A mullet, moustache and some high flying on the footy field has fast made Brandon Zerk-Thatcher a fan favourite amongst Bombers fans.

Affectionately known as ‘BZT’ by the red and black faithful, the 24-year-old closed out season 2022 by playing eight consecutive AFL matches, his longest stretch since 2020.

After several years of development, Zerk-Thatcher held his own in the Dons’ back six, playing to his strengths and having some of the best games of his young career.

While it might be easy to rest on his laurels, Zerk-Thatcher knows that success is never achieved like this.

The new coaching shakeup has reinvigorated himself and the playing group, creating an accommodating, yet competitive environment for the whole squad.

“We’re all very hungry for success,” Zerk-Thatcher said.

“Over the last couple weeks I have been there, Brad’s (Scott) new coaching style that he is trying to implement is going really well.”

“The boys are really buying into it.”

While his calm demeanour is apparent off the field, the competitor in Zerk-Thatcher is second to none and his desire to take the next step is undeniable.

Like many of the more experienced players on the list, the work never stopped as Zerk-Thatcher and a host of players rolled back into the club before their due date.

“It’s good to get back with the young fellas and get the work in with the footy early,” Zerk-Thatcher said.

“For me personally I have put a hard focus on myself with my running, so I can look to run out more games and get to more contests.”

Outside of football, Zerk-Thatcher found the off-season a great opportunity to reset mentally.

With travel a keen interest for Zerk-Thatcher, after two heavily-impacted COVID years, he managed to tick off 15 countries in the offseason.

“I went over to Europe and got to travel, which is something I really enjoy doing,” Zerk-Thatcher said.

“We got to visit 15 different countries which was awesome and the perfect way to spend the break.”

With his focus now fully set on 2023 and the club bolstering its’ development stocks significantly, the opportunity for self-development has never been greater.

For Zerk-Thatcher, Travis Cloke and Michael Hurley have been instrumental early in the pre-season.

“’Trav’ Cloke and Michael Hurley, have been great to work with in development sessions,” he said.

“They bring a lot of valuable knowledge that we can tap into, it has been really insightful so far.”