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WHEN LOOKING back on how he got his start as an AFL player, Tyson Goldsack can throw his thanks in many different directions.
First, he can look towards a TAC Cup rule change that was implemented last season, which allows each club to list two players over the age of 18.
Or he can look towards the Gippsland Power, and the fact they were willing to allow him to be one of their two over-18s for the 2006 season.
"I only tried out for the Power as a top-age under-18 player, so I only got the one year to start off with," Goldsack explained, when asked how he came to spend an "extra" year with the club.
"I also only got in the team about round 10 when all the boys were at Nationals (the NAB Under 18 Championships), so I didn't miss out due to injury; I just wasn't good enough to make the team at that stage.
"I only played about 10 games that year, and was then lucky enough to play in a Grand Final and then got another year as a 19-year-old."
After missing out on being drafted the first year he became eligible, Goldsack knows it was the second chance he was given at Gippsland that was directly responsible for his 2006 recruitment by Collingwood.
"Everytime something happens, I always think back to them and thank them for what they've done and how they've helped me out," he said.
"Paul Hudson was my coach at the Power and he was a big influence."
After already waiting an extra year to hear his name called out on draft day, Goldsack's patience was again tested last November when he was picked up with Collingwood's fifth and final selection – pick 63 overall.
"I was sitting in the car listening to it on the radio, and I was going in not that confident I was going to be drafted anyway, but it was still nerve-racking," he recalled.
"You still hope your name comes up, and Dad and I were sitting in the car listening to it and just hoping. When my name was called out, it was just massive."
He'd met with Collingwood a few weeks prior to the draft, but had also spoken to a couple of other clubs, including Hawthorn, the side he supported as a kid.
"I trained with Hawthorn for two or three weeks for the rookie list, but I didn't make it on to that," he said.
"That was great for a bit of experience and to see how it all worked."
These days, he causally dismisses Hawthorn as a side he was "never one-eyed about", and says he always had an interest in the Pies considering two of his good mates from under 18s joined the club in 2005.
"I played with Dale Thomas and Scott Pendlebury that year, so there was always a little soft spot for the Pies, but now I'm just one-eyed," he said.
"The boys from Gippsland Power have been really good in the past couple of years.
"Just to watch how Dale and Scott have gone about it, and just to see what they do and follow them, it's always been helpful."
Goldsack believes himself to be a late bloomer as far as football is concerned, but considers it not necessarily a bad thing.
"(Being older) does help a bit, not just with football but also away from football. Living away from home, I suppose, because I'm that year older, I tend to deal with it a bit better," he said.
"I live with Ben Reid, and he's only just turned 18 and I've just turned 20. So it does help away from football, but with football, I'm still a smaller-bodied player, so it's still the same."
Having gone so late in the draft, and in the second year he was eligible for selection, Goldsack did not expect to play senior football this year, let alone reach the heights he has.
Now, the NAB AFL Rising Star nominee just continues to look ahead to every Wednesday – the day the team is announced to the playing group – to see if he's made the cut.
"I had an interrupted pre-season because I had a bit of groin trouble, and to get my chance that early, I was very surprised," he said.
