MATTHEW Uebergang plays for a team and really wants to win. He enjoys the camaraderie and the challenge. He has to think quick under pressure, and act fast.
He has skills and uses them, and has built a reputation as an emerging youngster.
All of this in a world very far away from the football field, though the above might also apply to the 19-year-old Queensland forward and draft hopeful.
Uebergang is a semi-professional gamer, having travelled across Australia playing the computer game League of Legends, which sees a multitude of competitors fight it out on an online battle arena.
The strategic game is played in real-time and at high-pace: each player controls a character in a five-on-five format, and the goal is to destroy the enemy's team's base.
"It's like a cross between chess and basketball, that's how I explain it to people," Uebergang told AFL.com.au.
Uebergang got interested in the game about three years ago. He played it and enjoyed it, and then heard about a world championship, with a $1 million prize pool.
He researched, found there were plenty of Australian tournaments, and created a team made up of two of his brothers and friends.
"Then it started to grow in Australia, there were bigger tournaments, bigger prize pools and more sponsors getting attracted to the region," he said.
Through practice – sometimes up to eight hours a day – Uebergang and his team became very good at the game, and came close to winning some tournaments without ever getting over the line. "There was always that one team that just dominated," he said.
Over the past four months, though, his focus has turned to football, and getting drafted. He still plays League of Legends for some fun on the side, but has dropped out of his gaming team while the NAB AFL Under-18 Championships are on, and Queensland plays out its TAC Cup season.
"When the state and TAC Cup games started happening I had to step down from my team to travel each weekend for footy," he said.
"It was too hard to juggle things, and forcing your team to sub a player in each time you play footy wasn't really fair on them.
"[My Queensland teammates] all know about it, but they're a bit surprised. Not many people know about the professional video-gaming part of the world. It's something new, and it's going to grow rapidly in the next five years."
Uebergang's League of Legends discovery came at an interesting point of his football progression, about six months after leaving the Brisbane Lions academy.
The quick and agile Ipswich prospect only picked up the game as a 14-year-old, and quickly had his talent identified by the Lions. He played in Queensland's under-16 state side, but then grew tired of heading up and back to Brisbane three times a week for academy training so returned to play local level.
After about two seasons there, he was persuaded to have another go.
Broadbeach last year asked if he could feature in a couple of trial games, the Lions academy heard about it, and Uebergang was invited to try-out at a testing day with them before returning.
He's noticed the benefits since being back. His fitness is better, he's staying in games longer, and he's learned all about the structures and plans that go into being an elite level player.
Rejoining the academy has meant something else: the Lions have first rights on him at November's NAB AFL Draft if they feel he is up to it. Uebergang, who kicked two goals for Queensland in its win over the Northern Territory on Saturday, wants to show them he is.
"Hopefully I can play well in the last championships game (against NSW/ACT on Wednesday) and our last two TAC Cup games after that, and put my best foot forward," he said.
"It's also a good experience to play against guys your age who could potentially be drafted. It's good to go up against them."
