The drafting of Mathew Stokes in 2005 wasan unexpected call up for the Darwin youngster, having lucked out on selectionevery year since his first draft appearance in 2002. 

Following the 2002 draft, Stokes leftDarwin to join the SANFL in Adelaide and it wasn’t until three year’s later that he received that long awaited phone call. 

“I was actually working at the Adelaide Zoofeeding the bears when I got the phone call from Ron Watt (Former PlayerDevelopment manager) saying I was drafted, which was so thrilling for mebecause I got overlooked three years in a row at the draft,” Stokes told CatsTV.  

“The first person I called was my Dad."

“At first I thought it was a prank but whenI heard Ronnie Watt say ‘congratulations, welcome to Geelong’ it was a pretty bigmoment in my life having been overlooked.”

Stokes, who was 21 when he was finally draftedat pick number 61, admits he had three frustrating years in Adelaide. However, looking back over his career, Stokes wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

“I thought I was good enough to get draftedbut never did - but then the year that I wasn’t expecting anything from thedraft it happened,” Stokes admitted.

“I look back now and I think (those threeyears) taught me a lot of good lessons and made me work harder, so I amgrateful for missing out but still being drafted at an older age.”

Since the 2005 draft, Stokes has played 175games for the Cats including two premierships.

This year, in recognition for his community work, the29-year-old midfielder was named the Cats Community Champion for the third time. Along with this achievement, Stokes was also nominated for the prestigious AFL Community Award in honor of the late Jim Stynes.