Mark Whiley is an AFL footballer of just ten senior games’ experience, three of them gleaned on the mighty MCG.

One of those involved Collingwood and two, Melbourne - including the “I was there the day” moment when local supporters turfed coins at Tom Scully.

Now, as a recently-acquired Carlton player, Whiley is hell bent on being there a fourth time, when the Blues front Richmond in the 2015 season opener on the place famously known as the paddock that grew.

And it’s so far so good for the boy from Finley, whose pre-season campaign began in earnest at Visy Park this week.

But why Carlton?

“It was all about opportunity and which club best suited me,” Whiley said in a break between training sessions, “but first I had to find out if they (Carlton) wanted me - and thankfully they did.

“It’s a fresh start - now it’s really a case of getting through the pre-season unscathed, proving my fitness and taking it from there.”

Originally named by the Giants as a New South Wales Zone Selection, the affable country kid has been part of the League system for three years now . . . “and hopefully I’ve learned something along the way”.

Kristian Jaksch and Mark Whiley have started their first pre-season campaign with the Blues. (Photo: Carlton Football Club)

So how do the two League football clubs compare or contrast?

“It’s the age difference which is the thing,” came the reply. “We were all so young up there (GWS) and that was fine because we all started out together. Now it will be interesting to see the older blokes, how they train and the standards that they set . . . and that’s a good thing.”

A Carlton supporter as a kid (and he has his father to thank for that), Whiley’s relocation to Visy Park means he’s now actually closer to the old Riverina hometown, some 140 kilometres west of Albury on the intersection of the Newell and Riverina Highways.

Whiley recalled making the road trip to Finley on three occasions last year, but will more than likely up the ante as it’s now only three hours in the car from Melbourne as opposed to seven from Sin City.

Ask Whiley to spruik Finley and he barely draws breath.

“Finley was a grouse town to grow up in,” he said. “There were only 2000 people and I grew up outside of town, which was good.

“It was a crazy sports town and everybody there has grown up with sport. I couldn’t play cricket to save myself, so it was footy, basketball and squash for me.”

Finley too was home to Shane Crawford, the Hawkins’ Tom and Jack (Whiley cites Jack as “being pretty good to me when I was young”) and the late Allan Jeans. No wonder Whiley’s proud of his junior footballing feats for Finley – most notably the 2009 Under 19 Grand Final win (“had a stinker but it doesn’t matter) over arch rival Deniliquin at the idyllic Tocumwal ground.

But that was then, this is now, and Whiley is up for the task at Bluesville . . . and what can supporters expect?

“Just an inside-mid . . . nothing flash . . . and someone who gives it me all,” said Whiley.