Watching Kalani Ball make back-to-back finals at Maroubra and Burleigh in January, it was hard not to think of another blonde Aussie kid’s run last year. After all, that’s how Ethan Ewing got the ball rolling for himself in 2016—with a couple of finals in the local QS1000s. But while Kalani acknowledges that what his friend and Billabong team mate achieved last year was no doubt inspiring, it’s his own path he’s focussed on in 2017.

‘I’d like to try and qualify,’ he states plainly, when asked about his goals for the year.

With his first full season on the QS behind him, the nineteen-year-old from Stanwell Park is ready to lay it on the line this time around. After getting into the Haleiwa and Sunset events and putting in the hard yards over the offseason, he’s carrying a new level of confidence that’s translated into some early momentum through the Aussie leg.

‘This year I just feel like I know what I’ve got to do and I’ve experienced the whole QS so I’m a bit more used to it now,’ he says.

Light and blonde, fast and flashy—watching Kalani surf, it’s hard not to draw comparisons to a young Taj Burrow. He’s got the high-speed rotations down; he’s got that same searing body torque going on in the pocket; and with Mayhems under his feet and Billabong stickers on the nose, it’s a comparison he says he gets pretty often.

‘I definitely watched Taj a lot when I was a grom,’ he admits. ‘I used to watch Mick as well, but I’d always psyche on Taj because he was doing airs and stuff.’

Being compared to one of surfing’s greats means little unless you start making your own mark in the sport, however, and Kalani knows that, which is why he’s got a plan in place to help make it happen.

‘Now that I’ve done those two QS1000s, I’m just going to chase the QS6000s and QS10,000s,’ he says. ‘I might do the Keramas comp because that usually pumps, but I’m just going to be chasing the QS mostly.’

And if he does manage to make the tour at the end of the year, Kalani believes his quiet upbringing beneath the Illawarra escarpment could come in surprisingly handy.

‘There’s a lot of underground big-wave guys across the whole South Coast,’ he says. ‘It’s pretty cool, you get to go surf all these different places down the coast with a bunch of guys who really have a crack. If I do qualify it’ll be really helpful because I’ll have a bit of experience in those kind of waves.’

Time will tell if he qualifies or not, but with some solid results on the board and a current ranking inside the QS top ten, nobody can accuse the kid of not trying.