Draft night was described as an emotional yet exciting night for Brandon Zerk-Thatcher, which was spent with his family.

Zerk-Thatcher was drafted with pick 66 in the 2017 NAB AFL Draft following a strong season for Sturt Football Club in South Australia. 

"It was obviously really exciting but very emotional with family sitting around. I really enjoyed it and I'm very happy to be here." Zerk-Thatcher said.

Only a couple of days after being drafted, Zerk-Thatcher was on a plane with fellow draftee Jordan Houlahan, to begin pre-season at the Bombers.

After his first week at the Club, Zerk-Thatcher said the players had made an effort to make him feel welcome to the team.

"I'm staying with Orazio, he has been really good and made me feel welcome, so have a lot of the other boys saying welcome and what not." Zerk-Thatcher said.

Not only did Zerk-Thatcher need to adjust to the demanding style of pre-season, he was put to the test in the first 2km time trial for the pre-season.

Whilst modest about the difficulty of the time trial, Zerk-Thatcher expressed his desire to improve his endurance over the pre-season.

"It wasn't too bad, I definitely need to work on my longer running which is something I'm keen to do over this pre-season," Zerk-Thatcher said.

"My focus is definitely improving my running, being able to run for longer, as well as putting on some weight through gym work."