WILL Lewis took a pay cut to join the Western Bulldogs in March. Not that he's complaining.

Lewis put his job as a civil engineer on hold until the end of the season. Squared Structures, his construction company, will have him back when he's ready. He just hopes that will be years from now, not months.

Circumstances change swiftly during the pre-season supplemental selection period (SSP), although the Bulldogs weren't foreign to Lewis. He had been in and around the Mission Whitten Oval for four years while playing in the VFL for Footscray, but only ever after hours when the lights were off in the administration offices and the stars had gone home.

But when James Harmes announced his retirement in February due to personal issues, a spot opened on the list. Rather than scouring the state leagues for a replacement just before the deadline, the Bulldogs knew they had someone on the VFL list that deserved a shot.

Luke Beveridge had taken a keen interest in Lewis in 2025. After playing five games in the VFL the previous year, Lewis was picked in round one and just kept kicking goals. Lots of threes. A four. And then five in the preliminary final win over Box Hill, before helping Footscray win the premiership in September.

The 27-year-old was at work on a Tuesday in February when Beveridge called. Twice. He missed both of them, as well as one from his manager, Max Hayes from TGI Sport. When he eventually returned both calls, he discovered he would have a two-week trial ahead of the SSP deadline and would be playing a practice match against Sydney the following week. The rest was up to him.

"I think 'Harmesy' announced his retirement on the Tuesday morning. I was just at work and then I had two missed calls from Bevo; I didn't have his number saved, but the voicemail was like, 'Hey, it's Bevo, give me a call back when you can'," Lewis recalls to AFL.com.au.

"I usually have my phone on me, but I left it in the office, went out on site, and then came back to that and I was like, 'Oh, what's going on here?'."

Less than three weeks later, Lewis secured a contract just hours out from the SSP deadline on March 2. Twelve days later, he made his AFL debut against Greater Western Sydney at Marvel Stadium in round one. He lasted just one week, but he wasn't one and done. After kicking 6.3 then 2.3 in the VFL, Beveridge recalled him against Geelong in round seven. He's played the two games since and kicked two goals against Fremantle last Friday night.

"It's been pretty crazy, to be honest," Lewis says.

"It's been the polar opposite to what I am used to. You work a normal job and then footy is what you do on the side because you love it. Then for that to become your job essentially is crazy ... because you just don't really consider it a job, to be honest.

"It's something you just love doing."

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Lewis won two premierships in less than a week last September. The first came when Footscray beat Southport at Ikon Park on AFL preliminary final weekend, when the Dogs led by five goals early and held on after a late fightback from the Sharks.

Then five days later, he was named best on ground after kicking four goals at Elsternwick Park to lead his local club, Old Brighton, to its first VAFA A Grade flag in almost 70 years, beating Old Scotch.

"It was obviously amazing. They were two very different experiences," Lewis says. "The Sunday (in the VFL) was pure joy, and then obviously there was a carry-on with the celebrations after that. That went on for a couple of days.

"And then I think I trained on the Tuesday night at Brighton, which is very light, but I was very, very average. And the coach is like, are you sure you're going to be right? I felt good by Thursday and then played Friday. I was actually late to the team meeting because I just got the game time wrong, which was a good start for the day.

"It was a special day. Everyone who played on the day went to Brighton [Grammar]. So there's that connection to some of the guys that I played with for, I guess, 10-plus years since I was 12. They're just your mates – who play, like the VAFA says, for the love of the game – who you've known for ages."

Lewis had never previously met with an AFL club before the Bulldogs called in February. He didn't go through the talent pathways as a junior and didn't play VFL until 2022. Injuries then stalled his progress, and he was more focused on his career at the time. Civil engineering takes up a lot of time.

Now transitioning from a part-time player to a full-time career has allowed Lewis to invest much more time into his development. He has worked closely with forwards coach Ben Reid and head of development Luke Power. He used to rush to the Whitten Oval from site or the office, get there 15 minutes before VFL training started, get strapped and get out there, before heading home afterwards to prepare for another day at work. Now this is work. And he wants to make it work.

"I've played four games now and I feel like there's so much growth in my game, now it's full time. Even the growth between games has been massive for myself. The coaching staff, Luke Power and Ben Reid especially, have identified key areas where I can improve," he says.

"At the start of the year, my goal was to play one game, and then as soon as you've done that, it quickly changes to how many games can I play? My goal now is to play as many games as possible over as many years as possible, and hopefully start to influence some games a bit more as it goes on."

At Footscray, there was never any time to watch vision of his games with assistant coaches, and it definitely wasn't possible at Old Brighton. Now that is a key part of his routine, along with extra touch work, extra recovery, extra everything. Lewis doesn't want this to end when the season does.

"I've taken ... the rest of the year off (the construction job) until the end of the season, and then the door is always open for me to go back," he says.

"Throughout the whole time, they've been super supportive of me, I can't thank them enough for the opportunity. Even with VFL and the interstate games and everything like that, they were always supportive of me going out and doing it.

"Hopefully it's not at the end of this year (but) it's in a couple of years' time."

In 2021, when Anthony Scott also got his shot at the Western Bulldogs via the SSP out of Footscray – and out of the VAFA – he was working for Telstra as a treasury analyst. They put his job on hold, but he was forced to resign 12 months later when he landed another deal at the Kennel.

Scott played 59 games across five seasons at the Dogs, and Lewis wants to emulate his 2025 VFL premiership teammate by extending his career for as long as possible.

He's off to a good start.