“As a little kid I used to go across and annoy him and get him to kick the footy to me,” Howson said.
“He was great and that’s probably one of the reasons why I’m such a big Freo fan.”
The 19-year-old has now been given his own opportunity to make a name for himself after Freo selected him with pick 26 in the Rookie Draft.
Howson didn’t get much sleep last night, nervous at the thought of his name getting called, or not getting called at all in the Rookie Draft.
“I was sitting at home watching it with my dad and my brother and having my name called out was probably the best thing I’ve had in my life,” Howson said.
“I feel great, I’m very excited, it’s been pretty good news today.”
The 195cm forward won the WAFL Colts goal kicking medal last season, booting 57 majors for East Fremantle.
He can’t wait to learn from one of the great forwards of the game - Matthew Pavlich.
“It’s been a dream of mine ever since I was a kid, I think he is an absolute champion and to learn off someone like that would be absolutely amazing,” Howson said.
Howson played with Freo draftees, Max Duffy and Josh Simpson at East Fremantle and said he had a great relationship with them both.
“Having Max and Josh here is going to help me a lot settling in and it’s going to be great playing footy with both of them.”
