“I WAS probably the furthest away you could possibly be from being drafted at that age.”

Jordan Boyd was honest. He thought that the senior team at Spotswood would be the pinnacle of his football career when he was coming through the ranks. 

Eligible for the draft in 2016, the first time he even nominated was three years after that. Now, he’s got seven senior games under his belt and is fresh off his best performance of his career so far against Richmond in front of 50,000 people at the MCG.

So, considering all that, how did he end up here?

It’s a good question, and one which he is still coming to grips with.

11:22

Boyd on comfort at AFL level, Fremantle match-up

Jordan Boyd joined The Rush Hour on Triple M to discuss his journey getting to where he is today.

Admittedly feeling more and more comfortable at the elite level with each game, Boyd - who spoke to James Brayshaw and Billy Brownless on Triple M’s Rush Hour - conceded that his “story is a bit different to most of the AFL”.

“[In 2016], I wasn’t even getting games in seniors at ‘Spotty’: I was just playing reserves and 18s. The coach luckily gave me a chance and I played well,” Boyd said.

“That’s honestly the highest I ever thought I’d get — it’s probably the highest anyone thought I’d ever get. 

“I got invited down to Footscray [VFL] for a pre-season, was unlucky not to get a contract straight away but someone left and a spot opened up. I played one game and then the rest of the year, and now we’re here."

01:05

AFL R14 | Hard hits of the week

Jordan Boyd and Adam Saad feature in this week's hard hits

‘Here’ is - of course - IKON Park, which Boyd officially started calling home after the 2021 NAB AFL Mid-Season Rookie Draft.

It was an interesting first few weeks at Carlton for Boyd, who became a Blue when his teammates were in the middle of a two-week block in Sydney due to Covid and then would ultimately miss the rest of the season after his knee collided with a goalpost in just his second game for the Carlton Reserves.

That provided another chapter in a unique football journey for Boyd, who never played NAB League, played one game of interleague in 2019 and played no football in 2020 with seasons cancelled in Victoria.

“This pre-season at Carlton was my third proper pre-season of football,” he said.

“In 2018, I thought Spotswood seniors was as high as I was going to go. I decided halfway through the year that I’d go to a music festival thinking ‘it doesn’t really matter’ — I got dropped for three weeks for that.”

04:28

Spotlight | Navy Blue debuts for Boyd and Young (R3)

A couple of debuts under the Spotlight. Go inside Lewis Young and Jordan Boyd's Round 3 club debuts against Hawthorn.

“At the end of that year, Footscray asked me to come along to do a pre-season. That was my first proper pre-season, and things started looking up from there.”

That festival was Groovin’ the Moo in Bendigo in 2018, for all those playing at home. His personal favourite, Falls Festival in 2018/19.

However, it wasn’t even the best music story which Boyd offered up in the chat with ‘JB’ and Bill. That would be when, well before this football fantasy became a reality, he went to see Fatboy Slim. With his dad. At Revolver, on a Tuesday night.

“I can confirm this did happen.

“Dad is 53: I don’t think he was [the oldest at ‘Revs’]. It was actually his idea! He was very well-behaved!

“That is correct [dad Jason is still a Collingwood fan]. As I say that, when we played them last time, he was a bit flat we lost, and he has put the No.37 on literally everything he owns.”