THERE was a time when football meant so little to North Melbourne forward Josh Smith that he gave the game away to deal with the sudden death of his stepbrother and the terminal illness of his brother.

But now, a year this week after his brother died from cystic fibrosis, football is his saviour.

Smith made his belated AFL debut against Adelaide a fortnight ago and later vowed to use memories of his late brothers to live out a meaningful football life.

His stepbrother Anthony passed away aged only 18 in 2002 after falling into a mystery coma and brother Blake last year lost his 24-year battle with cystic fibrosis.

The bulky forward stepped out of football in 2006, but his hunger for the game returned last year and West Perth threw out the WAFL lifeline he was seeking.

Instead of hiding from his emotional pain, Smith confronted it and played a 2007 season for the Falcons, which North Melbourne scouts noticed, and he was selected at No. 62 in last year's draft.

The 2007 WAFL Rising Star, who turned 22 before this season started, now realises, through the double tragedy, that his life should not be wasted.

It hasn't been the best of runs for the family, Smith said.

"But it helped me grow up pretty quickly because I was pretty close with both of them.

"I've got a younger brother and sister as well, so I went from being the middle child to the eldest in the space of about four years," he said.

"It's why I got a bit of the hunger back because it made me realise that life's short and I didn't want to die wondering.

"My brother had cystic fibrosis, so he could never do a lot of activity. So when you don't feel like getting up for training when it's cold, like it was this morning, thinking of him certainly helps me get up and make the most of things.

Smith learned his football trade as a junior at the Whitford club alongside now Adelaide midfielder Nathan van Berlo and West Coast forward Mark LeCras.

While West Perth coach Todd Curley described Smith's rise to the elite ranks as one of football's great stories, he believed watching his former junior teammates on the AFL stage had been vital to him returning to the game.

"In terms of footy, I think everything came pretty easy to him as a junior," Curley said.

"A couple of years later, he was sitting back and looking at guys playing AFL footy who he'd played with in juniors and realised he had the desire to have a go.

"It came from within, he worked super-hard and to make his debut 18 months after he wasn't playing footy at all is a great story.

"He played a game the day before his brother passed away and had been in the hospital all night and was in our top three players — he's a pretty special kid mentally to be able to do that.

"He's had to overcome a lot of things to get where he is and that makes you appreciate it all the more. He's an untapped talent who we hope will surprise a lot of people who didn't know a lot about him when he got drafted," he said.

Smith initially missed draft day as an 18-year-old after he badly rolled an ankle playing colts for West Perth and was left out of Western Australia's national championship team.

The childhood Collingwood supporter and avowed Peter Daicos fan, who also attracted interest last year from West Coast, had a tough AFL initiation a fortnight ago against Adelaide's Nathan Bock and Nathan Bassett, who a week later represented the Dream Team in the AFL's Hall of Fame tribute match.

But with his Perth girlfriend Peta Merrill recently moving to live with him in Melbourne, Smith is focused and settled and emotionally.

"To finally get there was a bit surreal, but now I've got one under my belt and hopefully I can build on that. I've still got to get my fitness up, but I don't think it (the level) is beyond me.

"I had no qualms with coming over from Perth now, obviously being a bit older. My body's a bit more mature as well, where a lot of the younger guys who come in might take a year or two to get their physique up to play AFL.

"If I have to go back to the twos I'll just go back and keep doing what I've been doing and hopefully earn another call- up."

Smith's family have been selling arm-bands to raise money to help cystic fibrosis research.

Yesterday marked Cystic Fibrosis Awareness day. It has been titled 65 Roses Day in a tribute to the folklore story of a little boy's effort to pronounce his sister's condition — unable to properly say cystic fibrosis, he is said to have called it 65 roses.

Cystic Fibrosis is the most common life-threatening, recessive genetic condition affecting Australian children. It primarily affects the lungs and digestive system.

A child is born with every four days and there are a million genetic carriers Australia. About 3000 children and young adults suffer from cystic fibrosis in Australia.