His captain, Geoff Williams, says excellence is the expectation from the rising star.

Hetherington is enjoying a breakout Warrnambool and District Cricket Association season, averaging 28.4 runs and claiming 13 wickets to stake his claim as a genuine all-rounder.

“He’s certainly come on leaps and bounds in division one this season,” Williams, a first-year captain, said.

“He’s become a bit of a leader. There are a lot of young fellas in our side, but he’s developing some leadership skills.

“We sort of brought him into division one as a 14 or 15-year-old and he’s probably played 30 games at that level now. We’re happy with how he’s tracking.”

The 18-year-old’s statistics tell a similar tale.

Hetherington has already almost doubled his entire runs total from 2016-17 – blasting 227 – to feature heavily in Factory’s top order.

“Jacob has been working hard on his batting with the likes of Caleb Bidmade and Charlie Locke in the nets. They’re always up there,” Williams said.

“He’s a powerful young guy. He likes to hit boundaries and he made that impression in juniors. In division one, that’s obviously a lot harder to do.

“But he knows he has to get his timing and placement right and start to pick off those bad balls. He’s definitely expected to make runs for us batting at number five.”

Hetherington is in the mix for a Melbourne Country Week berth, with early performances catching the eye of selectors.

Williams said the all-rounder was deserving of a place in the 13-man squad.

“I know they’ve taken a couple of young lads over the last couple of years, and of the current young group (in the association) I think he’s leading the pack.

“It’d be a good experience for him.”