THE CALL came deep in the AFL National Draft – at pick 79 – and surprised most.Only Orren Stephenson, his wife Whitney and North Ballarat Roosters coach Gerard FitzGerald had an inkling what would happen and gathered together at FitzGerald’s house to watch the draft unfold.At pick 79, the 29-year-old Stephenson joined the Geelong Football Club.The Selkirk Roosters triple premiership player, Victorian Football League premier ruckman and father of three got to realise the start of an AFL dream that he thought had passed him by.“It’s pretty surreal actually. I never thought this would happen – I thought my time had been and gone,” Stephenson said.“I couldn’t believe it when I got a phone call from Geelong last week, saying they wanted to pick me.“Then it happened.”Stephenson has come tantalisingly close to joining an AFL list in the past – twice.He trained with Carlton for a month in 2006 and trained with Hawthorn for three weeks in 2009.Stephenson said it seemed fitting how everything worked out.“They haven’t selected me to be on the sidelines or to play VFL. ‘‘Geelong has a heavy rotation policy and they were pretty strong on that point,” Stephenson said.“If you wrote a script for what club I could go to, Geelong’s the best by a long way. ‘‘Not just for their success, or their culture, but also to try and maintain a life here for my kids.” Stephenson, recruited from Redan, follows in the path of fellow Roosters Cameron Richardson (North Ballarat City) and Isaac Smith (Redan) into the AFL from the VFL without going through the TAC Cup under-18s.He has played 118 senior VFL matches, is a four-time VFL team of the year ruckman and dual state representative player.FitzGerald said he was really proud Stephenson finally had a chance to play AFL: “This shows if you persist and keep trying, the dream will happen.”