Firrito has been nominated as the National’s AFL Rising Star for round two after an impressive performance shadowing Sam Mitchell while gathering 18 possessions of his own.
“It’s a bit of a shock,” Firrito said on Tuesday.
The 20-year-old also ran with Adelaide strongman Mark Ricciuto in the opening round and believes some intensive strength and endurance work in the off-season is now starting to pay off.
“Ricciuto’s a real strong fellow. He’s the strongest bloke I played against definitely. To sort of hold my own against him and not get pushed around too much, I think I’m on the right track.”
“I worked in the gym so I can match some of the stronger midfielders and not get pushed off the footy too easily.”
The son of Gembrook potato farmers, Firrito has the perfect environment for learning about what it takes to play in the midfield, following the examples of Adam Simpson, Anthony Stevens and Shannon Grant.
“It’s good to try and follow in their footsteps. ‘Simmo’ and Anthony Stevens started their careers at taggers.”
Moreover, he is enjoying the challenge of matching up against some of the league’s best as he will invariably be dragged to where the action is.
“For the time being, just to play on some of the better players, you learn a fair bit from them like where they go and get the footy.”
It continues an excellent start to the season for the former Box Hill Hawks player, who was promoted from the rookie list in 2003 when Leigh Colbert was injured. He went on to play two games.
Firrito did a pre-season with Hawthorn in 2002 and thought that would be where his future lay, but crossed over when former Hawk and now Roos assistant coach Anthony Allen made the switch to Arden Street.
He can already sense a special feeling at the club and while he can’t quite yet put his finger on what it is, knows that everyone cares for and has a ‘real passion’ to play with each other.
