In the eyes of Rory Sloane, young Gabriel Tullio is best on ground this Sunday already.

Gabriel Tullio from Grange will walk out onto AAMI Stadium and present the Balfours Showdown trophy and medal to the winning captain and player judged best afield in Showdown XXXV.

The fact that 16-year-old Gabriel is alive, let alone walking already, has defied odds and won the hearts and admiration of Sloane and fellow teammates at the club.

On April 7, Gabriel collapsed at the family home in front of his parents after suffering a massive bleed on the brain from an undiagnosed malformed vein at birth.

A three-hour operation stemmed the flow and gave Gabriel a fighting chance. In the weeks after that life-saving operation the words ‘Rory Sloane’ were two of the first the young Crows fans muttered to his mum Rachele.

Immediately a visit from Sloane was organised and Rachele believes it was this visit, where Sloane sat by Gabriel's bedside for an hour-and-a-half that instigated Gabriel's rapid recovery. In fact, when watching Adelaide’s amazing come-from-behind win over the Kangaroos on TV in hospital Gabriel started thrashing his left leg, which he’d not been able to move since the stroke.

The pair have kept in touch and Gabriel has met other Crows players on their once a month visits to the Women's and Children's Hospital as part of their work with the Crows Foundation.

This week, Gabriel caught up with Sloane at the Club and had a kick of the football on Max Basheer Reserve – something Gabriel has been looking forward to since that first meeting when Sloane promised they would work towards that goal together.

Gabriel has been dreaming all week that he would be presenting the Balfours Showdown medal to Sloane and the trophy to van Berlo on Sunday, but with Sloane sidelined with an eye injury Gabriel is hoping he will be shaking hands with Scott Thompson instead.

But anyone in a Crows Guernsey will do!