He is the little guy an AFL club wants to take a chance on, usually the guy with raw, unchecked talent.

He offers something exciting, something different, an unknown element to keep rivals guessing.

Forming a staged process to discover an unknown “weekend warrior” into reality television makes a complete mockery of players that have worked hard to get into the AFL system and continue to bust their guts to stay there.

Pay television show The Recruit – which launched this week – screams of big fish from little ponds trying to take an easy route – of course, that route is dolled-up with life-challenges to face their fears (think the old swimming with sharks or bungy) and skill tests to fit its reality game show genre.

Up for grabs is a spot on an AFL list but as a category B rookie, like an international recruit or drafting of athletes from a different discipline.

Candidates have to be at least 20 years old, not playing in a senior state league like the Victorian Football League the past two years, and never to have been on an AFL list.

Most were espousing “poor me” mentality about work or university studies that got in the way.

The timing was never right.

This was their last chance in a hand-me-the-Kleenex kind of way.

If these guys really wanted to play AFL, then they would already be striving to play at the highest possible level, committed to doing extra work to get the best out of themselves and their game.

State league players, including this city’s North Ballarat Roosters, are not full-time professional footballers.

They juggle work commitments, study and family life with matches and training in an environment where they are competing alongside AFL-listed players.

Talented youth is the traditional recruiting pond for AFL clubs but, with the league’s expansion, clubs have been turning more and more to mature ready-made players in state leagues.

It may have taken such players longer to mature physically, longer to sharpen their skills or just longer to get noticed but they have already proven they can mix it with the best.

International recruits, like American college basketballer North Melbourne’s Eric Wallace who plays state league with the Roosters, or athletes recruited from other sports, like former steeplechaser Mark Blicavs was to Geelong, have usually already excelled in the field from which they hailed.

They have the mental discipline to be the best in their leagues.

This new reality show could have done with some hyped up Top Model “Tyra Mail” or the dreaded Dance Moms pyramid, but it did have a jumper presentation.

Darley star Nathan Jackel got one of those. He was one of 13 recruits to continue through the reality series.

Gordon’s Ash Munari fleetingly featured before the brutal scratch match at Victoria Park when a tap on the shoulder, while playing, meant you were delisted (think of the dance competition scene in the movie Grease).

Most of the attention on Jackel was about his shaggy hair and speculating on how much a potential rebellious streak could carry into his game.

Really? The expert “think tank” featuring Brownlow medallist and former Brisbane Lions coach Michael Voss and Hawthorn champion Ben Dixon, sank in credibility with seemingly scripted analysis. 

It was more about finding the right characters to carry their show.

AFL is not new to reality television, The Club (2001) followed the trials and tribulations of a handpicked team to compete in the Western Region Football League. 

This was kind of like the popular Nerd FC (2006) – soccer crossed with Beauty and the Geek.

The Recruit is all about cheap entertainment and a tacky marketing ploy for some club to be determined.

Who knows – Voss might surprise us in finding a real footy gem, but if the winner wants real credibility in the locker room he is going to have to work an awful lot harder than his new teammates.

melanie.whelan@fairfaxmedia.com.au