Bowes tried almost every sport he could, growing up in Cairns. He liked them all and was good at them: soccer, futsal, basketball, cricket and more recently, golf. But none of them ever meant as much to him as football, the game he gave all the others up for when he was 14. "I was getting ready for a cricket carnival and thought, I want to be playing footy," he said.

"It can get pretty hot, standing in the sun in Cairns all day playing cricket. I went back to my club, we won a premiership and I thought, 'that's a good note to finish on'. When it all came down to it, football was the first thing I did and the last thing I wanted to do."

He hasn't regretted his decision. By then, Bowes had joined the Suns Academy, knowing nothing about what it might lead to, how good he could be, whether the club would want him or how it would be able to get him. Last year he moved to the Gold Coast, to be closer to training and to spend more time at the club he is bound for at the end of this year, as an academy player, and the club's first highly-rated one.

To leave home was a big decision: Bowes had to start year 12 at a new school and get used to living a two-hour plane ride from his parents and younger brother. The Suns had to talk him into it. But he was lucky: his grandparents had moved from Cairns to the Gold Coast a few months earlier and he went straight in with them, a 10-minute drive from the Suns and not far from the university campus where he has since started a double degree in exercise science and business.

"It was a challenging year at first, having to make new friends and adapt to a new environment at school and the way they do things, but I came out of it with the score I wanted and I didn't lose any of my friends back at home so it worked out how it was meant to," he said. "The way I look at it, I would have moved away from home after year 12 anyway. So all I really did was force myself to do it a little bit earlier."

It has helped him learn more about himself as a footballer, and have time to work on all those things. Training each week with the Queensland state team last year, Bowes got to watch what Ben Keays and Eric Hipwood did, before both became first-round draftees for the Lions. He's been able to see the Gold Coast physios, to use the club's gym and to spend some time in their ice baths.

He trained through summer with the Suns, alongside Gary Ablett, Dion Prestia, David Swallow. Nick Malceski has helped him along, as have most of the other players. "It's hard to pinpoint anyone, because they've all been so good. It's the same with all the coaches there," he said. "They've all given me feedback and given me a lot of insights. But just being out there with the other players is the best thing. That's the best guide to whether you fit in, and how you fit in. It makes you realise what you have to do."

Bowes would love to be back there for good at the end of this year, and has made a promising start. He had nearly 30 possessions and kicked four goals playing for the Suns' NEAFL side two weeks ago, and was one of the AFL Academy's better players in their game against Werribee last Friday: smart, poised, skilful. He will be there again on Saturday when they play their final game together, against Geelong's VFL team. "It was such a good experience. It was awesome," he said. "I've only played on the MCG twice but it gets better and better, every time you go out there."

Bowes has played football since he was an Auskicker, and knows he would still love it now no matter what level he was playing at. But he's not sure he would be where he is had the academy not been there, and had he not let them convince him to make his big move.

"If I'd stayed in Cairns I'd be playing, but I'm not sure I'd be getting as much out of my footy as I am now," he said. "It's made such a big difference. It's not just what you get to do, it's what you get to see. You get such a big insight into what you're going to have to do to go further. It was a hard move to make, but it's the best thing I could have done."