Leading up to the2007 draft, Harry Taylor was too distracted with the pressure of universityexams to feel the nerves.

“I was studyingfor my exams for my physiotherapy degree and I had some exams to finish off andI was concentrating on passing those and not all that worried about what wasgoing to be happening on the Saturday (day of the draft),” Taylor told Cats TV. 

“I’d had a fewcalls leading up to that week about where I might go and who was interested intaking me.

“I had about nineclubs talk to me… and those calls became a little bit more frequent in thatweek leading up to the draft.

“But I basicallywent about my normal life.”

Having partiedinto the early hours of the morning celebrating the end of exams, Taylor sleptthrough the entire duration of the draft and woke to find his mobile overflowingwith messages and missed calls.

“When I woke up…I think I had about 95 or 96 missed calls on my phone and I thought ‘what isgoing on here?’ but I soon realized that I had been drafted by Geelong,” Taylorsaid. 

“So it was amatter of trying to work through those messages… and one of those was Bomber(Mark) Thompson.

“When heeventually got hold of me he gave me a mouthful for not answering my phoneafter the fourth or fifth time, so it probably wasn’t a great start to ourrelationship,” Taylor laughed.

Whilst studying in Perth before being drafted, Taylor played three seasons and 149 games for East Fremantle in the WAFL, following a year of bricklaying which helped him to build up his strength as a footballer.  

Since leaving hishome state in Western Australia and making his debut in 2008, Taylor has played159 games including two premierships for Geelong. 

This year, theversatile defender took the third highest amount of marks for the Cats, with atotal of 149, and was selected in the prestigious 2014 International Rulessquad, along with the skipper Joel Selwood and teammate Steve Johnson.