North Launceston teenager can cap remarkable debut State League season with premiership
Livewire forward Brandon Leary has taken to his debut TSL campaign like a duck to water, and now has his sights set on adding a premiership medallion to a brilliant 2021.
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WHEN Brandon Leary lobbed at UTAS Stadium for his first TSL pre-season, the teenager had visions of plying his trade in the under-18s and development league for 2021.
Now the 18-year-old is on the verge of capping a remarkable debut campaign with North Launceston.
Leary joined the Bombers from George Town in the NTJFA, fully expecting to learn his craft at State League level in the lower ranks.
After three games in the development league club coach Brad Cox-Goodyer had seen enough to hand the livewire forward a senior debut and he hasn’t looked back.
Leary kicked 33 goals in his 15 regular season games — equal second in the competition alongside Cox-Goodyer — which was enough to see him earn a spot in the team of the year in a forward pocket.
He booted two import majors in the semi-final upset of Launceston, and is now 120 minutes away from adding a TSL premiership which would cap a whirlwind ride.
“In all honesty, I started off calling the under-18s coach at North Launceston and just thought I was going to play maybe 18s or development league,” said Leary, who was going to cross to the Bombers last year before Covid-19 halted those plans.
“In my head I probably thought I was good enough to play D-League, obviously we have a young side and Brad just decided to give me a chance.
“I didn’t even expect to be playing seniors, just to be able to play seniors was enough of an achievement for me.
“The boys having the belief in me to play my role, go out there and play well, and then team of the year, I couldn’t believe it really.”
Leary will be among nearly a third of the Bombers group who will be featuring in their first TSL grand final, which is remarkably North’s eighth straight trip to the big dance.
The sharp shooter has been absorbing as much as he can from the senior players in the build up, which he’s attempted to keep as normal as possible.
“As much as we’ve lost experience there’s still a good number of blokes who have played in all those grand finals.
“It’s good to get around them and just see how mature and how collected they are about the whole thing.
“We’ve trained three times [since the semi-final win], I’m trying to not think about it too much obviously, just to concentrate on the job at hand and what we’ve got to do.”
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