The 18-year-old is hopeful the NAB League can press ahead to its August 22 start date despite rising coronavirus cases throughout Victoria.

Marris, a South Warrnambool export, is studying at Ballarat's St Patrick's College as a boarder and juggling year 12 studies with a budding football career.

Marris knows he's not the tallest in stature but hopes a commitment to crafting his disposal and athleticism can catch the eye of recruiters.

"I do want to play the best footy possible at whatever level that might be," he told The Standard.

"Whatever that is, I don't really mind. The end goal would obviously be to play AFL, but if it's good quality club footy that's OK.

"I've really just been working on that speed and cleanliness. I'm small in stature so that's something you can always improve, you can always be cleaner with your kicking."

Draft prospects will face a modified NAB League format in 2020.

The AFL announced in July it would only cater for teams based in regional zones - including Marris' Greater Western Victoria Rebels - to mitigate COVID-19 risks.

Marris said he was excited to pull on a Rebels' guernsey after a near 12-month lay-off from NAB League action.

"It's good that it's coming back sooner rather than later, because it's been a fair while," he said.

"It feels like ages since we last played. I'm looking forward to it. I'm not sure if it will go ahead but it's good to have a date locked in place.

"It's something to aim for and something to look forward to."

The midfielder played one game for South Warrnambool in the Hampden league's under 18.5 competition before it was abandoned due to coronavirus.

Outside of that, training has taken centre stage.

"We've been given a pretty in depth skills and conditioning program from (the Rebels)," Marris said.

"I've been following that pretty much since isolation began.

"I've been able to do a couple of things since restrictions have eased a bit and we've been able to do some things in small groups.

"It's good to be back with a bit more of a group though."

Marris said full Rebels training would resume next week.

He was relishing the test of playing NAB League football once again.

"It's a pretty high standard and you don't get a lot of time with the footy," Marris said.

"You've got to make sure you're pretty switched on."

Away from footy, university is a possibility. "I'm not sure what I'll look to study yet. I haven't got my mind set on one thing," Marris said.

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