Lifelong dream comes true as hero teenager Austin Appelbee earns his wings with the West Coast Eagles

The WA teen who captured global headlines when he swam for four hours through dangerous seas to save his family, isn’t showing any signs of returning to normal life.

Austin Appelbee, 13, along with brother Beau, 12, and sister, Grace, eight, met his favourite footy team, the West Coast Eagles.

The trio fronted up dressed head-to-toe in club merchandise to meet the players at a training session Wednesday morning following a sleepless night and rowdy 40 minute drive from home in Gidgegannup.

Along with their mum, Joanne, the kids are lucky to be alive after a terrifying brush with death about a month ago when they were swept out to sea off WA’s south-west coast, being rescued after Austin made a heroic four kilometre swim and two kilometre run to call for help.

In the wake of his logic and belief-defying physical feat, Austin has been recognised the world over, and is even the beneficiary of a GoFundMe valued at almost $50,000.

But his most meaningful reward came when he was invited to an Eagles training session.

“He’s been awake most of the night with excitement, so we couldn’t wait to get here, and the other two have been the same, so excited,” his mum, Joanne Appelbee, told The West Australian Wednesday morning.

Austin was stoked with the silver linings that came in the wake of their near-death experience on January 30.

“If this never happened, I’d be at school right now, just doing my school work like normal. I reckon whatever happened the other week was one of the best things that’s happened to us, really,” the teen said.

He was most keen to meet key forward Jake Waterman and co-captain Liam Baker, having met Harley Reid at Channel Seven’s AFL Origin countdown event a few weeks ago.

“I’m excited to see all the players, and (Luke) Shuey it’s nice to see him out there,” he said.

Austin wanted to clear up a faux pas from earlier in the day when he accidentally praised the wrong player.

“When I was on top of the stadium I said Liam Ryan, it was the heat of the moment and I thought, ‘oh no, why did I do that, he’s not part of the team anymore’,” he said.

“Liam Ryan was a great player, but I was supposed to say Elijah Hewett. So I’ll tell the Eagles that,” he said.

“But I’ll be happy to see Willem Duursma and Brandon Starcevich, and all of those players.”

While his mum was stoked to see her son live out his dream, she was looking forward to a return to their quieter life.

“He’s been waiting forever for this, but I’m hoping that things might settle now,” she said.

“This will be the last of it now, apart from thanking the crew that rescued us, we can’t wait to see them.”

Since his life-saving 4km swim near Dunsborough, Austin has rubbed shoulders with Rugby Sevens players, enjoyed a supercar experience with Motor Mall, and was awarded the Australian Army Cadets Gold Commendation.

On January 30 the four of them hired a kayak and two paddle boards for a final paddle after holidaying at Club Wyndham in Dunsborough, entering the water at about 11am in “nice and calm” water, before a nightmare nine-hour ordeal unfolded.

Conditions deteriorated rapidly, dragging the four further out despite their desperate efforts to paddle in, leading Joanne to make the gut-wrenching decision to send her eldest to save them.

After four exhausting hours, Austin made it to the sand and at about 6pm called triple-0, leading to the incredible rescue of his mum and siblings, 14 kilometres offshore, at about 8.40pm.

WorkSafe is investigating the hotel in connection to the hired equipment and has issued compliance notices in relation to systems of work for the use of the recreational equipment.

The hotel is prohibited from loaning out equipment until it complies with the notices.

WorkSafe said the investigation will be closed once it can be confirmed the required actions have been taken.