When it comes to being drafted into the AFL there isn't a young footballer in the country who would be too choosey. Any of 16 AFL teams would be fine because they would travel to Mars to get a chance at the elite level.

 

But for Rhys Magin, the 2007 AFL Rookie Draft carried a huge bonus. Not only did it present him with a chance to show his wares at AFL level but he was picked up by the club he's barracked for all his life - the Essendon Bombers.

 

Magin, who is part of a fanatical footballing family on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, has played the game since the age of five and has been a Bombers fan for as long as he can remember. James Hird was his hero as a youngster and he'd always dreamed of one day playing at Windy Hill.

 

His dream became a reality on 11th December, 2007 when he was claimed by Essendon with selection No.5 in the Rookie Draft.

 

This followed a five-day training stint at the club with fellow Queenslanders Dayne Zorko and Rohan Bail in the week leading into the draft.

 

""It's just fantastic. You'd go anywhere to get a chance in the AFL but to get picked up by the club you barrack for is pretty special,"" Magin said.
 
It had been a real roller-coaster ride to get a crack at League football.

 

Magin was unlucky not to be taken 12 months earlier in the 2006 AFL National Draft with a number of clubs showing interest after an eye-catching season with the Suncoast Lions in the AFLQ State League and a solid performance at the Australian U18 Championships in a star-studded Queensland side that won the division two title undefeated.

 

Only his age at the time - he was a young 17-year-old - cost him an early elevation to the elite level alongside no less than 11 Queenslanders - David Armitage (St.Kilda), Shaun Hampson (Carlton), Gavin Urquhart (Kangaroos), Albert Proud (Brisbane Lions), Brent Renouf (Hawthorn), Brad Howard (St.Kilda), Ricky Petterd (Melbourne), Kurt Tippett (Adelaide), Ben Warren (Kangaroos), Paul O'Shea (Western Bulldogs) and Jesse White (Sydney).

 

He was too young to be rookie-listed so he set about consolidating his draft prospects as a top-age player in the 2007 Queensland U18 side.

 
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But what seemed like a natural progression from near-miss in '06 to certain selection in '07 didn't quite eventuate.

 

Indeed, he missed selection in the Queensland side for the first game of the Australian U18 Championships, played under a new split format.

 

It was a thunderbolt for the skilful and fun-loving youngster, but it was also, perhaps, a turning point in his AFL dream.

 

It was Tuesday 19th June, 2007 when he got the bad news from coach Danny Craven. No excuses. He just wasn't selected. That news came despite always being regarded as a senior member of the Scorpions squad, and a player pivotal to their title aspirations.

 
But rather than letting it get him down he took it on the chin. 
 
Reminded of just how much football meant to him, he set about building a reply. He trained the following night with an increased intensity and put together an outstanding game the following weekend for Zillmere in the AFLQ Velocity Sports Cup.

Coupled with further good form in the State League, it was enough to convince the Scorpions brainstrust that he should go to Melbourne for the second part of the national U18 championships.

There, in wet conditions that didn't suit him, he played well enough and after returning from the championships was a standout for the young Eagles side playing across half back.

He won the round 15 nomination for the AFLQ Rising Star, subsequently won by Labrador's Mathew Clarke, and was twice named in the Velocity Sports Cup Team of the Week.

Eligible to play for the Zillmere reserves in the finals because of his participation in the U18 progam, he was also a stand-out through September and was best afield in the reserves grand final win over Mt.Gravatt at Carrara, showing his undoubted class across half back early before going forward to kick three vital goals.

Magin says publicly he ""wasn't too disappointed"" when overlooked at the 2007 AFL National Draft, when only two Queenslanders were taken - Brendan Whitecross (Hawthorn) and Sam Reid (Western Bulldogs). Privately, it was a huge disappointment matched only by the excitement when at last he got his chance via the Rookie Draft.

Get your 2008 Essendon membership here.
 
Trying to make every post a winner in 2007, he moved from the Sunshine Coast to Brisbane to maximise his football performance with the Zillmere Eagles.

His draft selection was another chapter of a long football journey in a passionate football family where each of Rhys' five brothers also play football and father Billy, something of a Sunshine Coast football icon after moving from Victoria, still plays at Pomona - in his 50's.

It topped another career highlight when Magin played in the same senior Pomona team as his father in 2006.

A good kick and a natural footballer, Magin is the fourth Queenslander at Essendon alongside Mal Michael, Courtenay Dempsey and 2008 Pre-Season Draft pick-up John Williams.