In the first AFL preliminary final this season, Jason Tutt cheered his beloved St Kilda to victory over the Western Bulldogs', watching it book a place in the grand final.

Should the two teams square off in the same situation next year, the former Ainslie man will be hoping for a different result.

Selected in the second round of last week's national draft by the Western Bulldogs, Tutt took to the training paddock at Whitten Oval for the first time yesterday.

After meeting his brand –new teammates - who include the likes of Barry Hall, Adam Cooney, Shaun Higgins and Jason Akermanis – the draftee sweated through his first instalment of pre-season training. Such is the new lifestyle for the 18-year-old who said he was still trying to get his head around being drafted into the AFL.

"It hasn't really kicked in yet, I haven't got my first pay-cheque yet so I don't know what that's going to be like," Tutt said. "All the blokes [Western Bulldogs players] come over and talk to you and most of them are all right, come up and say g'day. They're your mates now."Tutt arrived in Melbourne on Sunday and is staying with a host family until he gets settled in his new surrounds.

As a newly-drafted player to the club, he will be put on an apprenticeship-like program and encouraged to study at university next year - an option Tutt said he would consider over summer. His immediate focus though is building a body which can handle the rigours of AFL football- a challenge he's looking forward to tackling at the club's excellent facilities.

"They're pretty awesome they've just done a new refurbishment so it's pretty good," Tutt said. "There's an open-plan gym, massage rooms, they've got a big basketball kind of area where you warm up." Tutt should have plenty of time to prepare for the AFL, with Western Bulldogs coach Rodney Eade expecting the youngster probably wouldn't feature in the country's top league next year.

Eade said it was putting a lot of expectation on teenagers to play senior football the year after they were drafted, which could mean the club's first selection, Christian Howard, and Tutt will spend plenty of time in the Victorian Football League.

"Our side has been reasonably settled for a couple of years now and it will be tough to break in for every player," Eade said yesterday. "But you pick them on form and we've shown inclinations through the last couple of years to play young players."

Tutt was taken as the 31st overall pick in last week's draft.

Story by James Buckley, The Canberra Times

Photo courtesy AFL.com.au

Last Modified on 02/12/2009 08:57