ZEKE Uwland is finding different ways to make every day count this year. The pick No.1 contender won't play at all during this year's under-18 national championships, but he isn't wasting his time. That's not in his DNA.

The 18-year-old is still recovering from the stress fracture in his back that has sidelined him since just before Christmas, ruling him out of the most important series of games in a player's draft year.

Uwland is now pain free and has just started running again, six months after the diagnosis. He will build up over the next couple of months before returning in the VFL by August, where he played five games in the second half of last season and showed why recruiters consider him one of the best prospects in the draft pool.

Fortunately, the Gold Coast Academy product has plenty of runs on the board, which is why he is poised to be the next jet off the growing production line at the Suns after a brilliant 2024 campaign where he was the only bottom-ager selected in the under-18 All-Australian team, and he won the Hunter Harrison Medal as the best player in the AFL Academy series. 

Zeke's older brother Bodhi finished runner-up in Gold Coast's best and fairest count last year behind vice-captain Sam Collins, while claiming the most professional award at the end of Damien Hardwick's first season in Queensland. 

But before that stunning surge off the rookie list, Bodhi missed 18 months due to the same debilitating back injury Zeke is now dealing with. He wasn't able to run or kick a footy for a year and spent a long time wearing a back brace almost 24 hours a day. 

That memory was embedded into Zeke's brain when he was diagnosed with his own stress fracture in December, reinforcing the importance to tread carefully or risk delaying his start to life in the AFL.

"Bodhi missed 18 months, so I had that awareness and got onto it pretty early. Having that awareness in the first phase is pretty important," Uwland told AFL.com.au.

"I think that taught me patience, definitely, but also just developing elite habits in all facets of life, whether it be nutrition, sleep, training standards, that has taken me to another level with my learnings. I think that will hold me in good stead going forward. 

"Knowing when to pull up and not push your body too far, especially early on; I could have reported no pain and come back to running earlier, but it's just not that worth it in the long run. I'd rather play round one next year then maybe national championships this year. That's the goal."

Uwland spent the first block of last pre-season training with Gold Coast's AFL squad at the Austworld Centre in Carrara, peeking behind the curtains before that becomes his life from this November. Assistant coach Shaun Grigg helped him settle in, his brother showed him how to train at the next level, while Hardwick made him feel part of the team. 

"I got the opportunity to train with them full-time before Christmas, which was unreal," he said. "It was cool to be inside the four walls and see how they train and prepare. It was an incredible opportunity to see how 'Dimma' coaches and the habits a lot of the players have and what elite habits really look like."

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UWLAND finished Year 12 last year, completing high school at All Saints Anglican School, 10 minutes from People First Stadium. Rather than take a gap year to focus purely on footy, like other prospects have done in the past, Uwland is studying a law and commerce degree at Griffith University, where he is an elite sports scholar. 

That takes up to 20 hours of his week. When he isn't studying, Uwland divides his time between working as a paralegal at a law firm and a role as an auditor at self management superannuation fund Seamless SMSF in Burleigh. It means each week is meticulously mapped out. Work, study, rehab, football. Repeat. There isn't room for much else, but that's by design. He will have finished 10 subjects by the start of next season.

"I think study establishes good habits early in your life. The fact is the average life expectancy of a playing career is four years, so if that happens to be me, I'll have 60 years of working ahead, so why not try and get set up as quick as possible," Uwland said.

"It has always been a bit of a release for me from footy, something I can turn to. I think it helps when you do have an injury or when something isn't going right, you can always fall back on something else. Footy then doesn't take up your whole life and I don't ride the wave of emotions based purely on how footy is going. That helps. I think having a job after footy is inevitable and I really want to set myself up for the future."

Uwland sounds more like a 23 or 24-year-old or a mid-season draft prospect not counting on a long AFL career. Instead, he is the Suns' most anticipated Academy graduate yet. If things go to plan, it will be a long time before he needs to think about a career away from football. But he will be ready for that day, that's for sure.

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WE MEET for a coffee inside North Melbourne institution Auction Rooms, hours before Gold Coast's Academy faces the Northern Bullants in Preston last month. His manager, Dylan Hodge from TGI Sports, is with us, someone who has helped him cope and make the most out of a tough situation in his draft year.

While sidelined, Uwland is coaching the Suns' midfield, alongside academy coach Jarrod Cotton. Coaching has been not just a distraction, but an education, the silver lining of an injury that has kept him a bit out of sight, out of mind for draft followers and recruiters. 

"I've been lucky enough to have some opportunity with coaching the academy, which has taken my mind off things and develop my off-field and knowledge of the game," he said.

"I think getting exposure to coaching and really learning the game has helped me develop my mental aspect.

"Helping out with the Suns' midfield group as an assistant coach has been pretty cool. It's been good to work closely with the players, not only on their individual goals but also playing the system, which is Dimma's system."

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THE TRIPLE premiership coach will unwrap the latest gift out of Gold Coast's Academy when Leo Lombard makes his long-awaited debut against Fremantle on Saturday. The 2024 pick No.9 would have played earlier but required shoulder surgery in February.

After winning a VFL premiership at the age of 16 in 2023 and the Larke Medal last year, Lombard provides a timely reminder – in a week where St Kilda has put the academy discourse back on the agenda – of the value of the Suns' academy. Lombard and Uwland both played junior football for the Burleigh Bombers and entered Gold Coast's Academy at the age of 12. Lombard initially focused on Brazilian jiu-jitsu – and is built for rugby league – but the impact of the academy converted him into one of the best prospects out of Queensland in years. 

Jack Bowes was the first academy product that made other clubs complain, before he was selected with pick No.10 in the 2016 AFL Draft.

It wasn't until 2023 when the Suns selected four graduates in the first round – Jed Walter, Ethan Read, Jake Rogers and Will Graham – that the volume was turned back up again. With Lombard last year and Uwland this year – plus top prospects Dylan Patterson, Beau Addinsall and Kalani White – the academy is about to churn out more players at the pointy end of the draft.

"The academy really guides people towards playing AFL," Uwland said. "I think it's having a big impact on Queensland footy. Mates at school are now converted to AFL. There has been a massive shift. In primary school you would literally get bullied for playing footy, all the nicknames associated with AFL were yelled at you in the playground. It is level I reckon, but it won’t be too far away going past league."

The academy debate won't go away. Uwland won't play in the 2025 under-18 national championships, but 'Zeke the freak' will return soon. Although his future career as a corporate lawyer will need to wait.