have a lot to take back to my local club.
"There were trials in Canberra and I went up and they were pretty impressed that I drove all the way from Bathurst to attend. They thought it would be a lot more suitable for me to train in Sydney because it fit in better with work.
"I thought I did alright in the two kay time trial, I was peak off-season so I was pretty heavy, and I felt I went pretty good in the match fitness stuff going against a lot of the older blokes."
Yandle has already completed the first week of that program, the work he did to build his strength having paid off.
While he has previously played in Central West representative outfits and been part of GWS development squads, pushing for a spot in the academy outfit is the biggest challenge the talented teenager has faced.
But it's a challenge Yandle is embracing and he's drawing on what he has learned from playing in the senior ranks with the Bathurst Giants.
It's great learning stuff I can improve on just to make myself an overall better footballer.
- Zac Yandle
"It's been really helpful being one of the younger players in the senior Giants team. It's good to learn off the older blokes and it gives me great experience going against older players," he said.
"I've been involved with [GWS] Giants development squads before which is a much more broader range, but the academy is pretty much the tip of the top, so this is the highest level I've been at.
"But I definitely feel like I can compete at the top level for my age group and it's great learning stuff I can improve on just to make myself an overall better footballer."
The program features four different phases with hopefuls from five different regions. Some of them will be cut at the completion of the first phrase, but Yandle is pushing hard to advance as he balances training with a carpentry apprenticeship.
It's plenty of work, but he is enjoying the chance to push himself.
"A lot of the older blokes at work are telling me to strive for it, saying there's no point cutting things short, see how far I can take my footy," Yandle said.
"We're training at Tom Willis Oval and I'd have to say it's one of the best fields I've ever trained on, it's a great field up at Sydney Olympic Park
"It's a lot of skills work, mainly a lot of cardio involved and trying to get that skills work under fatigue up. It's a lot of running because it's pre-season."
