The golden boy of Australian tennis Pat Rafter swapped his tennis racquet for a black and red football guernsey yesterday. The former world number one played his first game for Essendon’s affiliated NSW team – the North Shore Bombers. Rafter played just over one half against Western Suburbs in the winning reserves team and kicked two goals.

Rafter retired from the international tennis circuit two years ago and has been training with the North Shore Bombers for just over 12 months as a way of keeping fit. ""A couple of the guys he met through playing touch footy with them and they encouraged him to come down and have a run around,"" North Shore coach Simon Wilson said.

Rafter was born and bred in Queensland and has never played junior football before, so it was a first for him yesterday. ""We encouraged him to have a game in the seconds and he was pretty keen to do that. So he had a run around yesterday for the first time. It is good fun for him and very, very casual,"" Wilson said.

Despite never playing football, Rafter always carried a football around with him on tour and is a good kick. ""He has kicked a lot and does that well. He still has to learn a few of the finer points, but he is very inquisitive and if he is not sure of something he will just ask. He is very quick to pick things up with the natural sporting ability he has,"" he said.

Wilson couldn’t confirm Rafter’s long-term playing future with the club but is hoping he will play again this season. ""He is still very busy with different commitments. If he is here in Sydney I am sure he will have a few more games, but it is just very casual for him at the moment. It is more just a way of keeping fit and having some fun.""

North Shore had a great start to the season yesterday with all three (under-18s, reserves and seniors) team’s winning against the Western Suburbs.