But they’ll be the only ones, because Veszpremi has his feet firmly planted on the ground.
Taken at No.11 in the 2007 NAB AFL National Draft, the former Northern Knights junior didn’t make his debut until round 18 last year after shoulder and groin problems hampered his preparation.
But he made the football world take notice with an eye-catching four-goal, two-vote performance in round 22 against the Brisbane Lions, helping to propel the Swans into a sixth successive finals series.
Veszpremi had a much quieter time in the two finals against North Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs, but it gave him a taste of the game’s biggest stage.
With a relatively trouble-free pre-season under his belt, the 19-year-old is keen to earn a permanent place in a Sydney Swans team that is in a transition period.
“It’s a very exciting time to be in the group at the moment; there are a lot of spots opening and players hopefully this weekend can put their hands up and really have a big crack at it,” Veszpremi said at training this week.
“The next three weeks is really going to determine who’s going to be in the team in the first round. It’s a big opportunity there for people who have been at the club for a while who haven’t played a game yet.”
A rolled ankle kept him out of the team that lost to Port Adelaide in the first round of the NAB Cup, but Veszpremi is keen to hit the ground running in Saturday’s NAB Challenge clash against Melbourne at Visy Park.
“My pre-season’s been really good. Before Christmas, I had no hiccups on the way. Everything was fine; I did all the sessions, running PBs and all that, so I was pretty confident,” he said.
“To come back after Christmas and have a couple of nigglies was frustrating, but since I’ve got the base up, hopefully it goes all right.”
Veszpremi said he hoped to benefit from a greater knowledge of the Swans’ game plan after a season learning the club’s systems.
Set to reprise his role as a small forward, fans can expect to see him patrolling the feet of key forwards Barry Hall and Michael O’Loughlin and harassing opposition defenders.
But Brownlow vote-winning performances aren’t on the agenda – Veszpremi is more interested in impressing his coaches than the umpires.
“I just want to do what the coaches ask me to do, which is be that small forward pressure player and just try to cement my spot in the team, because I haven’t done that yet and there are always other people who want to take it,” he said.
Dream Team watch – Patrick Veszpremi is rated a $230,700 forward in Toyota AFL Dream Team 2009.
