ALEX Cincotta was covered in sweat, sawdust and sunscreen when the phone call he'd dreamed about finally arrived.

Carlton had been scouring the land for some coverage at half-back after star defender Zac Williams ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament on a pre-season camp in Queensland.

The 26-year-old was in Geelong building a deck in suffocating 35-degree heat when Carlton's development boss and reserves coach Luke Power called.

Cincotta had put his name back on the radar of AFL clubs during a 2022 campaign where he finished runner-up in the VFL best and fairest behind Paddy Dow, and spent sessions over the pre-season training with Michael Voss' squad, just like a number of VFL-listed players.

But this call from Power was different. Carlton wanted Cincotta to join Oleg Markov in auditioning for the vacant spot on the club's senior list. But when Markov received an offer from Collingwood after just one day of training at Ikon Park, Cincotta finally secured his dream at a point in his life when many others would have given up and chased envelopes of cash to play in the bush or outer suburbs.

"My life has changed since that phone call," Cincotta tells AFL.com.au.

"I got a phone call from Luke Power that there might be an opportunity to train in the SSP (pre-season supplementary period). At the time, I was a chippy and I was working in Geelong. Middle of summer, 35-degree heat, just sweating and grinding it out.

"I get up every day (now) and I sort of kick myself a little bit because I took so long to get in the League. It is just a dream come true to be able to roll into the footy club every day. To just be an AFL player is surreal. Sometimes I am still pinching myself."

Cincotta has now played eight senior games since collecting 24 disposals in his debut against St Kilda in round six, at a time when the spotlight was fiercely on the club amid a six-game losing streak. He's emerged out the other side with four appearances on the MCG, three at Marvel Stadium and a trip to Perth.

But it was only a matter of months ago that Cincotta would turn up to Princes Park at 4pm after a full day on the tools, long after the AFL-listed players had packed up and gone home for the day. He would start preparing for VFL training earlier than everyone else and spend up to five hours at the club before heading home, which led to him nailing his senior trial in just a handful of sessions before the SSP deadline.

"I went in and just wanted to bring my strengths," he says. "I thought if I could show my run and my carry and my power that hopefully I might get a little bit of luck. Nothing is ever certain. My mum always said to me, 'Just give it your all, Alex'. And that's what I did. Thankfully it went my way."

Unlike other mature-age success stories like James Podsiadly (drafted by Geelong at the age of 28) and Marlion Pickett (plucked out of the WAFL at 27), Cincotta didn't have a dossier of state league form to point to before Carlton pulled the trigger.

AFL clubs had tracked his form in the Geelong Football League as a junior, which led to appearances in the Young Guns games and a state combine invite in 2019, but didn't go any further.

The Newton and Chilwell product spent time on Geelong's VFL list but didn't play a game at that level until late in 2021, by which time he was 24 and had joined Carlton's program. Having also ruptured his ACL at the start of the pandemic, his prospects of ever playing at the highest level appeared slim.

"I hadn't even played a VFL game at that point," he says of his injury. "It felt like a world away.

"I just had a lot of belief that I had some AFL attributes if I could get it together. (If I could) get a bit fitter, get a bit stronger, and knuckle down a bit, get in a good routine, that I would get my opportunity to play VFL and hopefully it would take care of itself.

"It is a question I still ask myself; what was I thinking back then?. I really just got into the nitty gritty stuff; the gym, the running, the things I could take control of myself. That's what I really put effort into and thought it might happen one day if I just kept grinding, kept working hard. That was 100 per cent my mindset."

No one wants to endure the long road back from a knee reconstruction, but it has proven to be the making of Cincotta. When the world closed down in 2020, his life existed inside Power Fitness in Geelong West, where he went to work putting his body back together under the guidance of Nick Power, Luke's cousin.

Cincotta had some key people in his corner for some time, including many at his old club, Newton and Chilwell. Power was his main support over the course of six months of rehabilitation, former Western Bulldogs coach Brendan McCartney worked with him one-on-one to develop his football IQ, while ex-Carlton development coach Daniel O'Keefe was the one who invited him to trial with the Blues' twos.

"I've been really lucky to have so many people come into my life," he says. "Brendan McCartney actually taught me what it takes to be an AFL player. Nick Power is one who took the time to help me out. I can't thank him enough for what he did."

Cincotta doesn't have an AFL deal beyond 2023 just yet, but he will soon. Having waited so long to land a chance to be a full-time footballer, the man who now wears the No.39 made famous by Ang Christou doesn't want to go back to building decks anytime soon.

"I believe I can play into my 30s and offer so much to the group and the footy club," he says.

"I keep my body really healthy. I feel like I can have a really good career. All I can focus on is the day-to-day things, keep working on my game and get better each week. It is definitely going in the direction that I want it to go."

Footy is full of sliding doors moments. If Williams doesn't go down, there isn't a spot. If Markov doesn’t choose Collingwood over Carlton, there isn't a spot. Yet five months after securing the final spot on the Blues' list, Cincotta has walked through a door that finally opened and made it his own.