Most youngsters in the AFL system have a fair idea when they’re close to a senior debut, but for North Melbourne rookie Ben Speight, his call-up came as quite a shock.

The 20 year-old was on his way to a town called Strathfieldsaye which is just outside of Bendigo last Saturday to play in the VFL for Werribee when his phone began to ring.

Unfortunately, Speight was unaware of the incoming call.

“I had my phone on silent and it was in the centre console,” Speight told kangaroos.com.au.

“When I turned the radio down, I heard it vibrating and I had a look and there were about eight missed calls and a few messages.”

On the other end of the line was North Melbourne development coach Jason Lappin.

“It was really frustrating for me trying to contact Ben…I was actually afraid that I might not get a hold of him.”

As is often the case, persistence paid off and Lappin was finally able to deliver his message.

“I got back to Lappo (Lappin) and he said ‘‘you’re a chance to play tonight…you have to get back to the club and prepare like you will play tonight,’” Speight recounted.

After a u-turn on the highway and short journey, Speight arrived back home where he received confirmation that his debut would take place against Essendon at Etihad Stadium.

“I wasn’t a hundred percent…I waited for a call from Donald McDonald and later on Brad (Scott) called me to tell me I was in.

“I had to ring mum and tell her to get over here from Adelaide because she would have shot me if she missed it…Dad was lucky enough to be over here anyway, he was travelling to Bendigo with me and was in the car when I got the first call from Lappo.

“Mum, my little brother and my Nan and Poppa come across that day…Nan and Pop just made it but Mum was here two hours before.”

With his family comfortably seated, Speight began the warm-up underneath the stands with the first bounce just a couple of hours away.

“Brad (Scott) told me before I ran out, not to play the game out in my head before it happened and he also told me to treat it like any other game and to just play it like it was any other match down at Werribee.”

But nothing could prepare Speight for the pace at which the game is played.
“The speed is unbelievably different to VFL…it’s a lot quicker, the crowd is up and about…obviously thirty thousand people makes it completely different to the VFL.

“You do all this extra training work on your body and you think ‘why am I doing all these extras?’ and then you get into the AFL game and you’re like ‘I now understand why I have to do all those extras’ because you’re cramping up and struggling. The difference is massive.”

However it didn’t take long for him to find his feet with a sensational running goal in the first quarter from just inside the fifty metre arc.

“I sagged off Kyle Reimers there for a bit and read the handball over the top and used my pace, took them on as Darren Crocker and Brett Allison have been urging me to do all year, and kicked truly.”

His second attempt at a goal wasn’t as successful with his opposition player dragging him down as he kicked.

“I tried to outrun Courtney Dempsey, which wasn’t a good idea…I won’t be doing that again,” Speight said laughing.

For now, it’s all about looking ahead and it’s the Western Bulldogs on Sunday at the forefront of Speight’s mind.

“Hopefully I won’t be as nervous. The good thing about last week is that I didn’t know I was playing the night before and I got a good night’s sleep. So this time around, hopefully I can get a good sleep in and the nerves don’t waste too much energy.”