It takes a lot of food to grow a young boy into a 203cm tall, 104kg AFL player.
So if there’s one thing Gold Coast’s newest Rising Star nominee Peter Wright should be able to do it’s cook himself a decent meal.
While the youngster dubbed ‘two-metre Peter’ has the makings to cause giant headaches for opposition defenders in years to come, it’s his work in the kitchen that’s impressed teammate Touk Miller the most.
“He’s an awesome cook. I quite enjoy my cooking and we kind of feed off each other when it comes to experiencing food and we always have cookbooks open while looking for the next thing to make,” Miller tells Aflplayers.com.au.
“He’s really good at making pancakes, I must say. He has 10 different varieties of pancakes he can whip up. I think he takes satisfaction in other people enjoying his food.
“He’s done a pretty good job at keeping these cooking skills fairly under wraps so far.”
Miller and Wright became friends during their junior days where Wright played for Moonee Valley and Miller for Maribyrnong Park.
“he was about 10 feet taller than everyone else, so he used to dominate other people by getting over the top of them” – Miller on Wright
It’s during those early years where Miller first discovered a tall and lanky Wright tear apart the competition once he found the confidence to match his unprecedented talent.
“I remember playing against him in what I think was under-10s and he was still about 10 feet taller than everyone else, so he used to dominate other people by getting over the top of them and take big marks because of his long arms.
“I was talking to him the other day and he said he used to build sandcastles in the backline but once he learnt to mark the footy, he was always going to be something pretty good.”
But Miller says it was after a junior carnival when the hype really started to build around the soon-to-be No.8 draft pick.
“At Vic Metro during the under-15s carnival, he played in the ruck for each game and gave gold platter service to all the midfielders, so that’s when I really knew he was going to be a great player. They were even talking about him going as the number one draft pick and you could tell he was going to have a bright future in footy.”
While have a physical presence on the field, Wright’s character is one more reserved and Miller explains the Suns forward “has only come out his shell a bit after seeing him every day but he thinks he’s pretty funny”.
Click here to read about Peter Wright after 2015’s Induction Camp.
It didn’t take long for the pair to work out they were going to live together after being drafted to the Suns. After standard host family arrangements immediately after moving north, the duo found their own place.
And just like on the field, Wright likes to put in a power of work around the house.
“We had just moved house and I started unpacking all the boxes in the kitchen and he turns around to me and said, ‘mate, I don’t know what you’ve done to the kitchen but it sucks, I’m going to have to re-pack everything’,” Miller says.
“He just decided to take it upon himself because what I’d done in the kitchen was terrible. He’s pretty particular when it comes to where the stuff goes.”
Wright’s appetite for the contest has secured him the Round 15 Rising Star nomination following 14 disposals, 10 marks and three goals against the Saints.
2016’s Rising Star nominees
Click here to read about Round 14 Rising Star nominee Jade Gresham
Click here to read about Round 13 Rising Star nominee James Sicily
Click here to read about Round 12 Rising Star nominee Lachie Weller
Click here to read about Round 11 Rising Star nominee Connor Blakely
Click here to read about Round 10 Rising Star nominee Darcy Byrne-Jones
Click here to read about Round 9 Rising Star nominee Christian Petracca
Click here to read about Round 8 Rising Star nominee Jacob Hopper
Click here to read about Round 7 Rising Star nominee James Harmes
Click here to read about Round 6 Rising Star nominee Blake Acres
Click here to read about Round 5 Rising Star nominee Tom Papley
Click here to read about Round 4 Rising Star nominee Caleb Daniel
Click here to read about Round 3 Rising Star nominee Jacob Weitering
Click here to read about Round 2 Rising Star nominee Darcy Parish
Click here to read about Round 1 Rising Star nominee Clayton Oliver