Harvey Gallagher turned his hand to a few different fallback options while he fought to keep his AFL dream alive.
The now-Western Bulldogs midfielder was overlooked in his draft year in 2021 and kept himself busy while playing as an over-aged player for the Bendigo Pioneers and spending time with Carlton's VFL team.
"I was at Bunnings, I was labouring. I did a few trials as a sparkie," Gallagher said.
"What else did I do? I worked at AFL Central Vic, so a few different things."
Did anything stick?
"Nah, I'd rather be here," Gallagher quipped.
"Here" is the Western Bulldogs, where Gallagher, 20, has played all three games this season, earning a Rising Star nomination after scoring two goals against West Coast.
It's been a long road.
After he was drafted in 2022, Gallagher spent much of his first season sidelined through injuries.
"It was hard, definitely hard, especially coming into a new environment, being in rehab a lot," he said.
"But I think a massive blessing in disguise for me was not getting drafted straight out of school.
"I've had a bit of adversity with my football, so that definitely helped me a lot."
This season he hasn't missed a beat.
With the backing of coach Luke Beveridge, Gallagher has thrived - even keeping more senior players such as Jack Macrae and James Harmes out of the midfield.
Support from vice-captain Tom Liberatore has also helped.
"He's taken a real interest in me," Gallagher said.
"Doing touch before trainings, vision, touch before games ... he's been awesome for me.
"A lot of stuff is just aggression and contest stuff - obviously that's one of his massive strengths - and just working on our hands."
Beveridge added: "Harvs is probably modelling parts of his game on what Tom's done.
"And that's really important for the club, that Libba's been able to find that time for someone like Harvey."
Gallagher's next challenge is Geelong in Adelaide on Saturday night.
"Obviously they've got some pretty nice midfielders," Gallagher said.
"I actually played with Jhye Clark, so (I'm) pretty keen to go up against him. That'd be pretty cool."
