Burning fury drives Koby

By Marc McGowan
MEET Koby Stevens.
He may just be the future captain of your AFL club.
Those in the know are lining up to laud the Gippsland Power skipper, who is also in the Victoria Country leadership group and recently captained the Australian under-17 squad.
AFL national talent manager Kevin Sheehan named the 187cm inside midfielder as one of five players to watch in this year’s TAC Cup under-18 competition.
Power region manager Peter Francis believes he’s a certain first-round pick, while coach Damian Carroll describes him as an ‘exceptional’ leader.
Stevens, 17, will play for the Country boys on Sunday against their Victoria Metro counterparts at Skilled Stadium from 1.30pm.
And the Gippsland Grammar student is confident his team can end its National Under-18 Championships title drought that stretches back to 2003.
“The body’s feeling great and the boys are looking really good – we’re going to be a force to be reckoned with,” he said.
“There is the individual aspect about it, but I don’t think most of the boys think about it too much.
“They’re all there to play good football and work for each other. At the end of the day, we’re thinking about that championship.”
Stevens also competed for Victoria Country in the under-18 championships last year and learned plenty playing alongside the likes of now AFL players Jack Ziebell and Nick Suban.
Ziebell and Suban both earned All-Australian honours at the 2008 championships and Stevens revealed he was secretly hoping for the same at this year’s instalment.
“That’s a long-term individual thing for me, but at the moment it’s just worrying about the team and just getting out on that paddock and beating Metro,” he said.
“We’re not out there to lose this year; we’ve got a really (strong) side and I think we’ll go well.”
It is this team-first attitude that has endeared him to Francis.
“Koby’s a sensational player. Obviously, he’s really hard, he’s got great skills and a real determination to be the best he can be,” he said.
“He has a burning fury inside him. He played at Gippsland Power as a 16-year-old and there’s no doubt even then he was very, very good and had leadership qualities.
“He’s probably our hardest track-worker and he’s very, very good vocally as well.”
Stevens’ Power team-mates John Butcher, Nathan Vardy and Edward Carr will join him in the Country squad this weekend, while Russell Lehman is in contention to replace injured Gippsland star Mitch Golby.
Bairnsdale-based Stevens, a Richmond fan, had a first-hand AFL experience when he spent a week with Collingwood this year as part of his AIS/AFL Academy scholarship.
“It was an unreal experience to be training with some of the best players who you looked up to as a little kid and you think, ‘what am I doing here?’,” he said.
“Training with the (Collingwood) boys really opens your eyes about how fit you’ve got to be.
“I’m not really bothered (where I end up). At the end of the day, it’s a dream to play AFL and you’d go anywhere.
“But it’s not just all about getting drafted. Once you get there you’ve really got to put in, otherwise you’ll just get flicked out of the system.”