THERE were times when Geelong forward Mitch Brown thought his wait to play an AFL game would never end.

Taken by the Cats with pick 15 in the 2008 NAB AFL Draft, Brown missed most of the 2009 season with a broken leg.

Last year, he dislocated his shoulder and was sidelined again.

But when the 20-year-old finally made his debut against Adelaide on Sunday afternoon at Skilled Stadium, he waited only 35 seconds before snaring a goal with his first kick.

Having lined up at full-forward, Brown was in the goal square when teammate David Wojcinski booted a long bomb in his direction.

When the ball came to ground, his opponent Luke Thompson ran right over the top of it, allowing Brown to soccer it over the line.

He was mobbed by his teammates, while the pro-Geelong crowd roared its approval.

"I wasn't really expecting it," a beaming Brown said after the game.

"It bounced right up to me and I think I was pretty lucky in the end to just kick it through."

While delighted with his effort, Brown admitted it didn't quite live up to the image - "50 out on the run, celebrate to the crowd" - he'd conjured in his dreams.

"But it was pretty good," he added.

Brown finished the match with three goals, having booted the Cats' last of the afternoon to go with the first.

"I think I've only played about 14 VFL games in the two years I've been here, but it was good that [my AFL debut] finally happened," he said.

"I reckon that's the first time I've played in front of a massive crowd. I just loved every minute of it.

"The atmosphere our there was really good."

Geelong coach Chris Scott was full of praise for Brown's first-up effort.

"Mitch Brown looked like an AFL player," Scott said. "Everyone was just rapt for him.

"The pleasing thing is that everyone knew he was going to come in and do the job.

"He showed that he belongs at this level."

Brown gathered nine possessions in all, having pushed up the ground at various stages to allow James Podsiadly to man the key attacking post.

But admitted he found the pace of the game took its toll early on.

"I was buggered in the first 10 minutes, I reckon," he said. "I was just running everywhere. But after that it wasn't too bad.

"My main focus was just to make a contest and try to bring the ball to the ground."