He’s been described as the ‘luckiest man in the AFL’ and Swans forward Mitch Morton doesn’t disagree.

The 25-year-old, who didn’t make his Swans debut until round 21 this season, played all but one of the Swans next six matches, including three finals, and can now call himself a premiership player.

The former Richmond and West Coast forward, who also starred up forward for the Swans reserves earlier in the season, told sydneyswans.com.au that making his debut for the Swans was his ‘proudest moment’.

How have you summed up your season in 2012?

It was probably a year where I built into it. I improved and got better as the year went on and it obviously culminated (on Grand Final day).

What did you need to improve on to get your chance in the senior side?

I worked on everything throughout the year. I think both sides of my game, offensive and defensive, and my fitness also improved throughout the year. Obviously I missed 6-8 weeks last pre-season with a problem with my leg, so that probably didn’t help me and I was a little bit behind the eight-ball but we worked hard at it and ended up getting there.

Is there a particular part of your game that you’ve been more proud of how it has developed this year?

I think I improved in a lot of areas throughout the year but probably my transition from offence to defence. I think that was something that was probably holding me back a little bit at the start of the year but I think definitely throughout the finals series it probably became a strength of mine. My ability to hold up the opposition and create a bit of havoc when I had the ball was something that I think I improved.

You had to wait 21 rounds to make your senior debut. What was it like to finally get that first Swans game?

It was great and it was the best moment of my career making that debut. I had to work so hard for it and being here and understanding the culture, it wasn’t easy getting there and that just made it even more special.

Were there any particular players or coaches who led you in the right direction this year?

John Longmire and Henry Playfair have been great all year and have helped me with a number of parts of my game, especially ‘H’, who helped me with my tape every week. He’s been hard on me but he’s been fair. The leadership group were fantastic as well. Like they are with every player, they’re harsh but they are fair and they let me know if there were things I needed to work on and they were true to their word - once I got those things right I got my opportunity.

How do you feel to be described as one of the luckiest players in the AFL after your finals series?

It’s true, I am very lucky. We work hard but I’m just the same as everyone else and we all put in and I was lucky enough to get the nod to play in Adelaide and play my first full game for the club and played my role and that was just great to be part of. Then obviously things went on from there, and I am very, very lucky.

Looking at the Grand Final, you had your few minutes of madness kicking two goals. What was that like for you?

I think my highlights from the Grand Final probably aren’t my goals. They are the things we all did for each other and the team aspects of the day.  I thought our ability to chase and tackle and to have 110 tackles in a Grand Final, they are the things that I’ll remember from the game. It’s good to have my best footballing moment not about myself, and that probably sums up the culture of this club. It’s just really good to be part of it.

Another moment from your game was your knock on to Kieren Jack to level the scores in the last quarter. What was going through your head when you saw those two Hawks defenders coming up against you?

I just knew I had to get it going towards goal. They had some good backmen and I think in the first quarter that was a little bit of my job to nullify that spare player. We tried in the first quarter but things just weren’t going our way in that area and I think from then on we did get that balance of where to stand and who to go with right.

I think in that last quarter that’s what I was trying to do. Getting the ball was just a bonus because I was just trying to spoil it and make it hard for those guys. I didn’t know there was another Swans player there. I handballed it forward and I was just thinking ‘I have to get this somewhere near the goals’ and I remember when I was just about to hit the deck I could see Kieren Jack out of the corner of my eye and I knew he was a lot faster than me, so I tried to hold out (the Hawks defender) as long as I could and then it became a one-on-one between Kieren and Clinton Young and the rest is history.

What are your plans for the off-season?

I think eight or nine or ten weeks ago when everyone was planning their off-seasons, things probably weren’t going my way and I think I thought I needed to have a big off-season and pre-season to make sure I played more than five games next year, so I didn’t really plan a lot. I’m probably just going to train and get away on weekends where I can and spend a bit of time with family back in Perth and country Western Australia, which is going to be great. I might even get back there and hopefully get the cup back there and maybe even take it back to my old school and show some of the kids.

I’m just going to train and get ready for next year. I know it sounds stupid just after winning a Grand Final but I’m just going to do a few little things to get ready for next year.