Orren Stephenson is a great sporting story.Anyone who knows the Big O, as he is affectionately known in and beyond the football world, will be over the moon that he has been given an opportunity to pursue an AFL career.It would be hard to find another VFL player more deserving of an opportunity in the big time.Stephenson has been the best VFL-listed ruckman of the past decade.The 29-year-old is a three-time North Ballarat premiership player.You could argue the Roosters would not have completed the treble without him.He has represented the VFL twice and is a four-time VFL team of the year ruckman.Stephenson has not only taken on the best ruckmen outside the AFL, he has tackled and regularly out-pointed AFL big men who have found themselves facing the Roosters.And with this has begged the question for past three or four years: why hasn’t he been recruited into the big league?Only the AFL recruiters can answer that.Carlton had a good look at him before the 2006 rookie draft.Stephenson and North Ballarat teammate Michael Jamison trained with the Blues.Jamison is now Carlton’s number one defender and a potential captain.Hawthorn considered him long and hard ahead of the 2009 rookie draft.Stephenson had a run with the Hawks, but he was to miss out to former Western Bulldogs tall Wayde Skipper.Skipper managed 15 games with Hawthorn in 2010 before being axed.Stephenson was also linked with St Kilda in the same year.The Saints opted to go with recycled Adam Pattinson from Richmond.Pattinson managed five games with St Kilda in 2010 before being delisted.Being overlooked after seemingly getting so close was disappointing but, each time, Stephenson put his head up and got on with the job with North Ballarat, and was a better player for it.As soon as Geelong read out Stephenson’s name on Thursday night, he became the story of the national draft.And it had nothing to do with his football or athletic ability.It was all about his age.The comparisons with another mature VFL star recruit James Podsiadly, who Geelong selected in a rookie draft at the age of 28, began immediately.First there was the J-Pod. Now there is the Big O.And his age will always be the story.In a sense this is nothing new for Stephenson.He has been a “late bloomer” right through his football career.He was a relative late comer to Australian Rules.He didn’t take up the game until he was 17, having played rugby league in Albury-Wodonga in his formative years.Consequently, he did not go through what is regarded as the usual pathway for promising AFL players – the TAC Cup under-18 competition.It was with Redan in the Ballarat Football League that he was to emerge as a player with something extra to offer the football world.He was a pivotal in back-to-back premierships with the Lions in 2002 and 2003.Just as it is with his journey to the AFL, his progression did not happen quickly.He was picked up by the Roosters in 2005, Gavin Crosisca’s first year as coach, on the recommendation of Gerard FitzGerald.FitzGerald was in charge of the North Ballarat Rebels at the time and Crosisca took the advice.Stephenson spent a year as an understudy to former Carlton and North Melbourne ruckman Mark Porter.That was almost it.Having played just five senior games, Stephenson decided to return to Redan.The then 24-year-old had had a taste of the VFL and was more than happy to play out his career with the Lions.Then was to come the biggest turning point in his football career.Porter made a shock departure from the Roosters.Needing a ruckman, Crosisca went back to Stephenson – persuading him to stay on and give the VFL another go.The rest, as they say, is history. Stephenson is the type of player any football fan likes to watch.The admiration rival supporters have had for him in the VFL is testimony to that.As is the ongoing wish of those in the Redan fold that he will one day return to the Lions.Stephenson is a player every coach would just about give up anything to have in his team.He puts his body on the line, gives 100 per cent each time he crosses the white line, is a fine leader and mentor and, most importantly, he has the footy smarts.And he does it all in such an unassuming manner.He just gets on with it.FitzGerald, who has coached Stephenson since 2007 through the three premierships, agrees he has been a coach’s dream.“He’s been delightful to coach, a great learner. “He has always been willing to learn and understand what he needed to do in order to get better.“I’ve taken him through some difficult times, when he thought he would not be drafted. “His ability to deal with setbacks shows great resilience,” FitzGerald said.Stephenson has had many great moments with the Roosters.His grand final performances are right at the top.It is difficult to separate the three premierships, but he did receive the Norm Goss Medal for best-on-ground in 2009.The one highlight which sticks in my mind above all others came against Coburg Tigers at Coburg on April 11, 2008.The Tigers kicked the opening six goals of the game to have the Roosters in all sorts of trouble.They fought back and it was a goal by Stephenson from 40 metres out after the siren which gave North Ballarat victory by a point.Little did they know then this would be the first notch in a campaign which would culminate in a first VFL premiership.Orren Stephenson is one of the good guys of football.He deserves this fantastic opportunity – you could say on perseverance alone.It is much more than this though.Most important of all, he has what it takes to succeed in the AFL, even at an age when these days majority of players’ careers at the top level are over.