COLLINGWOOD draftee Jonathon Marsh admits he thought 2013 wasn't going to be his year, when his name hadn't been called out at the midway point of this year's NAB AFL Draft.
Marsh had been touted as a potential first-round selection earlier this year, but as the night went on, he started to believe he would miss the cut altogether.
The Magpies ended up using pick 77 on the East Fremantle forward, putting an end to any nailbiting in the Marsh household.
"I was just at home watching on the TV," Marsh told collingwoodfc.com.au.
"I was getting pretty nervous, actually, because it was starting to get into the late picks when my family and I got the call from Collingwood so, yeah, it's pretty exciting.
"I had my mum, dad, uncle, granddad, my girlfriend and her parents there as well.
"After the third round mum just looked at me and said, 'This is getting pretty insane, it's not looking too good,' but thank God Collingwood gave me the call up."
Marsh had no idea Collingwood would be the club to give him a chance.
"They've been really quiet on me actually," he admitted.
"I've had a lot in the papers and everything link me to Freo or another club like that so Collingwood is a little bit out of the blue which is really good for me."
Marsh ran the second-fasted 20m sprint in the history of the Draft Combine in October, and will bring plenty of explosiveness to the Magpies.
"I see myself as a tall midfielder, even though they're saying I'm a half-forward," Marsh said.
"I'm just pretty explosive with my speed and … I like to think I'm pretty exciting, but everyone's got their opinions. I'd never played forward before so I got moved into a centre half-forward role.
"It was just a massive learning curve for me, which is what I put it down to. I was pretty inconsistent. I had some good games, I had some pretty bad games as well. It's just a massive learning curve, learning a new role. That's how I found it."
The 18-year old received a phone call from club president Eddie McGuire to welcome him to the club, and he will now make the journey across to Melbourne to meet his new teammates.
"I've heard from a couple of the recruiters and Eddie McGuire just called me and mum and just had a chat which was really nice," Marsh said.
"To me he just said if you've got any questions or anything like that to give him a call and that he's really happy I've come to Collingwood.
"I think he gave mum a bit of a pep talk and said if there are any questions not being answered by anyone else just you've got my number and you can give me a call and I'll always be reliable."
