South Warrnambool footballer George Stevens wins gold at School Sport Australia championships

The South Warrnambool utility swapped one Victorian uniform for another, racing to state basketball training in Melbourne on Saturday less than 24 hours after playing in the national football grand final in Darwin.

Stevens, 12, will represent Victoria at School Sport Australia-run under 12 basketball championships in December.

The St Joseph Primary School student’s hectic weekend schedule also included the Hampden league under 14 preliminary final at Leura Oval on Sunday.

“I will scoot home (after basketball training) and go straight to bed I reckon,” he said shortly after landing in Melbourne on Saturday afternoon.

Stevens was the leading goalkicker at the national titles, booting 16 goals across five games.

He booted two majors in Victoria’s 54-point drubbing of South Australia under lights on Friday night.

He started the grand final in attack before switching into the ruck.

Stevens, who plays in defence at club level, said he was pleased to play a role in Victoria’s success.

“It’s pretty special actually,” he said.

“You always dream of making rep teams for the state and for the club even.

“It was always going to be tough but Victoria has always been pretty strong.”

Stevens said he learned lessons from the titles and wanted to work on his fitness. His gold medal-winning performance capped off a big week for the Stevens family after older brother Archie collected the Hampden league under 14 best and fairest on Monday night.