At just 20 years of age, and with a handful of reserve grade appearances to his name, the level-headed kid from Beaconsfield knows he’s living the dream.
“It’s really good to be here,” Levi declared. “The lifestyle’s great, it’s great to be training, and to be about the club every day.
“My game’s been a bit up and down. I started off good, but I’ve dropped off a bit in the past few weeks and I’m working hard on my game.”
Taken at selection 44 in the 2010 AFL Rookie Draft, Levi is no different to other first-year players - the likes of Josh Donaldson and Rohan Kerr - in balancing general training duties with those individual extras vital to his on-going development as a footballer.
“In my case, the extra stuff is kicking,” he said. “The club recognised and I also recognised that it [kicking] wasn’t my strongest point, so I’ve basically been working on the mechanics of it, and I’ve noticed an improvement definitely. I had a high ball-drop, so I’ve been concentrating on dropping the ball closer to my boot and dropping it straighter as well.”
That said, Levi is well on the way to meeting his objectives for season 2010. Asked to declare his pre-season goals, Levi replied: “Mine short-term was to work on my game, play consistent footy and improve my game knowledge as well”.
“Hopefully that all leads to getting a senior game at some stage, whether it’s this year or next year. Obviously I’d love to get a senior game this year, but if I don’t I just have to keep working hard,” he said.
While the Dandenong Stingrays are generally accredited as Levi’s League pathway, it’s a little known fact that the Apple Isle was home to Levi for the first 15 years of his existence.
“I was born in Tasmania, Dad was a copper over there for 20 years and I lived in Tasmania until I was 15, when we came back [to Victoria] for family reasons,” he said.
“We were all over the place back then - Hobart for five years, on the east coast for eight, and I was born on the west coast and lived in Queenstown for a bit. I never played on the gravel at Queenstown, but I have good memories of Tassie and it’s a nice place . . . but Victoria’s a good place to live.”
And so too Carlton, where Levi and fellow first-year types including roommate Donaldson couldn’t have been made to feel more comfortable.
As he said: “Obviously the first-year players spend a lot of time with eachother so we tend to get on pretty well, and all the senior players get around to make you feel welcome too”.
