HE'S BEEN dubbed the next Mal Michael, but to most of Alipate Carlile's teammates he’s known simply as 'Bob'.
Carlile, who started the season with just 10 senior games to his name, has fast become the Power's giant-killer and has a similar presence to Michael, the Brisbane Lions triple premiership player who retired last week.
The Fijian-born defender was given a taste of the full-back position in 2007, at the expense of former mentor Darryl Wakelin, but there were questions marks hanging over his readiness to take over the role full-time this season.
But the 21-year-old has since silenced his doubters, bettering big-name opponents like Brendan Fevola and Jonathan Brown.
Carlile, who was given his nickname by a former teammate who struggled to pronounce Alipate, played down his rapid rise.
"I’m just trying to do my job each week," the modest Carlile said.
"I’ve had guys like Troy Chaplin and Toby Thurstans helping me out and we have a pretty strong leadership group as well, so they’ve really helped and lessened the load.
"Belief from the playing group is the main thing I’m aiming for. The boys have given me a fair bit of feedback over the last couple of weeks and told me just to keep going.
"For me, it’s a learning opportunity the club gives us to learn and the environment [it] provides us is really good."
Vice-captain Chad Cornes already has complete faith in Carlile and described his form as one of the highlights of the club's frustrating season.
"For a young guy, he’s just so strong and, I said it at the start of the year, but I think he’ll be the next Mal Michael hopefully for the next 10 years at the club," Cornes said.
"He’s going to be a great player and he’s probably been one of our better players this season."
Carlile, a second cousin of teammate David Rodan, said the season had been one massive learning experience.
"I learned a lot playing on Barry Hall and also Jonathan Brown," he said.
"Then I’ve had guys like Nick Riewoldt, who are different styles of players and just run a lot. There have been heaps of players [I’ve played on] and I’ve learned something off everyone.
"You always have to be on your guard because the ball is always going to come to you [when playing on the better players]. I’m just trying to take each contest by itself and, if I get beaten at one, I try and win the next one.
"It’s been a good year personally, but tough in the sense that we haven't been winning. It would be better to be winning rather than me having such a good year."
The Power could have pick three in November's NAB AFL Draft and Carlile revealed he'd spent some time getting to know highly-fancied WA ruckman Nicholas Naitanui.
"I’ve caught up with him a couple of times, but not lately," Carlile said.
"They’ve just been general chats and nothing about footy. I was just trying to get to know who he is and he’s a pretty down to earth kid, so he’s got a good head on his shoulders."
