Saints' biggest little man

GREY MORRIS

February 5th, 2010

Saints' Ryan Smith rests his arms on the head of pint-sized teammate Josh Heath

ST MARYS rover Josh Heath is small in stature, but in heart and ability he rubs shoulders with the big boys.

One of the recruits of the season for the reigning NTFL premiers, the 163cm (5ft 4in) on-baller has consistently been in the best players in Saints' senior side.

The 2009-10 TEAFA best and fairest winner with University has always preferred the oval shaped ball to a round one.

The 26-year-old was introduced to Australian football at a young age and immediately embraced it.

"I don't mind watching soccer, but I'd rather play AFL," he said.

"I was born in South Korea where I was adopted and moved to South Australia.

"I was brought up in the country at Lameroo where I played footy for the local team before going down to Adelaide for school.

"We've moved around a fair bit since, including coming up to Darwin and moving back south to Tasmania where I played for the Northern Bombers."

Heath grinned when asked if his small stature had ever worked against him in the non-stop game of Australian rules football.

"It's never really done too much to me, everyone thinks it does," he said.

"You just have to keep working towards your goals and putting in the hard work and the results will come."

The best and fairest player in last season's TEAFA competition with University, Heath was advised to make the step-up to the NTFL after his season in Tasmania.

"I think skill-wise the NTFL is much better and it's quicker," he said.

"But I find it easier to play in the NTFL because you don't have to work as hard, I suppose."

So, are Saints a chance for the flag this season?

"I hope so," Heath said.

"We've definitely had a tough season, but we've stepped it up in the last month or so.

"We're striving towards winning another flag and hopefully it will turn out that way."