When the 2010 National Draft had been and gone Jesse Stringer had almost lost hope of ever going to an AFL club.

Before the day of the draft Jesse had heard from the Geelong Football Club on numerous occasions, which kept him hopeful but sadly his name was never called.  

“I got a few calls from Stephen Wells and the recruiting staff leading up to the National Draft and they said I was close to getting picked up in that, but unfortunately I was over-looked,” Stringer told Cats TV.

However, little did Stringer know that he was going to be offered a position before his job interview had even begun.

“But then I was lucky enough to be picked up in the Rookie Draft,” Stringer said.

“I was actually in the car with my Mum and Dad on my way to a job interview in Adelaide as a carpenter.

“My little brother rang my Mum and said ‘I think Jesse’s been drafted’ and we just thought he was playing around - and then we got a phone call from my mate saying congratulations and at that stage I was in a bit of shock, I was like what are they on about,” Stringer explained.

“And then my phone started to run hot and that’s when I knew I was drafted by the Cats - soon after that I got a phone call from Ronnie Watt (Player Development Manager at Geelong) saying they were going to fly me out tomorrow morning, so it was an exciting time.”

Stringer was picked by Geelong at number 61 in the 2010 Rookie Draft and since then he has progressed into a promising looking forward. He debuted in 2012 round 4 against Richmond and has gone on to play 15 AFL games.