Drew Petrie has come a long way from the “skinny, red-headed kid” running around in the Ballarat Football League.

In 1998, he was spotted by North Ballarat Rebels’ coach Greg Lamb during a junior grand final.

“We just went along to City Oval to have a look at the footy and this tall, skinny, red-headed kid popped up at full forward and took our eye,” Lamb told Fox Sports’ Adam Baldwin.

“He would just put his arms up and he was able to mark it time and time again. He took a lot of marks in that game and at the time the Rebels weren’t going that well and anything we could lay our eyes on we were after.”

These days Petrie is known for his outstanding strength in the contest ... how things have changed over the years.

“We had to get him on a balance board,” Lamb said, describing Petrie’s struggles with keeping his feet as a youngster.

“We just tried to keep improving him ... once he got into the Vic Country squad then it became apparent the recruiters were looking at him he became a real project for us and to his credit he got himself drafted.

“For him to come out of that squad was a real highlight for the Rebels that year.”

Petrie made an immediate impression at Arden Street, debuting in Round 1 of 2001 after being drafted just months earlier.

“When we first saw him in training pre-Christmas, I thought it probably would be 12 or 18 months before he got warm,’’ Denis Pagan said in Petrie’s first season.

“But he’s got one of those tough and sinewy bodies — you keep hitting him with a baseball bat and he keeps coming forward.”

The man to first shake Petrie’s hand upon his arrival at the club, David King, also full of praise for the 300-gamer.

“He appeared to be a player without a position for quite some time, but as a fella he was great to knock around with, always one of the boys,” King said.

“He’s just been a perfect football club person and you could see that right away.

“I think the No. 1 thing with Drew is that he doesn’t necessarily care about the number of kicks or goals or whatever as long as the team wins. He genuinely lives that. A lot of people say it, but not a lot are prepared to live that.”

Petrie becomes just the fifth Kangaroo to reach the magical 300-game milestone on Sunday. It’s a far cry from those days on the wobble board.

“What’s impressed me about his AFL career is that he’s just become so much stronger and so much more reliable and consistent. He’s always been a player that you’d encourage and he’d do the job for you,” Lamb added.

“But I can’t believe his consistency week in week out.”