TEENAGER Hugh Foott has something to prove to the football world.
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And he plans to do it in North Ballarat colours in the Victorian Football League this year.
Foott, of Swan Hill, has signed with the Roosters after finding himself on the AFL scrap heap just 12 months after the excitement of being drafted by the Kangaroos.
Like so many youngsters, the now 19-year-old appeared set to live out a dream when picked up by the Kangaroos.
He caught the eye in the Bendigo Pioneers' 2001 TAC Cup grand final campaign and when representing Victorian country in the Australian under-18 championships two years running.
Unfortunately, things did not work out as Foott had hoped.
Although he played 19 VFL games for the Murray Kangaroos last year, Foott said there were too many other big, key position players for him to make the impact he needed to to remain on the senior list. Foott said it was always going to be tough being drafted at number 80, particularly when the Kangaroos had such a tall list.
While the Kangaroos had a wealth of height, it is something North Ballarat cannot get enough of and Foott is a welcome addition to what will again be a young combination.
Foott is one of many players who have come out of the TAC Cup over the past couple of seasons targeted by the Roosters.
He could easily have gone home to play with Swan Hill in the Central Murray league, but Foott said he was determined to show he had what it took to play at the highest level.
"I want to play at the highest level available and North Ballarat is just the place to give me the opportunity," said Foott, who will study primary teaching at the University of Ballarat.
Foott spent most of last year at full-back or in a back pocket, but hopes to make centre half-back his own with the Roosters.
Foott is from one of Swan Hill's best known football families. His father Steve was a top player for the Swans and coached Swan Hill, while uncles Vince and Peter Foott were two of country Victoria's best big men.
* While Hugh Foott begins his primary teaching studies this year, North Ballarat midfielder Lance Brown has returned to the Swan Hill district to begin a primary teaching career.
He will play with his former club Lalbert in the CMFL after four seasons and 47 senior games with the Roosters.