Even Nick Hind himself says he'd have been lying if he thought the young man running around in a Clunes jumper just a few years ago would be on an AFL list in 2019.
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But that's now reality for the 24-year-old, who is adjusting to life as a fully-fledged St Kilda footballer.
Hind collected 10 possessions in the Saints' first JLT Community Series match at the weekend and is hoping to secure a spot in the team for the round one clash against the Gold Coast Suns later this month.
"It has been a bit of a whirlwind. It's all happened pretty quick, but I'm loving it," Hind said of his rise to the elite level.
Hind, who has played most of his football with Clunes and East Point, said the idea of being recruited by an AFL club only became a genuine one in late 2017.
"I spoke to a few clubs and I was pretty confident that I wasn't going to get drafted that year, but still just having a little bit of noise around it, I sort of thought maybe it could be a possibility," Hind told The Courier.
"I tried to add a few different areas to my game and play a few different positions in the 2018 season and that probably sky-rocketed me, I think."
Hind had a strong season in the VFL with Essendon last year and was then recruited by the Saints with pick 54 in the national draft.
Before moving into the VFL, Hind had joined East Point from Clunes, where he most recently played senior football in 2015.
At St Kilda, the speedy utility has joined a number of players with ties to the Ballarat region. They include Collingwood premiership player Nathan Brown, North Ballarat Rebels draftee Seb Ross and ex-Sebastopol gun Rowan Marshall.
Hind said he was unsure whether or not he would be playing in the upcoming JLT Community Series clash against the Western Bulldogs in Ballarat this weekend.
The match, which is scheduled for a 4.10pm start on Sunday afternoon at Mars Stadium, will be the last for both clubs ahead of the opening round of the AFL season.