Before his name was read out by the Kangaroos with pick 15 in the 2007 National Draft, a fresh-faced Tarrant was employed as a teller at Bendigo Bank.
But while his days back then were spent in a crisply ironed shirt and tie, the then Bendigo Pioneer held high hopes of making it to the AFL – a sentiment shared this week by hundreds of draft hopefuls.
Tarrant says his draft night was a world away from what the class of 2014 will experience on Thursday.
The 17-year-old wasn’t able to watch live coverage on Fox Footy or follow the action via live video streams and commentary on social media – instead he and his family huddled around a computer and listened to a radio broadcast via the Internet.
“That’s pretty much all they had back then,” Tarrant recalls.
“I don’t know if it was delayed or something, because my phone started going off before my name got read out.
“I didn’t know which team I went to.”
While he knew he wasn’t going to be among the top few picks, Tarrant had spoken to recruiters from a majority of clubs, including North.
He was confident in his ability and knew he was in the mix – but he wasn’t convinced he’d be heading to Arden Street.
“I walked out of an interview a couple of days before the draft with our current recruiting manager Bryce Lewis and his former boss Neville Stibbard, and was really happy with the stuff they were saying to me,” Tarrant said.
“I thought North Melbourne would be a good fit for me.”
Tarrant was overwhelmed when his name was called and he celebrated with his family.
“It’s probably a mixture of every emotion you can think of,” he said.
“You work so hard to get drafted and then your name gets read out in five seconds.”
The nature of the draft means that draftees have to come to terms with a dramatic change in the direction of their lives in such a short space of time.
For Tarrant, however, the transition would be made easier thanks to his older brother Chris.
At the time Robbie was drafted, Chris had already been at Collingwood for nine years, playing 161 games and with a significant profile.
It was an advantage Robbie utilised in the lead-up to the draft.
“Chris did have a lot of advice to give me,” he said.
“It probably opened my eyes up to how the AFL system worked before I actually got into it. Looking back, it was a massive leg-up for me knowing what to expect and how to approach it.
“For Chris, he’s was all about enjoying the experience and was someone who never put a whole heap of pressure on me to perform.”
Tarrant was given little time to celebrate with his TAC Cup teammates, including fellow draftee Scott Selwood, with the hard work now ahead.
“If I knew what I knew now, I’d probably work a lot harder than I did back then,” he said.
“Coming through now, I think kids have got a good understanding that you need to work really hard to make it at this level. But back then, I was probably a little bit behind in terms of work-rate.
“I think you tend to rely a bit on your natural ability to get picked up.”
As a first round draft pick, Tarrant knew it wouldn’t guarantee him success.
“In the end it’s really just a pick – it gives you an opportunity to perform and to put your hand up to play AFL,” he said.
“I’d rather go pick 70 and win a couple of flags than go top 10 and win nothing.”
North forward Ben Brown is currently studying media and is doing an internship with NMFC.com.au.
