On the weekend he made the move to Adelaide to begin pre-season training with SANFL team, North Adelaide.

The 17 year old was invited to train with the club at the start of December, after team scouts saw him play in the Under 17 Country Championships earlier this year.

For a week Baulderstone went through the pre-season paces with North’s senior squad, which included the likes of last year’s Magarey Medallist James Allan.

While it was a gruelling week, Baulderstone obviously showed he had what it takes, with the club signing him for the 2008 season.

At this stage, he doesn’t know what grade he will be playing, but he hopes to make his mark in the senior grades and aims to play every week.

“The training was hard compared to anything I have done so far ... but I’m just happy to get the opportunity,” Baulderstone said.

While in Adelaide, he will be staying with family and is hoping to attend Black Friars Priory College to study year 12.

Baulderstone’s football career started when he was about nine years old for local club Central Whyalla, and he played in his first A grade premiership with the team last year.

But it has been in the past couple of years that he has begun to take the sport more seriously, and has his eye on the AFL.

Now standing at 196cm tall, with still a couple more centimetres to grow, Baulderstone is looking to model his game on North Melbourne Kangaroos player Hamish McIntosh.

Since his training with the club, coached by Adelaide Crows star Andrew Jarman, he has been doing a full pre-season program at home so he is not behind when he gets to Adelaide.

While Baulderstone is both nervous and excited about what his football future might hold, he has grabbed this opportunity with both hands and is not looking back.