He has broken into the Roosters' line-up for the first time and is beginning to make a mark in the VFL.

The Portland youngster appeared to be going places after a fine debut season with the North Ballarat Rebels in 2002, when he represented Victorian Country in the National AFL Under-18 Championships.

He was one of five Rebels in the Victorian Country team and he still had a year to go at that age level.

But while the other four kicked on - Luke Brennan and Brad Sewell are with Hawthorn, Tristan Cartledge is with Essendon and Adam Fisher was on Melbourne's rookie list for two years - Chester ran into major injury trouble and his progress stalled.

Chester broke an ankle in 2003 and was limited to just 10 appearances with the Rebels.

While Rebels team-mates Jed Adcock (now with Brisbane Lions), Adam Campbell (Fremantle) and Troy Chaplin (Port Adelaide) moved on, a lot of the impetus Chester had built up waned. He said after having surgery to get the ankle right, he found

it difficult to get back into football despite making the Roosters' list for the 2004 VFL season. Without a full pre-season training program, he spent the year playing 19 games in the reserves.

Determined to get back on the football map this year, Chester grabbed the chance to get in a full pre-season and he is now reaping the benefits.

Although North Ballarat suffered a 98-point hiding at the hands of Bendigo Bombers on Saturday, Chester provided one of the few bright spots for the Roosters with four goals.

He said his aim this year was to stay fit and play as many senior games as possible.