North Melbourne’s second year player Nathan O’Keefe has put himself in the best possible position in order to earn his AFL debut and it could come as early as round 8.

The 19 year-old was placed on the Kangaroos’ emergency list for the first time in his short career last week in the lead up to the round 7 Collingwood match at the MCG.

With his services not required, O’Keefe travelled to Williamstown on Sunday and delivered on of the day’s standout performances in the VFL.

The forward finished with four goals, 14 possessions and 3 tackles and will now come into serious consideration to play against the Adelaide Crows on Saturday night at Etihad Stadium.

O’Keefe’s sudden rise and solid form has come as somewhat of a surprise after he was struck down by glandular fever in the pre-season. The illness caused him to miss several weeks of training and he was left well behind the rest of the pack as a result. But some gritty determination and a superb work ethic has given him every hope of realizing a life-long dream to play AFL football.

Selected by North at pick 59 in the 2008 National Draft, O’Keefe stands at 193 centimeters tall and caught the eye of the club’s Talent Identification Manager Bryce Lewis with his strong marking for the Eastern Ranges.

“He didn't actually play a lot of TAC Cup footy - maybe six or seven games,” North Melbourne senior assistant coach Darren Crocker said late last year.

“Getting a few games of senior VFL footy into him was always going to be beneficial…He realises he's got to work hard and get stronger because he's only a lightly built kid.”

Along with Josh Smith, Robbie Tarrant, and Corey Jones, O’Keefe continues to keep healthy pressure on North’s current playing forwards in Aaron Edwards, Ben Warren, and David Hale.