LUNCHING with their idols, interviewing a former No.1 draft pick and trotting alongside the reigning Brownlow medallist – AIS/AFL Academy members Nick Suban and Tom Scully did it all during their week-long training experience at AFL level last week.

Suban, who plays for the North Ballarat Rebels at TAC Cup level, spent five days with Geelong and admitted to a few butterflies after being dropped off by his mother at Skilled Stadium.

“I was actually a bit nervous,” he said.

“I’d been doing a little bit, [because] being an AFL club you expect everything to be the highest standard.

“When we got in we found out we were doing a six-minute run and I thought ‘oh here we go, fitness stuff’, but it wasn’t too bad.”

Suban, a promising midfielder, said while he managed to stay with one of the Cats’ star ball-winners he was unable to keep up with the club’s main pre-season pacesetter.

“It was good, I was with Gazza Ablett so I was happy I was with him,” Suban said.

“I was kind of running with Jimmy Bartel at the start but he kind of went off and started sprinting and I thought 'geez'.

“But it was good to stick with Gazza, it was a good experience running with him just to see what he does because he’s a midfielder.”

Suban said he found the Cats’ skills session the greatest challenge from underage footy.

“When you train even with these [Academy] guys, you might fumble a couple and it’s all right, you get back up, but everything down at an AFL club’s just so clean,” he said.

“They don’t fumble, everything’s straight to you with their kicking and stuff. The thing I found hardest was just not fumbling.”

Scully spent his week at Hawthorn and said getting to watch the Hawks’ stars up-close was an eye-opening experience.

“Watching blokes like Sam Mitchell, [Shane] Crawford, [Luke] Hodge and all that train, you just see why they’re such good footballers,” he said.

“They really dedicate themselves on the track and you can see they’re really good leaders around the club.”

Scully, who interviewed vice-captain Hodge as part of his AIS program, said his first day at the Hawks was his toughest – an hour-long skills session followed by a running session.

“I was running with blokes like [Chance] Bateman and midfield-types but I was keeping up all right,” he said.

“Speaking with the coaches after, they were pretty impressed with my running so I was pretty happy with that.”