His name is Matt Jones. He is 24 and a qualified electrician.
Melbourne drafted him with pick No.52 in November's NAB AFL Draft.
He loves football and doesn't have, in his words, "the dough" to be going out all the time.
After all, he has a house to pay off and he is engaged.
Sometime this season Jones might match his grandfather, Trevor (who played one game with North Melbourne in 1940) and play a game at the highest level.
That would fulfil objective number one.
"I just want to play a game. That is my first goal. Other than that I have not thought too far into it," Jones told AFL.com.au.
Jones isn't so different to many among the playing ranks: excited, hopeful, a tad wide-eyed. He just took a little longer than most to find his way into AFL football.
After slipping under the radar as a junior, he arrived at South Croydon with enough talent to make his coach Paris Harvie wonder how he'd been overlooked at the Eastern Ranges in Victoria's TAC Cup competition. "He had a lot of upside, good speed, great skills … he was a classy player at that level," Harvie said.
He won a best and fairest and played in two premierships. In the second of the two, in 2009, Jones was moved off the wing at three-quarter time with his team trailing by 29 points.
Harvie can still remember the half hour that followed when Jones began pumping the ball forward and helped turn the deficit into a nine-point premiership win. Now Harvie is excited to see him get a chance at AFL level. "I couldn't be more happy for the kid. He's a fantastic kid."
After that season the "fantastic kid" headed north to play on the Gold Coast at Labrador without AFL aspirations.
Midway through the season dual Brisbane Lions premiership player Tim Notting began coaching Jones. He noticed his talent and wondered whether Jones might revise his sights beyond local football. "I just asked him, 'Have you ever thought about it?'" Notting said. "And he said he would be really keen on it."
Jones began working harder. He heard Notting's questions and some belief lodged in his mind. He performed well against AFL players such as Cheynee Stiller and Andrew Raines. Some doubted Jones's defensive skills but Notting knew he was just following his instructions to chase the ball as hard as he could.
The Lions showed some interest and he trained with the Bulldogs but nothing came of it. Being on an AFL list still seemed distant but it was not beyond the bounds of possibility.
Jones returned to Victoria in 2012 to play with the Box Hill Hawks, a club that had been trying to entice him when he played with South Croydon, and gradually made an impression.
Coach Damien Carroll did not take long to realise he had a fair player on his list. "He played the first couple of games in the reserves. It took a little bit of time to adjust to VFL football but once he was in the side his growth and development throughout the year was remarkable really," Carroll said.
Jones graduated from Box Hill's development team to half-back to the midfield and by season's end was racking up 25 possessions a game. He finished fourth in the club's best and fairest. Carroll said it was an impressive effort, particularly for someone combining work on the tools with weekend football.
Carroll is confident Jones can make the grade: "With the skill level and running ability that he has, I think he will make that transition."
Jones knows the challenge ahead of him is huge. He has no doubt that jumping from VFL to AFL will be like a mountaineer's final push to the peak. But he feels prepared.
"I have had slow steps," Jones said. "I haven't just gone from local footy to AFL but I have found the step is massive [from VFL to AFL] … blokes like Nathan Jones just train that hard every session."
The first two weeks at Melbourne were tough. Jones was nervous on the track and tired off it. But he was lapping up the opportunity and gradually he began to settle and show his wares. He can play both inside and outside and the coaching staff likes the look of him. And he learned what he needed to do to train well.
"You have to switch on as soon as you get here," Jones said.
Right now, eight days out from NAB Cup he feels good. There is a good chance he will play in the opener, which would be an achievement in itself.
The coaches however give nothing away. Mark Neeld and Brian Royal simply plug the same message telling Jones to take opponents on, back himself and use the ball.
Jones admits he has thought about playing on the big names. He admires Judd and says it would be awesome to play against him.
However to get to that point Jones knows he has to keep learning, concentrating on the small details, like manning the mark for instance, that he never had to worry about in his former footballing life.
Beyond that, he is just a 24-year-old electrician with a chance to test his football talent against the best and a person with the maturity to give it his all.
"My lifestyle outside of footy hasn't really changed at all," Jones said. "I love footy. I go home and watch footy all the time, which the missus hates."
Matt Jones is a midfielder in NAB AFL Fantasy carrying a 2013 price of $102,700. Register your team at our AFL Fantasy Hub.
