Tom Jeffries isn’t too familiar with a Sherrin football, but that hasn’t stopped North from recruiting the talented junior sportsman as a project player.

Similar to Luke McDonald’s path to the AFL, the 17-year-old will play with Werribee for a season before officially joining the Roos.

“Tom will have a great opportunity to develop at VFL level and partake in all AFL training,” General Manager of Football Cameron Joyce said.

“Tom is an outstanding athlete and we are delighted to welcome him to the club.”

Jeffries stands at 202 centimetres and boasts significant experience in rugby union and rowing.

“We expect to develop him as a ruckman under the tutelage of Alex Ishchenko (ruck coach) and he’ll join in full training upon the players’ return next week,” Joyce added.

Jeffries recently completed his year 12 studies at Nudgee College in Brisbane. He was offered a contract with a Super Rugby team in Australia and a rowing scholarship at Princeton University in the United States, but ultimately chose AFL.

“All my family plays rugby, so this is a new challenge and a new opportunity for me,” Jeffries said.

“As long as I put in the hard work … there are a lot of people down here who can help me with everything, so I’ll feed off them and hopefully things will go from there.”

Tom’s older brother, Sam, plays for the Melbourne Rebels.