The 20-year-old has played all 19 games after his eye-catching NAB Cup display on Geelong superstar Gary Ablett, with his relentless pursuit of opposition onballers earning him a NAB Rising Star nomination along the way.
"He's done an amazing job to play on some of the better players in the competition and to beat some of them or nullify them. He's done a great job," coach Brett Ratten enthused.
"We saw a fair bit in Aaron last year and for him to have a full pre-season I think you've seen the rewards that the players get out of that."
Joseph toiled away with the Bullants in the VFL in his first season at the club without breaking through for his elusive AFL debut, but Ratten said that was in no way a poor reflection on the player.
"It's amazing the pressure that we put on the draft picks in their first year and the rookie kids [as well]," he said.
"The effort the rookies have to make in their first year is enormous. They're here pretty much a week before Christmas and by then they've missed out pretty much on the whole pre-season. Then we expect them to have a real impact in their first season.
"Jeff Garlett's in the same boat. What he's done to come and play the games he has – I think he's done an amazing job."
Joseph took it upon himself to arrive at the first pre-season training session of his second campaign in peak fitness, something he achieved by hitting the mountainous sand dunes around his home town of Strahan on the west coast of Tasmania during the break.
His terrier-like attack on both the ball and anyone wearing different colours who dares take possession of it has ruffled a few feathers in opposition camps, but Joseph has his coach's full backing.
"Playing on an opponent these days and putting your arm across them and having an accountable role does frustrate players and I think [Aaron] does that really well," he said.
"I haven't seen anything that's been against the rules and if I saw any of my players who did anything against the rules I'd be the first to come down on them because that's not in the spirit of the game."
