A Richmond supporter at heart, South Warrnambool Auskicker Joel King will be barracking for Sydney in this year's AFL grand final.
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Joel is one of the 2022 Auskicker of the Year nominees and will present one of the winning players (from Sydney or Geelong) with their premiership medallion at the MCG.
The seven-year-old wants the Swans to be victorious so he can hand superstar Lance Franklin his award.
Joel and the other 21 nominees were presented with personalised guernseys at a ceremony in Melbourne on Thursday.
They will take part in the grand final parade on Friday and will also perform a lap of honour at quarter-time of the decider.
Joel was named round three Auskicker of the Week in March after his mum Courtney helped him enter the competition.
"We saw the Auskicker of the Year competition online and I just put a video together of all his Auskick skills that he's learnt and he just said why he wanted to be Auskicker of the Year," Courtney said.
"We just entered and got a phone call a couple of weeks after that, that he'd won that round."
As part of his prize, the youngster was interviewed by Channel 7 presenter Hamish McLachlan at half-time of the Sydney versus Western Bulldogs game at Docklands Stadium.
The St Joseph's year two pupil admitted to being nervous at the time but said his favourite part of the experience was seeing Bulldogs forward Cody Weightman take a "big hanger".
Joel is passionate about his football and said "playing with teammates and kicking goals" were his favourite parts about participating.
His favourite player is Richmond champion Dustin Martin, the source of inspiration for his mullet-style haircut.
"He makes the game more exciting when he plays," Joel said of his love for the star Tiger.
Courtney will watch the grand final with her son.
"This has been a great experience," she said.
"I just love going and watching him play."
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