JUST after Jack Ziebell was drafted, he joined us down at Wilsons Prom for our summer training camp.

I knew the recruiters and coaches were happy to get him. They had him a lot higher than pick nine in the mini-draft they'd put together before the big day, so were pretty shocked he was still around.

Jack was in my camp group and we had to organise his food, sleeping bag and tent so that when he arrived he was ready to go. He's a pretty quiet kid but even though it was a hard few days, he didn't complain and just got on with it.

It took next to no time for him to get our respect and that soon extended to the rest of the boys.

Look at him now. A lot of us predicted pretty early on that he was going to have an impact at AFL level. He came with the build, the smarts, leadership and skills to play straight away so it was really up to him.

He's since proven that he's got a good drive and hunger to succeed.

There are a couple of stories around of when he was playing A-grade footy as a 14- and 15-year-old and how blokes would target him pretty hard. Whatever he copped, he just got back up.

He's almost like one of the senior players who's been around for a long time and, funny as it sounds, he sets an example for a lot of us. He plays the game simple and hard and you know he's going to put his head over the ball every single time.

Jack's also got a rare footy mind for someone his age. It can take a while for kids to get up to the speed of the game but sometimes his brain is even ahead of it. It's just that his body probably doesn't allow him to do it.

I must admit I was a little bit worried about his pace at first but he actually shows it when he needs to.

Things have changed a fair bit since I was in Jack's shoes. I wanted to win but I was more excited about just getting a game and trying to impress the coaches.

I'm sure these kids can feel the same way but just don't show it as much. They're calm and collected and don't give a lot away. They know how to hold themselves.

I played 18 games in my first year, including the first four, and was used as a small forward - very similar to Matty Campbell and Lindsay Thomas. My job was to chase down anyone who tried to get out of our forward line, create turnovers and snag a couple of goals if I was lucky.

Off the field, I was probably a bit too shy and didn't express myself much. There were a lot more men around the club: David King, Spider Burton, Anthony Stevens and Leigh Colbert were in the last years of their careers. It was a very mature team and I was just a young punk, lucky enough to get to run around in a senior side.

It took me until round 11 against the Tigers to get a Rising Star nomination. It was also Jason McCartney's last game so it was unreal to be a part of that. I got a couple of chances to stand out a little bit and took them.

Being a high draft pick, there was a bit of expectation on me so it was good to make an impact in a really important and emotional game for the club.

For Jack, it's great that his opportunities have come in a younger side. He'll create bonds with his teammates and their trust for each other will grow down the track. Some of them will end up playing 60, 70 or 80 games together and that's only going to benefit the club.

Plus there are others for them to learn from, including Boomer, Brady, Drew and Pratty, so when you factor that in it's a really good time for our squad.

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the club.