Carlton has signed a 17 year old Peter Labi from Papua New Guinea on a two-year International Scholarship. The dynamic half forward played with Mt Gravatt in QAFL this year (the home club of Shaun Hampson) and has joined the Blues on an International Scholarship just four years after he was introduced to AFL football at school in his PNG birth town of Lae.

The speedster has become the second Papua New Guinean product in two months to earn an astonishing passage way to the AFL.

Carlton's recruiting team, which has a wide network throughout Australia, have watched the progress of Labi, particularly during the 2009 season, and a five goal performance in the QAFL semi-final only added to the interest from the Blues and confirmed the decision to invite him to become a Blue.

General Manager Football Operations, Steven Icke made a special trip to Brisbane to sign the papers with Labi on Thursday, confirming the Blues had advised him of the Club’s intentions in late September.

Icke said Carlton was excited by the “package” that Labi represents. “When you look at his athleticism, his ability to find the footy and kick goals, and his defensive pressure, he’s got a bit to offer,” he said.

“And he’s had a pretty disrupted two or three years when he’s moved around a lot. He’s going to get bigger and stronger, and we think if we get him into an AFL environment there’s a fair bit of up-side.”

Lab will head south next month on a journey similar to that of countrymen and close friend David Meli, who was recruited by Essendon from Gold Coast-based QAFL club Southport on a similar deal in August.

This completes a meteoric rise in which Labi, after showing good promise with Nambour and Sandgate in the State League second division competition in 2008, played a total of 18 senior games in the QAFL State League this year, kicking 23 goals.

He played 13 games with Mt.Gravatt under coach David Lake, including three winning finals and the grand final loss to Morningside, and five games with the Brisbane Lions Reserves as a top-up player.

The second-youngest of six children, Labi was born on New Year’s Eve 1991, stands a healthy 189cm and 84kg but is still growing. He has an uncle who is 207cm tall, and a cousin is a member of the PNG national basketball team.

A product of the fast-growing AFL Oceania development network headed by Andrew Cadzow, he said he used to watch AFL football on television but didn’t play until four years ago when the AFL introduced a schools program in Lae.

“The guys at my school asked if anyone was interested so I went home and asked my Mum. She said ‘give it a shot’,” the personable and well-spoken teenager explained.

“I love it so much. When I was told about Carlton I was so surprised I nearly cried. I called my Mum and Dad straight away and everyone was so pleased for me.”

Labi will head to Melbourne in time for the start of summer training at Visy Park on
2 November and will play next year with the Northern Bullants, Carlton’s VFL affiliate coached by David Teague.

Labi moved to Queensland two years ago but at 16 was the youngest member of the PNG Mosquitoes team that won the International Cup grand final at the MCG in a curtain-raiser during the 2008 AFL finals series.

He also played two years with the Suncoast Power side at the Australia Post Queensland U16 Championships, and last year, having made a permanent base in south-east Queensland, graduated via the Nambour U18s to the seniors at Nambour and Sandgate.

He admitted the long absences from home were difficult for the first two seasons, but he has been much more comfortable this year, living with Lake and his family since June.

The Mt.Gravatt coach had traveled to PNG with Cadzow on a promotional expedition in December last year and umpired several games in which Labi and Meli played.

“I’d seen him (Labi) play for Nambour in the U18 division two grand final so I knew what I was getting - one pretty exciting package,” Lake said. “And up there he was playing as a ruckman because he’s taller than most of the kids his age. He played like (Sydney Swans champion) Adam Goodes.”

Lake is an unabashed fan. “He’s a bit special. He’s so clean and crisp with his skills, is a strong, powerful athlete and he kicks it beautifully. He only needs five possessions to kick five goals and he’s hard to match up on because of his height and speed,” he said.

Lake describes Labi as “so honest and real” and tells the story of how his star boarder would watch tapes of his games to identify weaknesses in his performance and put together a highlights tape for AFL talent scouts.

“One day he watched five games in a row and when I got home he told me how he had learned three things about his game - (a) that he only worked up towards the ball - not back like (Grogan Medalist) Nathan Gilliland; (b) he doesn’t work hard enough for the team when the ball is not in his area and (c) he doesn’t go for his marks strongly enough,” he said.

“He finished with ‘play me this week Lake and I will kick five”. And he did just that against Redland in the semi-final.”

Lake said former Brisbane Lions triple premiership ace and Vultures teammate Darryl White had been a key factor in Labi’s development. “Midway through the year he saw him do a few things and took a special interest - it became Whitey’s life work to teach him and he got a real thrill out of his progress.”

Labi, the Round 17 nomination for the NAB AFLQ Rising Star Award, twice kicked five goals in a game at senior level this year - against Broadbeach in Round 18 and Redland in the semi-final. He impressed Blues scouts no end with his effort in the second week of the finals.

Labi, whose father is the Police Commissioner in Lae, had until now been a huge Brisbane Lions fan, listing Jonathan Brown as his favorite player. But he says he “cannot wait” to join the Carlton playing group.

He will see one familiar face among his new teammates, having played in the Lions Reserves this year alongside former first-round draft pick Lachlan Henderson, who has joined the Blues as part of the trade for Brendan Fevola.

Scott Reid, a proud chairman of AFL PNG, said he hoped the recruitment of Labi on top of that of Meli would reinforce the message to youngsters in that country that the AFL was not an impossible dream.

“It’s been so exciting for us to see first David and now Peter win the recognition that they so richly deserve but if I can one thing to AFL recruiting scouts - there are plenty more where they came from,” Reid said.