LITTLE Rory Matthews doesn't have any brothers or sisters to play footy with, so he trains with an alpaca, a dog, a pig and a cockatoo.
And they have turned the once-timid footballer into a tackling machine.
The energetic eight-year-old, who lives on the Children's Animal Farm at Tarneit, trains every day with his animal friends.
Chicky the alpaca tackles Rory at every opportunity, while border collie Jet retrieves the balls.
Hamlet the miniature pig just darts around having fun, while cockatoo Lu Lu jumps up and down on the sidelines cheering them all on.
The unlikely training partners are a godsend for Rory.
As an only child, he often cast a lonely figure on the large property belonging to his parents, Najida and Rodney.
But the footy-smart animals have toughened Rory up for the Westbourne Warriors in the Western Region Football League under-9s.
Because he's such a small guy, when he first started playing he was too much of a gentleman and would let everyone else get the ball," Ms Matthews said.
We used to say 'Rory, you've got to go for the ball' and he would say, 'Oh no, that's all right'.
"So I just threw Chicky out there one day when he was kicking, because Chicky has an attitude, and it just started from there.
"Now Rory is a tackling tiger. He is a fierce tackler on the field now."
Rory said only a couple of his teammates knew about his training partners.
"Some said it was cheating and others said it was great," he said.
"They think it's cheating because I've got someone to tackle and they don't because their dads are working and their mums are having a snooze.
"It's helped me a lot. I can't tackle dad because he is too fast so I grab Chicky.
"Maybe all the other kids are jealous."
Coach Tony Green said he was thinking of using Chicky at training to toughen up the rest of the squad.
"Rory had all the ball skills at the start of the season but he was timid in going for the ball in the packs," Mr Green said.
"Over the last four weeks he has improved his tackling and getting the ball.
"The reason for this is because of a very unusual training drill, which we are going to implement with the team.
Last Modified on 06/03/2008 19:44