LIFE can throw plenty of obstacles in front of a young man as he chases his dream of playing AFL football and Cameron Richardson has encountered more than his share.

Injuries, work commitments and just plain bad luck have all conspired to thwart the Ballarat local's drive to the top at one time or another, but at 22 years of age, Richardson is finally on the verge of realising his dream.

After a series of false starts, the canny half-back flanker put in a brilliant season for North Ballarat that culminated in a VFL premiership, his naming in the VFL team of the year and an invitation to the 2010 NAB AFL Draft Combine where he pushed his case with recruiters.

Despite being unable to take part in physical testing in Canberra he's done enough to be pre-listed by Gold Coast, which appears likely to on-trade him before Monday's 2pm deadline.

It's taken longer than he had hoped, but Richardson is comfortable with how his journey has unfolded.

"My Roosters coach, Gerard Fitzgerald, calls me a late developer but it's not so much that. It's just the way that it's come about for me," Richardson says of his circuitous journey to the doorstep of the AFL.

"I reckon I'm better for all of it though.

"I think I've been able to prove myself at VFL level, but now it's all about getting that opportunity at the higher level and taking it."

A lot has changed since the first wrong turn in Richardson's football odyssey, which he admits was entirely his own doing. He shakes his head with a wry smile as he tells the story.

"I used to play locally in Ballarat and I got a letter for the TAC Cup tryout session when I was 16," he says.

"That's actually a big regret of mine. It clashed with my first day of a new part-time job at the local cinema and I didn't want to ask to have my first shift off, but I know I should have. I think it would have been a lot easier to get where I am now if I'd been part of the TAC Cup.

"It was a good job and I was there for four years, but yeah, oh well."

Richardson went on to win the senior best and fairest at North Ballarat City footy club as an 18-year-old, which brought him another shot at the big time.

Richmond asked him down to try out for a spot on its rookie list, but it was an untimely bout of osteitis pubis that cruelled him.

His long rehabilitation from the debilitating condition, followed by a short stint playing footy in Darwin, put him out of sight and out of the minds of AFL recruiters, but a return to Ballarat set him back on the right course.

A second best and fairest back in the Ballarat Football League saw him join the Roosters ahead of the 2009 VFL season, but even then it wasn't all plain sailing.

An appearance at the state screening ahead of the 2008 drafts proved fruitless and then he would later suffer more disappointment with North Ballarat.

"I played 15 senior games and got dropped just before the finals," Richardson says.

"But this year I started in the seniors and managed to stay there the whole way through.

"It was really exciting to be part of a premiership team. I was just so happy to be a part of it after missing out last year."

But Richardson's return to his childhood roots benefited him in more than just a football sense.

A plumbing apprenticeship settled hid work life and he became a father for the first time, which he admits gave him an entirely new outlook.

Baby Lillian is about to turn one and the proud dad believes juggling work, family and football is something he couldn't have done without the support of his partner, Allycia, and his family.

"It's been a big year, but whatever I do I've just tried to give it 100 per cent mentally," he says.

"Even if I haven't been able to do extra work physically, I've tried to give my football my absolute focus when I'm there.

"It's been a big year and I don't know if I could do that every year playing in the VFL with work and Lilly in the future, but I have enjoyed it. It will be a year to remember no matter what happens."

Follow our complete coverage of the 2010 AFL exchange period from October 5-11. No trades are official until paperwork has been accepted by the AFL and formally recognised after 2pm on Monday, October 11.

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