HE'S ALREADY been tagged 'The Cougar' and 'The Jurrahcane', but Melbourne's exciting young forward Liam Jurrah is to be known as 'The Walpiri Wizard'.

That's the message from indigenous teammate Aaron Davey, who fronted the media with Jurrah at the Junction Oval on Tuesday after the latter was named the round 15 NAB AFL Rising Star.

"We've named him that, and I think 'The Cougar' is more of an overseas [name], so this is 'The Walpiri Wizard'," Davey said.

Asked how he felt about that nickname, Jurrah said: "I'm the Walpiri man from Yuendumu community and it's the Walpiri tribe, so I prefer to call myself 'The Walpiri Wizard'."

Jurrah is already emerging as one of the great football stories, having hailed from Yuendumu (290km north-west of Alice Springs with a population of roughly 1000 people) in central Australia, where English is not even the first language.

He has shone in his four matches so far, including the four-goal haul against Port Adelaide at the MCG on Sunday that led to his nomination.

"It's pretty amazing and I feel happy that I got the Rising Star nominee," Jurrah said.

"[I'm] just getting used to it (the attention) now."

Jurrah said Davey was helping him out with not only football, but life in general.

The 20-year-old said his community, which was "really mad" about football, had converted from supporting Collingwood to following Melbourne.

"As soon as I got drafted, they're all Melbourne [now]," Jurrah said.

Melbourne has six indigenous players on its 2009 list – Matthew Whelan, Davey, Jurrah, Austin Wonaeamirri, Jamie Bennell and Neville Jetta. It's a different scenario when Davey first played at the club in 2004.

"When I first came, there was only Matty Whelan and myself, so we've now six at the moment and hopefully there's more to come," Davey said.

"Liam and Austin have come from really small communities and it's really hard to get out of that environment and that lifestyle and adjust to the big smoke in Melbourne.

"What these two have done, not only for themselves – they've made themselves proud – but everyone back home and all of their family and people."

Although Davey said you could argue that Wonaeamirri created as much excitement last year as Jurrah has in recent weeks, he was adamant 'The Walpiri Wizard' could have played from round one.

"He (Wonaeamirri) did that last year, when he went a bit over the top with his celebration against Fremantle. But Liam has brought a lot of excitement and he's one of those guys who has got everything that you could ask for in a footy player," Davey said.

"He's got the pace and the awareness that a lot of people talk about us indigenous boys having, so he's been super and hopefully he can keep that form up and keep kicking goals.

"Who knows, if he plays like he did on the weekend, he could win the Rising Star."

And Davey suggested the new star could move like the late great singer Michael Jackson.

"He walks around and taps the boys on the shoulder and they know it's Liam, but he thinks he's a 'Smooth Criminal'," Davey said.

"He gets on with the boys and they stir him up and he likes to dance in the shower.

"He comes across shy, but I can tell you now he's not shy."

Jurrah is an initiated member of the Warlpiri tribe and grew up playing football barefoot in the dust before former Collingwood player Rupert Betheras convinced him to have a run for the Collingwood VFL side last year.

Jurrah played four games for the side, which was enough to convince Melbourne he was worthy of the No.1 pick at the pre-season draft this year.

The 20-year-old, who speaks English as his fourth language, made his debut against Essendon in round 12 and has steadily improved to the point that he earned a NAB AFL Rising Star nomination in just his fourth AFL game.