WHEN Queenslander Jake Orreal first arrived at the Sydney Swans he had an urgent meeting with the club dietician.

The 205cm former rugby union and basketball player’s previous part-time job at McDonald’s and its repercussions on his diet must have been a cause for concern and Orreal admits he did have a culinary confession to make.

“I was eating a fair bit of it (McDonald’s food) when I worked there,” he said.

“So when I got to Sydney the dietician was a bit horrified. Let’s just say I haven’t eaten any since.”

Luckily for the Swans, Orreal’s other part-time job wasn’t food related. Working in the homewares department of Kmart, the ruckman was queried on many topics, but not all related to his knowledge of kitchen appliances.

“The most frequently asked question was; ‘Gee how tall are you? Do you play basketball?’,” he said.

For the most part, the customers were right on the money.

At the time Orreal was signed by the Swans the majority of his teens had been spent playing other footy codes, as well as volleyball, basketball and athletics.

The 18-year-old had only played three games of Australian football (for the Western Taipans in the Queensland under-18 titles) and, when he took that crucial phone call from Sydney, he thought there had been some sort of mistake.

“It was a massive shock. I was actually at uni when they rang. I thought they’d called the wrong number. I’d no idea why they were ringing me,” Orreal said.

Mind you, it only took him three games to get hooked on the indigenous code. As far as he was concerned, it combined all the best parts of the sports he had been raised on.

“When I was younger I played rugby union and I liked the contact involved in that. Then later on as I grew taller I played basketball. But there’s no contact in basketball and I missed it,” he said.

“AFL is a mixture of the athleticism you use in basketball but with the contact as well.”

A year later and the rookie has considerably bolstered his games tally with a full year in the reserves and this weekend he’ll take to the field for a grand final in the ACTAFL against minor premier Belconnen.

“It’s amazing. Last year I was just in limbo waiting to come down because I knew I had signed but I had to wait for it to begin,” he said.

“The idea of this year was to educate me on the game because I didn’t really follow AFL before this year. So it was all about educating me to get my skills right which is what I’ve tried to do this year… to be in a grand final is a great finish to that.”

This weekend’s tussle with the top of the ladder side isn’t just a chance for the reserves to make it four ACTAFL titles in a row. According to Orreal, there’s a lot more at stake.

“For a lot of the boys it’s a chance to really prove themselves to the coaches,” he said.

“For each individual it’s different. My motivation is to show that I’ve learned what the development coaches have worked on with me and play above their expectations.

“Whereas some of the boys who have contracts running out this year might need to prove themselves so they can get re-signed.”

He hopes that demonstrating his credentials in the grand final will go some way to eventually earning himself a spot in the senior side.

“I’d like it to happen as soon as possible but I’m not sure how long it will take because I still have a fair bit to learn, but hopefully it’s sooner rather than later,” Orreal said.

“If I got even one (senior) game next year I’d be over the moon.”