IT HAS been a whirlwind few days for International Scholarship Holder Joe Baker-Thomas who says goodbye to his friends and family in Wellington to begin a new chapter at the Saints.

The 17-year-old joined the club’s four-day community camp and showed the players around his hometown of Porirua City.

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The boys were greeted with a traditional Maori greeting at a cultural learning centre, welcomed by the Mayor of the city and toured Baker-Thomas’ old school.

Baker-Thomas was pleasantly surprised on the camp when the Anzac Day jumper was revealed showing a contemporary design of Maori art.

“It’s actually quite cool, they said it has a bit of a whaka going through the middle, the joins of Australia and New Zealand’s partnership,” he said.

“We visited my old school, Porirua College and it was good going back there and visiting the boys at school and girls and the guys at St Kilda got around them and taught them some skills.”

Baker-Thomas enjoyed a final send off from his family on Thursday night with a dinner, before permanently moving to Melbourne to focus on footy.