He’s the soccer kid who has Australia talking. The boy who strips to his Bonds while juggling a football, eventually catching it in his underpants.

At South Sydney High School, Maroubra, the Bonds boy is simply known as Kane Edwards.

While he may be a magician with the football, this 17-year-old can actually play. He represents St George under-18s as a right winger and has ambitions of playing at a high level.

Yesterday he took time out from his HSC trials to fly to Brisbane, where he walked the catwalk and again performed his tricks for Bonds.

Kane’s schoolmates think he’s a champion and so do his Saints teammates. And he’s in favour with the girls – so much so that he’s been flooded with invites for end-of-year formals. And they’re not just from the southside, but schools north of the bridge as well.

“I don’t even know them,” he sheepishly admits.

A friend told Kane about the Bonds ad audition and he eventually beat 31 others for the part. Kane revealed that it was a school friend who sent him a text message that there was an audition at Fox Studios for the Bonds ad.

“I’d always juggled a ball since I was young but it was about three years ago that I started football freestyle (doing tricks). It’s an online competition where you place videos on YouTube,” he said.

“When I went to the first audition they wanted someone who could remove their clothes (except underpants) while juggling the ball. I didn’t think I had much chance. I was called back and there were even more people being tested.

“This time they asked for a special trick. I caught it in my undies first go. What else I did was my own idea. I was hoping I might get a side part initially. I was surprised when I got the main role.”

Bonds looked at 32 people for the role – even some from outside Australia. A Bonds representative said yesterday that apart from the fact Kane was a wonder boy with his tricks, he was a fresh talent, down to earth, had a great sense of humour and was very energetic.

Kane revealed he spends three hours some days working on his creative skills with the ball. “When I have a long session like that, I’ll take the next day off,” he said.

“It’s something I might be able to teach people when I finish school. I’ve certainly been giving it a lot of thought.”

Tricks aside, Kane’s burning desire is to play professional football. As a rep player with Sydney Olympic and now with Saints, Kane can’t wait for the weekends when he uses his speed and skills on the flank to torment defenders.

“I am not a noted goalscorer but I’ve been involved in a lot of assists. I enjoy that,” he said.

The season comes to an end for Saints when they play Granville at the weekend. After that, Kane will turn his attention to Futsal (indoor soccer) – and that’s a sport where he can really use his magic.

Source : The Daily Telegraph
Published : 20/8/2008
By : John Taylor
Picture by : Jim Trifyllis