Big plans for star with the sparkle

HE’S the kid with the curly blond hair and sparkling on-field moves who has become a cult figure in just two senior AFL games.

Meet “Quincy”, “Narks” and “Narkle Sparkle”, also known as 20-year-old Quinton Narkle from Wesley College in Perth, the school that boasts Ben Cousins, Lance Franklin, Michael Gardiner and cricketers Mitch and Shaun Marsh among its alumni.

And while Narkle’s Geelong journey has been brief — his debut would have come earlier but for a 2017 knee reconstruction — the club has big plans for him.

The club’s national recruiting and list manager Stephen Wells knew he was recruiting a young man with both on-field and offfield skills when taking Narkle at pick 60 in the 2016 national draft.

“All our research suggested he was a top-quality young man who will be a leader down the track and he couldn’t have been more highly endorsed from the people we spoke to about him,” Wells said.

Narkle is quietly spoken but inwardly confident as he strives to emulate presentday midfielders such as Nat Fyfe, Dustin Martin and Patrick Dangerfield.

“I want to be an exciting player like those three, not just a standard ball-winning midfielder,” he said.

“I’m not really outgoing but I’m quietly confident and if I want to do something, I’ll put my mind to it.”

Narkle has seven siblings — two older brothers, one younger and four younger sisters.