Sunbury’s Zach Guthrie was happy to go to any club to live out his AFL dream.
His ideal outcome though, would have been to be selected by Geelong, where he older brother Cameron already plays.
While fairy tales don’t happen often in AFL, on this occasion things fell in the favour of Guthrie.
After missing out on being selected in the AFL national draft on Friday, Guthrie was taken at pick 33 by Geelong in Monday’s rookie draft.
“It’s unthinkable,” Guthrie said following his selection.
“To be going to a Victorian club and then be going to the same club as my brother I’m rapt.
“Cam is at home and we heard the news at the same time. He’s rapt, as are our parents.”
Guthrie, who finished runners-up in the Calder Cannons best and fairest award this year, said there had been a little bit of interest from the Cats during the year, but was unsure whether he would be selected by them.
He said after missing out on being selected in the national draft he kept his head high knowing the rookie draft was around the corner.
Guthrie said he was ready to step into training and do the hard work.
“If I do the hard work, I’ll put my name up in good lights.
“I’m a big believer of setting goals and I want to play for Geelong [senior team] as early in the season as I can. I want to be in the range of selection early on.”
Guthrie said he would move up to Geelong and likely live with his brother to start with.
Cameron won’t be the only familiar face at Geelong for Zach.
Mark Blicavs is a good family friend, while another of Zach’s brothers, Josh, was on the Cats’ development list last year.
Guthrie said he would love the opportunity to play with both of his brothers.
“Josh was on the development list last year and he’s definitely doing as much as he can do to play a few VFL games.
“It would be awesome to play a few games with him.”
Guthrie wasn’t the only Cannons player to find a home in the rookie draft with Ben Ronke taken by Sydney at pick 17.
Ronke was the first of the pair to find a home, taken at pick 17 with Sydney’s first pick.
