As a young boy growing up in Port Pirie, I would go to Adelaide Crows games and dream of being out on an AFL field one day.

To finally experience that feeling in the NAB Cup last Saturday night was phenomenal.

We began our pre-season way back on October 29. As a team we did four hard months on the training track to make sure we were fit enough for the coming season. Our first test was NAB Cup, and I was lucky enough to finally pull on the red and white Guernsey. When I say finally, I mean it.

I’ve been at the Club since the end of 2008, more than two years, and it was the first time I’d played in the senior team.

I’ve had a number of injuries and didn’t get to play any football at all in 2009, and then I managed about 14 reserves games last year, so it’s just fantastic to be out there playing.

The week unfolded at a pretty rapid rate. I was told last Tuesday that I would be starting full forward in the first game against GWS. I was excited but didn't think too much about it at the beginning, I just knew I had to get through the next two training sessions and make sure I did all my recovery well.

I am not a person that usually gets nervous before games as I'm quite laid back and like to relax before we run out onto the field -  but "WOW" the week was a little different to normal.

I struggled to get to sleep last Thursday and Friday nights as I was that excited and edgy about the game. On Saturday I woke up at 9am, which wasn't the best thing I've ever done as it made the day drag out.

I tried to pass the time by playing basketball on my Playstation for a while and then I went down to Coogee Beach with Andrejs Everitt and caught some waves, did a bit of bodysurfing.

I just tried not to think about the game that night, so I did things to take my mind off - but I got a lot of messages from friends which didn't help, nice as they were!

I travelled out to Blacktown with Jesse White, Andrejs and Same Reid, and my family - my mum Maryanne, dad David and little brother Conor were at the game, having come across from Port Pirie in South Australia, where I grew up.

So at last, I was in the change rooms ready to go, excited and knowing I had put in all this hard work in pre season.  I was just hoping it would all pay off.

When the siren went I had no butterflies at all as I had all the boys out there with me and I just wanted to enjoy myself. Lucky enough early in the first quarter I kicked the opening goal of the game against GWS, which helped me feel so much more comfortable out on the field.

The speed of the game was quite quick which I expected.  The second game against Gold Coast was just a whole level above the first game and was incredibly quick.

It was a great learning experience for me.  I really enjoyed the challenge of playing against some big name players and knowing I had my first senior game under my belt.