The Cats zippy forward, Steven Motlop, turns the pages back to 2008 when he was first told he was making the big move down to Geelong from the Northern Territory.

Having had two brothers take the AFL journey before him, Motlop was feeling the pressure.

His older brother Shannon Motlop played 54 games for North Melbourne and Daniel Motlop followed with 47 games with the Roos and 83 with Port Adelaide.      

“Obviously I had a couple of brothers who had been drafted and I thought there was a bit on my shoulders to also get drafted,” Motlop told Cats TV.

“I was really nervous and I was around at my brother’s house and in the build up there was a lot of talk about Port taking me with my brother being there.”

“I got a phone call from Geelong the day before and they said ‘how would you feel coming down to Geelong?’ and I said ‘yeah, I’d just be happy to go to any club’, it would make my dream.

“Geelong ended up taking me at 39 so I was pretty excited.”

The move from Darwin to Geelong was one of Motlop’s biggest challenges. However, the support he received from his family and the club enabled him to find his feet.

“I’m the baby of the family so Mum and Dad were happy to see me get to the AFL,” Motlop said.

“My Mum and Dad moved down and helped me out but when I first got here I moved in with (former Cat player) Nathan Djerrkura and he helped me a lot because I was a bit homesick at times, it’s pretty far from Darwin, but I love it now and I’m having fun.”

Since Motlop’s first game in round 2 in 2010, which saw him out for the rest of the year with an injured shoulder, he has played a total of 68 games with Geelong’s seniors.

In 2013, Motlop produced his best ever season, with a career best of 44 goals and 428 disposals. Unfortunately this year, the 23-year-old speedster missed the first six rounds and a significant portion of preseason training with a knee injury.