IT’S ALL still quite surreal to Jordan Boyd.

His story has been one that’s been oft-told in recent years, particularly throughout his breakout season of 2024. It wasn’t that long ago that the defender was playing for Spotswood in the Western Region Football League.

But it was even less time ago that Boyd was still wondering - more hopeful than anything - of the contribution he could make at the elite level. He was plucked out of relative obscurity in the 2021 mid-season draft, and played seven games in his first full campaign in 2022 before a foot injury ended his year prematurely.

It was a chat with Michael Voss in 2023 that sparked something in Boyd, and while he’s still finding his way, it’s been a case of trying to repay that faith ever since.

“It started last year when I came back from my foot. ‘Vossy’ said to me ‘we need you back in the team, it’s about time you play’. I personally at where I wanted to be, but he had belief in me that I could definitely play at the level,” Boyd told Carlton Media.

“It’s being able to play those games . . . that continuity of playing continuous games at the level allowed me to make mistakes, learn from it and feel more comfortable that I definitely belong.

“A lot of people around me helped, putting time into me and believing in me — I started to believe in myself. Brad Ebert last year, Aaron Hamill has put a lot of time into me: he saw a lot in me that I didn’t see in myself at the start.”

Boyd also mentioned his fellow members of the Blues backline who he regularly ran out alongside in 2024, from long-time mentor Adam Saad, to leaders Jacob Weitering and Nic Newman, to even newcomer Lachie Cowan.

He had some key roles in 2024, none bigger than the role he performed on Giants gun Toby Greene in the Round 6 win, and it truly seemed over the course of the year that the long-sleeved No.37 with the headband grew and grew in not only the eyes of Carlton fans, but football supporters.

His rise in Navy Blue is still one that he admits he’s getting used to, but having signed a contract extension earlier this year, it’s clear that Boyd doesn’t want the ride to end anytime soon.

“It’s been pretty cool. I was a no-name player a couple of years ago, just playing my role: it’s been cool to get a lot of support from all the fans.

“I feel like I play my role, try and crack in and have a go — it seems that people connect with that! I don’t know why, I think it’s up to Dad and the way he played footy at 110 per cent.

“It’s been pretty cool and pretty special to see all the support.”