Anthony Caminiti was expecting to be spending most of 2023 grilling steaks, waiting tables and getting his teeth stuck into an engineering degree. All of a sudden, his life is looking a whole lot different to what it would have been this time last fortnight.

Ordinarily it would be ‘apron on’ for the young Italian from Heidelberg, clocking in for either a shift at his uncle’s steakhouse in Kew or the nearby café off High Street Junction. Now, he’ll likely be giving his two weeks’ notice for both as he prepares to carve out a new venture with St Kilda.

The 19-year-old will now be donning the red, white and black full-time in place of his two casual hospitality jobs, landing himself a place on the Saints’ list via the Supplemental Selection Period (SSP) despite being at the club for a little over a week.

“I’m just in complete shock, I’m speechless,” Caminiti told saints.com.au moments after being told the club had signed him.

“This has just been a whirlwind of a week, I started at the club on Monday and have already been signed (on Friday)… it feels pretty ridiculous.

“I can’t wait to just get started, I’m just so keen to keep training with the boys, getting better and developing and we’ll see what happens from there.”

Caminiti was given just four training sessions to press his case with the SSP window closing on February 15. He only needed two.

An eye-catching audition at last Friday’s match simulation session – complete with multiple goals and several contested grabs up forward – was all Ross Lyon needed to see for the rookie hopeful to earn his place well ahead of the SSP deadline; a fact even more impressive given he only trained at the club for the first time last Monday and remained in Melbourne for the club’s two-day community camp in Wangaratta.

The youngster, already known as ‘Hammer’, was delivered the news by assistant coach Robert Harvey to kick off last Friday’s end-of-week meeting, and had barely set foot out of the room when Acting General Manager Football Operations David Misson gave him the contract to sign. 

Caminiti is the second player to join the club via the SSP following ex-Blue Liam Stocker, who was onboarded in mid-January. Both have come from Carlton backgrounds, with the former signing onto the Blues’ VFL program in October before his unexpected AFL berth.

A mobile and athletic key forward coming up just shy of two metres (196cm), the teenager’s inclusion couldn’t come at a better time with the Saints missing Max King (shoulder), last year's SSP sensation Jack Hayes (foot) and Matthew Allison (foot) for at least the opening weeks of the season.

Despite being overlooked at the past two drafts – in part due to a bizarre syndesmosis and fractured fibula setback during a water fight at his Year 12 muck-up day – Caminiti enjoyed a prominent run at Carey Grammar in the APS competition upon return before booting 16 goals from 11 games while with the Northern Knights in 2022.

Just like a good steak needs enough minutes in the pan to properly release its full flavour potential, Caminiti still needs that added time in an elite AFL environment to properly mature into a fully developed forward. 

Sometimes though, having that steak a little on the raw side can be just as good.