WHEN Geelong recruiting boss Stephen Wells selected Corey Enright with pick 47 in the 1999 national draft, he had only modest expectations for the 18-year-old South Australian.

"Corey, all those years ago, was a player drafted I suppose as a bit of a punt," Wells told CatsTV.

"We hadn't seen a lot of him play. Just enough of him to know that there was a chance he was going to be a good AFL player."

Enright was selected with a draft pick that had been traded to the Cats as part of the deal that took Leigh Colbert to North Melbourne.

He was considered a recruiting punt because he hadn't been selected in Australia's team for the 1999 national under-18 championships.

In fact, the bulk of his footy career to that point had involved playing junior and then senior footy with his home club, Kimba Districts, on the Eyre Peninsula.

Enright had also made a few appearances in the SANFL's under-19 competition with the Port Adelaide Magpies (lads from Kimba were zoned to Port in those days).

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"He was one of those players that had been noticed in South Australia," Wells said. "The Port Adelaide Magpies had mentioned Corey as player that could develop over the course of the season.

"He wasn't going to play the whole season with the Magpies. He was going to spend some time in Kimba and come down for occasional games.

"When he did that, we were lucky enough to see him play a little bit at Port Adelaide live, then we followed it up with the available vision that we had at the time.

"He was a player that attracted our interest because of his decision-making and skill, and just a natural ability to play the game."

Corey Enright prior to the 2001 season

Enright has admitted on a number of occasions that the move to Geelong and the challenge of adapting to life at an AFL club was not easy.

Having grown up in a small town with a tight group of mates, he suffered numerous bouts of homesickness, which was made worse by the fact he spent his first season at the Cattery either injured or playing in the VFL.

But things started to turn around once he made his AFL debut against St Kilda at what was then known as Colonial Stadium in round two, 2001.

"I had a good pre-season under my belt and was training pretty hard," Enright said in a My First Game feature made for CatsTV. "I was in the mix for round one but didn't get picked.

"Round two came along, and I think Justin Murphy had been reported in that first game. [Murphy was later suspended], so that gave me a chance to get selected."

All of Enright's family came over for the game.

Wearing the No. 44 guernsey that he has made his own, he started on the bench. And given it was the days before rotations, he didn't get on the field until the early stages of the second quarter.

However, he made an instant impression when he was involved in a collision with Saints hard man Barry Hall in the middle of the ground.

Hall grabbed the ball and charged forward, then leaned forward and slammed his head into Enright's midriff in the style that the AFL has recently tried to outlaw.

"He charged straight at me and I just had to stand in his way," Enright remembered. "I thought I had him holding the ball [under the new rules it would have been holding the ball], but I gave away a free kick for too high."

The Cats supporters erupted at the injustice of the umpiring decision. But they had seen enough of Enright to know that he had some guts.

He finished the game with nine disposals, and what would turn out to be one of the great AFL careers had begun.

"It was good to get the first one under the belt and experience the AFL dream," Enright said.

Corey Enright and Mark Thompson during the 2002 season

At that stage, the hierarchy at Geelong envisaged that Enright might develop into a great attacking wingman. As Wells recalled, "He was a player who was probably going to be a midfielder/forward."

Yet it wasn't until he was moved to the half-back line by Mark Thompson and his fellow coaches that Enright's career really took off.

That move has proved to a coaching masterstroke. More than a decade down the track, the man known as 'Boris' has become one of the finest half-backs the game has known.

On the eve of his 300th AFL game, the 33-year-old already has a footballing resume that rivals the two players selected on the half-back flanks in the AFL's Team Of The Century in 1996: Carlton great Bruce Doull and Fitzroy legend Kevin Murray.

"He's one of those players that when he's on, and the game's going well for him, it seems like the ball is following him around," Wells said. "I just find Corey a real pleasure to watch.

"His role as a half-back, playing on some of the very best players in the competition and winning one-on-one contests consistently, but also then reading the play well enough to do some great intercept work and be a launching pad for so many of our attacking moves, has just been a pleasure to watch."

When he thinks about his recruiting punt has turned out, Wells is immensely proud.

But could he ever have imagined that Enright would play in three premierships, win two best and fairests, be selected in the All Australian team five times and play 300 games?

The answer is "no".

"Even after he'd been here for a couple of years, that was stretching it a little bit," Wells added.

"But due to his brilliant work ethic and natural footy ability, he was able to soak up all that coaching, and the experiences he had playing with the rest of those brilliant players through this era, and here he is playing his 300th game.

"When any player is drafted, if they can reach something like their potential, well then you know it's worked out okay."