He’s Michael Walters, or as his teammates and fans prefer to call him, ‘Son Son’.
On Saturday night against Port Adelaide, Walters reaches the half-century of AFL games. He admits there was a period of his life when that seemed like a pipe dream, referring to his banishment from the Fremantle Dockers back to his WAFL Club Swan Districts early in 2012.
“Around then, I never thought I’d ever make it to 50 games,” Walters says.
“When I got sent back to Swans I had only played about 17 games, so since 2012 it’s come along pretty quick, but before then racking up games was a struggle for me.”
While he’s journeyed from the brink of the AFL wasteland to become a league star, Walters is also aware he blew the start at the barriers.
“Fifty games isn’t much considering Hilly (Stephen Hill) and the boys I got drafted with, Matt de Boer and Nick Suban, have played 100 games plus,” he says.
But he’s not regretful.
“I’m going to soak it up and think of it as 50 more games than most.”
While he’s sprouted into one of the most exciting players in the game, it’s not as if Walters suddenly found his abilities after his time back at Swan Districts.
Freo general manager of player management Brad Lloyd, who heads the club’s recruiting division, recalls the scouting reports on Walters before the 2008 National Draft.
“Michael Walters was arguably the best player in Australia at 16,” he says in the most recent issue of Docker Mag.
“The story has been well documented that he took a long time to come on, but he’s probably doing at AFL level now what he did at 16 in the National Championships.
“It’s great to see that’s he’s got himself super fit and is realising his potential, because he always had it.”
Fitness has been the key to Walters’ rise, and it could be what takes him to the next level.
Back in May, after he’d undergone ankle surgery, Walters said his plan was to use his time away from the footy field to build on his strength and fitness.
“I’m doing a bit of boxing and a bit of upper-body weights to try and build myself up and make myself a little bit stronger while I can and make myself fitter, especially in the cardio area,” he told fremantlefc.com.au.
“I’m just hoping that once I’m back, I’m fit enough.”
After four months on the sidelines, Walters has returned to the field, and the results are evident.
“Physically, I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been,” he says.
“I’m much stronger considering I was off my legs for a number of weeks.
“To do weights and get stronger was a big thing for me, but once I did start running I made the most of it.”
Walters says there have been a number of moments he looks back on favourably from his first 50 games.
From a team perspective, he can’t go past the club’s AFL Grand Final appearance last year.
“It was the first ever Grand Final for the club, and I was quite happy and stoked to be a part of it,” he says.
Individually, his favourite moment came before the Swan Districts’ chapter.
It was a round one game at the Gabba against Brisbane in 2011.
“I kicked a goal to put us in front,” he says.
“It was a goal from an angle and I was lucky enough to kick it. It put us in front with two or three minutes to go.”
As for the future, Walters wants to push his way into Freo’s midfield.
His senior coach Ross Lyon has no doubts he can do it.
“I think ‘Sonny’ will be a super midfielder one day for this club,” Lyon said earlier this season.
“I think he's clearly more than a small forward. His game sense and aerobic ability is of the highest order and he's so footy smart.
“He will be an elite midfielder by the time he has finished.”
For now, Walters’ has set his sights on playing another 50 games. Scarily for the rest of the league, a man with an array of exhilarating skills thinks he can get better.
“There’s plenty of room there to get better with my kicking and handball skills,” he says.
That’s no pipe dream. Watch this space.
