There was nothing but smiles from Carlton's Cameron Wood after Friday night's 23-point win over North Melbourne at Etihad Stadium. 

The Blues won 16.13 (109) to the Kangaroos 13.8 (86).

Wood, who made his senior debut for the Blues in the Round 18 clash, also notched up an impressive 10 disposals and kicked one goal. 

The 27-year-old described his journey to the Blues as having been a "roller-coaster ride".     

After time playing at both Brisbane and Collingwood, Wood was delisted at the end of 2012.

The Carlton ruckman spent last year playing for Williamstown in the VFL, before being chosen by the Blues with pick No.28 in last year's rookie draft. 

Woods says that whilst he had proven himself as a good contributor for the Northern Blues, he had never dreamt of reaching senior level. 

"This time last year playing AFL again was one of the last things on my mind,” Wood said. 

"During this year I was trying to play consistently for the Northern Blues and if an opportunity came up, I'd just try and make the most of it."

Carlton coach Mick Malthouse said Wood's contribution on Friday night had been valuable, particularly up against Kangaroo's ruckman Todd Goldstein. 

"Goldstein is a class ruckman, I think he's on an All-Australian level," Malthouse said.

"He (Wood) battled hard against him and whist he didn't beat him in the ruck, he did enough around the ground to give him something to worry about."

Happy to be donning the Navy Blue guernsey, Wood admits he's pleased to have experienced life post-football. 

"Anything can happen I guess,” Wood said. 

"I thought I was done – on the scrapheap. I had sort of given-up on the AFL dream so-to-speak and moved onto the next chapter in my life.

"I was with the Casanovas at Nova 100 and I worked at a hotel for a couple of months behind a bar. It was a good experience actually – I enjoyed it. It was a good life experience, but I'd probably prefer this."