Kite, 19, is one of nine debutants in the Crows’ side named to take on the Indigenous All-Stars at TIO Stadium in Darwin on Saturday night.
Last year, Kite and Norwood teammate Taylor Walker surprised the hierarchy at West Lakes with their seamless transition into the SANFL and now, they want their shot at the big time.
“All of us younger blokes have put in a good pre-season. We’ve really carried each other through just to get to the NAB Cup and to be able to give each other a chance at playing,” Kite said in Darwin.
“There are a lot of spots up for grabs, so we’ll see who can take them.”
Kite and fellow second-year players Jared Petrenko, Myke Cook, Andy Otten and Walker have been among the standouts at training over the summer.
The athletic Victorian blossomed after receiving some blunt advice from his peers about how he should prepare for top-flight football.
It appears the message has stuck.
“I’ve done my best times ever in the 3km time trial and the Goody run and got myself up there with the top-five or six runners,” Kite said.
“I’ve only missed one session this whole pre-season, so that’s probably allowed me to be where I am at the moment and have a crack at selection.”
The deceptively quick Kite could have his hands full with one of a number of quick All-Stars forwards on Saturday night.
The indigenous team have pinched four of Adelaide’s quickest players in Andrew McLeod, Graham Johncock, Jarrhan Jacky and Petrenko, and skipper Simon Goodwin said his side would have to work together to combat the opposition’s speed.
“We had a look at the All-Stars forward line in the paper this morning and it looked very slippery,” Goodwin said.
“I’m not looking forward to it, but you can’t really plan for the x-factor. We’ve just got to stick to our structures and the way we want to play and try to hang on.”
Kite, who is rooming with Otten in just his second trip away with the club, said he was looking forward to his first official hit-out in Crows colours.
“I’m pretty excited. I haven’t really gotten too nervous yet, but it will probably kick in [Saturday] morning,” he said.
“I still have to put in a good performance to get looked at for round one and my goal is definitely to crack an AFL game, if not two or three this year.
“The NAB Cup is my first priority and I just want to get the feel of it tomorrow night before I put any other specific goals in place.”
Adelaide, like the All-Stars, trained in the rain on Friday. But Kite expected the humidity to pose a greater challenge than the slippery deck.
“We’ve had that sort of weather in Adelaide, so I guess we’ve had a chance to prepare for it to a certain extent, but I can’t say I’m a big fan of the heat or the humidity.”
