The talented athlete has made it to state for swimming, athletics and cross country this year but it is Australian rules where he is set to make his mark.

Lucas recently travelled to Geelong for the national under 15 AFL championships where he was the co-captain of the NSW team.

Lucas starred for NSW, where he was named his team’s best player and selected in the shadow squad for the All Australian team that will travel to South Africa later in the year.

It was the fourth time Lucas had played at a national championships in his beloved sport and the week-long carnival only made him hungrier to one-day achieve his goal of playing AFL football.

“Definitely, that’s the goal,” he said.

“You learn a lot about what you can take back and improve on.

“It was really good.”

Lucas, who played at the same carnival last year, enjoyed the higher standard.

“It was good, definitely faster and more skilful,” he said.

“You’re up against the best so it’s good.”

The 15-year-old played primarily through the midfield but also spent time forward.

The NSW team won their opening game against Tasmania by 15 points.

They then enjoyed a comfortable 38-point victory over Northern Territory, and a one-goal win over Queensland.

NSW progressed through to the semi-final against Western Australia, where after leading all day, a goal to the Sandgropers in the final minute resulted in a two-point loss to the Blues.

NSW bounced back with a 22-point win over Queensland in the play-off for third.

“We just missed out on the grand final,” Lucas said.

“To finish third was really good and a lot better than last year.

“Last year we only won two games, this year we won four out of our five.”

As part of the experience, Lucas was presented his NSW jumper by Geelong star Tom Hawkins.

He was also lucky enough to attend a leadership conference where Jimmy Bartel, Steve Johnson and Joel Selwood were guest speakers.

“That was really good,” he said.

Lucas, who resides on a farm 14 kilometres north of Ardlethan, will now finish the year with his Northern Jets’ under 17 team, who are currently second on the Farrer League ladder.

The Ardlethan Central School student will also continue with his weekly training sessions with the Giants Academy, in Griffith and Narrandera, as he looks to take his football as far as he can.