Courtesy of the Courier Mail

Rex Liddy has speared fish and crabs. He has hunted bush pigs.

He once cruised up a northern estuary with his mates when he noticed his boat was being trailed by a crocodile.

The giant old croc, well known in the region, was hoping someone would fall out and give him an early dinner.

Fortunately for the new Gold Coast AFL team, the croc went hungry.

During his time growing up in the Hope Vale Aboriginal community, 46km outside Australia’s northern-most town of Cooktown, Liddy used to disappear into the dense terrain and climb nearby Table Top Mountain and peer into its mysterious blue lagoon.

In modern Australia, where forests are shrinking and cities spreading, this is about as close as it gets to “Neverneverland”.

Liddy, 18, is a son of this land and its people.

He can speak Guugu Yimithirr – the first Aboriginal language to be written down by Captain James Cook when the Endeavour was being repaired after damage from the Great Barrier Reef in 1770. This is a land awash with Aboriginal culture and its Dreamtime tales.

But even the most exotic Dreamtime story seems lightweight besides the rawness of Liddy’s very own enchanting progression from the distant northern community to the clinically professional world of AFL football.

Liddy, a nephew of Cowboys rugby league star Matt Bowen, has been signed by the Gold Coast AFL side for their entrance into next year’s AFL competition.

If he succeeds it will be a triumph for the sport as much as for the man himself.

“Most people up here love rugby league, but as soon as I tried AFL I loved it and have never looked back,” said Liddy, who returned for a brief visit to Hope Vale last week.

“I never saw myself doing this – flying around signing autographs and listening to children shout my name when I go home”.

“I think about home a lot and fishing is still my number one hobby. But it has been great on the Coast. I looked around and saw boys from Western Australia, South Australia and even the Northern Territory settling in and thought ‘If they can do it, so can I’.”

Liddy’s progression to the Gold Coast, where he currently plays for their VFL team, has been a series of carefully planned steps after he was spotted as an 11-year-old at an AFL KickStart program by AFL’s Cape York development officer Rick Hanlon.

With the blessing of Liddy’s parents and grandmother, Hanlon guided Liddy to a private school in Cairns and from there he won a Michael Voss scholarship with St Peter’s Lutheran College in Brisbane, where he became a track star who clocked 11.2sec winning a Queensland Independent Schools title.

None of that surprised Hope Vale residents, who used to watch Liddy slow down when he was in front in 800m races to playfully encourage those who were behind him but couldn’t catch him.

Even though he strode straight into Queensland junior teams soon after taking up the sport, his first steps away from home were painful ones.

“When I first moved away from my family as a 13-year-old it was really hard. I was very upset but I put my hand up and said I am going to make this dream come true,” he said.

“I realised Mum and Dad weren’t there and I was in the real world on my own. But I made some good friends who are still there today.”

“I was hurting so much I have to make a rule that I had to call my parents every fortnight rather than every night because it was making me so homesick.”

Everywhere there are subtle reminders of league’s popularity up north. Liddy’s mother Lee-Ann greeted him wearing a Cowboy’s jersey.

When Liddy was introduced to the children of Cairns West State School he received a respectful ovation.
But when they said he was Matt Bowen’s nephew a reverential chorus of “woooo” swept the playground.

“Matt is really famous up here,” Liddy said.

“He is a bit of here to all of us.”

The old school running track on which Liddy used to run may have the occasional thistle, and the cross bar on the rugby league goal post may be hanging at half mast but the community is well run and has pride in itself.

So does Liddy.

“I am not sure AFL will ever take over rugby league up here but it would be great for our region if we could produce the game’s next star.”

Especially if it turns out to be him.