SINCE committing to join Essendon almost two years ago, Joe Daniher has grown used to being a Bombers player without really being one just yet.

In between studies at Melbourne's Council of Adult Education school, Daniher was at the club three or four days a week this season.

He wasn't allowed to train with his soon-to-be teammates, instead working on his own fitness and weights program and slowly getting his head around the daily rigours faced by footballers. 

Daniher attended club functions, watched games with Bombers development coaches, and was even allocated a place to sit in the locker room - No.51.

"It's a bit of a lonely spot," Daniher told AFL.com.au.

"Cory Dell'Olio is the closest to me and he's a few doors down with No.47."

But on Monday a lot of waiting will end.

The AFL's father-son bidding process will begin, clubs will offer their first-round selection for Daniher, and Essendon will match it.

It's a formality that by the afternoon, Daniher will have officially joined the club his father Anthony, uncles Terry, Chris and Neale, and brother Darcy all represented.

In some ways, Daniher expects to arrive at the club on Tuesday and feel like he has for the last year or so as he has been settling in. "It's like turning 15, nothing really changes," he said.

But he does hope it ends one stage of his development and brings in another, where he can be an "actual footballer."

That process has already started, though. Over the past two years he has worked hard at two things: learning how to do weights while taking care of his body, and refining his running style.

"I was a bit gangly," he says.

Daniher now weighs about 90kg, but wants to add another 13 or 14 more.

He's seen Collingwood's Travis Cloke outmuscle opponents in attack, and Carlton's Matthew Kreuzer bullock and bustle past players when in the ruck, and would like to gradually bring those elements to his own game.

Where most draftees have very modified pre-seasons in their first year, Daniher thinks he's ready for a full summer. 

"Physically and mentally I've had about 12 months to prepare myself for it, but you can never really prepare for it," he says.

"I've been exposed to a weights program which will allow me to hopefully get straight into it, but knowing my body shape, it will take time. The club will look after me in that respect, but I'm just hoping they let me have a real crack at this pre-season."

Even if they don't, the 18-year-old won't be getting frustrated. While many view him as a possible No.1 pick at this year's NAB AFL Draft if not for the father-son rule, Daniher doesn't think he'll be playing much for the Bombers next season, particularly early.

"I'd love to say 'Yeah, I'll be there in round one', but realistically I have no doubt in my mind that I won't be there. I've got a long way to go and it's not about the next six months for me, it's about a lot more than that," he said.

"As much as I'd love to play a lot of senior footy next season, the reality is I probably won't play senior footy for a while. I'm comfortable with that. I'm looking forward to the next two or three years and patience isn't an issue for me.

"As long as the club is winning and having success it doesn't matter for me if I'm in the twos or water boy or assistant coach or timekeeper."

Daniher knows there are no guarantees about what happens from here, something he learned early from watching Darcy's career unfold, and then end.

Darcy, now 23, was drafted to the Bombers in 2007 and played six games before persistent groin, hip and adductor injuries forced his retirement last year.

The pair don't talk too much about footy. "Whenever we do it's more just him criticising me," Joe says, smiling.

Joe comes into his own football career with a wider perspective of how things can turn out.

"It's not always the fairytale story as it can sometimes sound," he says.

"He had a rough run but it turned him into a different person, I suppose. Since he chose to retire from footy it's been great for me to get to know him. We've become great mates. He's a lot happier."

Although Daniher is free of the uncertainty gripping many of his mates at this time of the year, he has faced some different challenges to them.

Under a program devised by Essendon, the Calder Cannons, the AIS-AFL Academy and his family at the start of the year, Daniher sat out a lot of games.

He played two for Vic Metro - including his best-on-ground showing in the final game of the NAB AFL Under-18 Championships against Western Australia. He represented the Calder Cannons in the TAC Cup eight times, kicking 23 goals. He wanted to test himself in the VFL for Bendigo Gold, but Essendon decided against it.

"I was pretty eager to have a crack," he said.

"If I had played bottom-age footy at the TAC Cup in 2011 it might have been different, but without a lot of footy under my belt I probably wasn't ready in terms of my body shape and fitness.

"It was probably the best thing to not play but I would have loved the opportunity to run out there and see how I went."

It didn't get him down too much. Daniher recently returned from a two-week holiday to Wagstaffe, a beachside town on coastal New South Wales.

While there with former Cannons teammate and Essendon rookie, Hal Hunter, Daniher tried to take his mind off footy. He found it a bit tough. 

"For me the past 12-24 months has been about looking forward to the next month and now it's just crept up on me," he said.

"To be officially part of the football club is something I've aspired to do for so long. I can't wait."

Callum Twomey is a reporter for the AFL website. Follow him on Twitter at @AFL_CalTwomey.