There are moments in young players' AFL careers that announce "this kid belongs". Lin Jong's might have come not with something he did, but what someone else didn't.

In round two, the Western Bulldogs were getting on top of Richmond late in the last quarter, one more goal certain to close the deal, when Jong, running with the flight of the ball, took a terrific strong mark over the Tigers' Dylan Grimes 25 metres out.

Well, not officially. Umpire Shane McInerney, unsighted, called for a ball-up, much to the disgust of the Bulldog faithful. And to the displeasure of Jong, who in his 12th game, proceeded to tell the AFL's most experienced umpire, with more than 400 games to his name, exactly what he thought.

"He ran up to me and said: 'Calm down, calm down.' I think I was a bit angry about it," Jong chuckles.

His passion wouldn't have been lost on his peers. Nor, of course, the quality of the work that  preceded it. And both are proving instrumental in the Western Bulldogs' very impressive start to the new season.

While there's been plenty of attention paid to the silky Marcus Bontempelli, the hard work of Jack Macrae, the goalkicking feats of Jake Stringer and the improvement of key defender Michael Talia at Whitten Oval this year, Jong's contribution has been equally important.

In four games, he's failed to gather at least 20 possessions only once. He's ranking third for the Dogs in tackles and inside 50s, fourth for contested ball and fifth for clearances, and managed a couple of goals in last week's big win over Adelaide.

Even in the Bulldogs' one loss, to Hawthorn, Jong could hold his head high, though he's still marvelling at how a couple of big-name opponents, Luke Hodge and Jordan Lewis, managed to rack up 85 touches between them.

"I don't think I had 80 touches the whole of last year," he laughs. "They tell us don't worry about who you're playing on, but sometimes it's a bit hard when it's someone like Luke Hodge."

But Jong's sense of belonging at AFL level has risen steadily of late. There was his superb VFL finals series last September in which he was best on ground or close to it in each of Footscray's three games, including their grand final win over Box Hill. In the midst of that came his elevation from rookie to the Bulldogs' senior list and re-signing on his first two-year contract.

He turned in a pre-season campaign his new captain Bob Murphy described as "impeccable". And there was his selection in the Dogs' round one team to play West Coast. For Jong, that in itself was a big deal.

"It was a massive goal for me to play in round one," he says. "In previous years, being on the rookie list, whether that was realistic I really don't know. But I think being promoted, I just felt like I belonged here a bit more, and that everyone had a bit more belief in me."

And, in a purely football sense, he in himself. Jong's football prowess is now becoming as big a part of his story as his cultural heritage, which was always going to be a point of interest from the moment he was selected by the Bulldogs in the rookie draft late in 2011.

Jong's mother Fay was born in Taiwan, His father, Vitor, is from East Timor. They'd met after Vitor had fled civil war at the age of 18 to find work and to study, first in Japan, then Macau, Hong Kong and then Taiwan, the couple arriving in Australia in 1985.

They lived in Clayton South, then moved to Wheelers Hill when Lin was in grade four. He's only recently moved out. It was a busy household, Lin the youngest of five children and the only boy, his four sisters Penny, now 31, Sonia, 27, Josie, 25, and Fiona, 23.

Lin was a sports nut from a young age. He found basketball early and was good enough to represent his state at junior level. Australian football was always an interest, too. But as supportive as his parents were, the cultural differences when it came to this country's indigenous code were more confronting.

"Footy really intrigued me, and I did want to play it, but I found it kind of hard to step into it," Jong says. Why? "I suppose it was just feeling comfortable enough to go to the local football club. My parents weren't really aware of how to go about it, and I guess I was a bit too timid to tell them I wanted to play footy.

"I played a fair bit in high school [Brentwood Secondary College] and because I did OK, my friends who played for the local team, Glen Waverley Rovers, asked me to join. I knew I'd be the only kid of my background, and it was a bit weird at the start, but once I signed up I couldn't wait to play."

For a while, he played both basketball and football, but not for long. "I was training for basketball on Sunday morning before I played a football game, but in the end it just felt like too much. I wasn't enjoying it, and I knew I loved footy a lot more than I did basketball."

Jong's coaches all talk about his capacity to learn quickly. Nevertheless, a late start left him with some catching up to do. "For me, kicking's been the biggest one."

What was wrong with it? "What was right with it?" he laughs. "The ball drop was a massive one, the stabilising leg on the kick, the little wrist flick I had, making it spin the right way … it feels like a while ago now. I'm not saying I'm a great kick, but I do feel more confident with it."

Game sense has been another. "When there was a kick inside 50, I might have just watched the ball and jogged around instead of straight away turning to look at my opponent. That's something I've picked up on."

And Jong happily concedes that while he didn't necessarily love the tagging roles he was assigned for much of last season, in hindsight what was a difficult year, when he played five games in succession up to round six then didn't appear at AFL level again until round 22, taught him plenty.

"I got dropped after I tagged [Adelaide's] Paddy Dangerfield and he had about 30 touches, and I think I lost a bit of confidence," he says. "I just didn't have the same mindset, I felt a bit sorry for myself and it took me a while to get going again.

"But I definitely learned something tagging. I don't want to make it sound like I wasn't grateful for getting a game and doing that role, but I guess I felt like I had more to give than that. I know they say you can still run off your opponent, but I think you spend a lot more energy negating them than you do offensively. I wouldn't say I didn't enjoy it, I just felt like I had more to give."

His new coach seems to agree. Jong can't speak highly enough of Luke Beveridge, recalling their first meeting after the new man was appointed pretty late in the piece last November.

"I think the thing that stood out was he said he believes in fun in the workplace, which I think has been one of the biggest differences this year," he says. "Even after the Hawthorn loss, we learned from it, but we moved on and didn't dwell on it. I really feel like he has a lot of belief and confidence in me. I just enjoy the way he goes about everything."

It's another reason for feeling a greater sense of belonging. Not that Jong intends shying away from his most obvious cultural point of difference to his teammates. Far from it. He's one of a clutch of AFL players who are multicultural ambassadors.

"It's funny," he ponders. "Sometimes I think: 'All you're really doing is playing footy', but I guess in a way that might inspire some kid out there, and I'm more than happy to do that. I understand that my cultural background is unique in the game, and I embrace it."

And for a 21-year-old with just 14 games under his belt but right now clearly a walk-up start in the Western Bulldogs' best 22, it's pretty nice to in turn be embraced for his football talent, too.