Tim McGenniss was lopping trees during the AFL Rookie Draft, a job he’d been doing alongside his father for the past 12 months.  In the middle of tearing down branches and hacking into giant tree trunks, the 18-year old kept a keen eye on his mobile, looking for updates on proceedings.

However McGenniss wasn’t looking to see if he’d been picked up, he was seeing if anyone he knew had.

“I was just checking up on it, to see if any of my mates or Stingrays’ boys got drafted and then saw my name and I was over the moon.  It was a bit surreal.

“I just dropped the branch I was dragging at work and told dad.  He was ecstatic  and couldn’t have been happier…there was a bit of a fist pump from him.”

Not confident he’d be selected, McGenniss had starting making other plans for 2013.  But he never gave up on his dream.

“I was going to go down to Frankston and play VFL and was always going to see what happens.  You see a lot of players get drafted out of that competition now…but I didn’t think I was a chance really, there wasn’t heaps of interest in me but obviously there was just enough.”

On Wednesday, the young Dandenong best and fairest winner arrived at Aegis Park to meet with Nathan Grima and collect some gear ahead of his first training session at Craigieburn on Thursday.

“I couldn’t be happier…just even getting the uniform and everything.  It’s better than Christmas…sort of like that feeling of being told you’ve got your licence, times a million.

“It’s an awesome club…I couldn’t be happier to be here.”

McGenniss has always had an interest in the Kangaroos but never imagined being added to the club’s list.  His focus had solely been on improving and getting himself into the best possible position to have a crack at the AFL.

“I’ve been trying to work on my power to help with my speed and my outside ball…like to get the overlap handball and to add both inside and outside to my game.

“My best mate goes for North…I went to three games last season and two were North so I like to follow them a bit.”

And knows least one player already.  

“They’re a young, up and coming group.  Ryan Bastinac was from the Stingrays so I’ve followed his progress a bit.  Taylor Garner was also there and we got into the program at exactly the same time when we were 17 so I’ve played with him for two-years and he’s awesome to have around.”