Todd Carbone is the first player in 2015 to do the double. The round 12 Syd Guildford nominee, is this weeks Rising Star nominee.

The 20-year-old Mt Gravatt midfielder starred in the Vultures wins over Sandgate on Saturday, using his explosiveness to burn them on the outside, and polish to use the ball well going forward.

“It was good to get a win more so than anything. It’s been pretty tough of late, and the boys really came together well,” Carbone said.

“I got a fair bit of it but that was mostly due to the work of the boys on the inside, and the big ground definitely helped me being an outside player.”

He said the thing that’s changed the most since we last spoke to him a month ago is the confidence that continues to grow in his place in the side.

“I’m more comfortable in that midfield role and I’m working a bit better defensively than I was,” he said.

On the team front, Mt Gravatt have proven, despite their huge injury list, that they are more than capable of pushing finals bound teams.

“The Morningside game was a very difficult game for both sides. It was very congested and very physical. Most of the boys were still pretty sore on the Thursday. It was good to at least be competitive against one of the topsides,” Carbone said.

It wasn’t just last round Carbone was excellent, he proved a real handful for Morningside in that game as well, demonstrating that he shouldn’t be discounted in the conversation about some of the elite midfielders in the comp.

“I hold the Morningside midfield, and all the other teams for that matter, in a very high regard because they have been doing it consistently for a long time now, so it’s good to know that I can at least compete against them,” he said.

While the rest of 2015 is about building into 2016 for the seniors, Carbone just wants to keep his rich vein of form rolling on.

“It’s always good to play good footy, our two’s are heading into a finals campaign as well, but for me the goal is to just to play some more good footy, I’m not looking too far ahead at this stage,” Carbone said.

Mt Gravatt take on the inform Western Magpies this Saturday at home, kicking off at 2:00pm.

By Andrew Wiles – @andrewjwiles