It would be an exaggeration to say Geelong's Irish recruit Mark O'Connor is jumping straight off a plane and into his AFL debut on Saturday night.
But not much of an exaggeration.
O'Connor, 20, has played six matches since joining the Cats in October last year as an international rookie.
Not AFL matches - games of footy, full stop.
After two practice hit-outs and four VFL matches, game number seven will be at the MCG against Essendon.
"It's extremely overwhelming and quite unexpected," O'Connor admitted.
A hamstring strain to dynamic forward Brandan Parfitt placed the 19-year-old on the long-term injury list, freeing up a place for O'Connor's debut.
The former County Kerry Gaelic football player said he was stunned when told of the news by coach Chris Scott.
"It was sprung upon me this week. I wasn't even sure if he was being serious or not," he said.
"I was doing a bit of handballing this morning with Corey Enright. He told me that Chris Scott wanted to do some edits with me, so I rocked into the room and he pretty much just told me I'd be playing.
"I laughed it off. He said that he was serious."
Scott smiled on Friday morning when being reminded of the conversations.
"I did have to say it a couple of times," he said.
"The moment of disbelief is understandable ... even though Mark was a really high-level underage Gaelic player.
"But he hasn't got a golden ticket. We haven't taken a huge leap of faith. He's earned his position on merit.
"We're really confident our supporters will see why we've got so much faith in him."
Scott can hardly afford to joke after dropping four players from the side that lost to Gold Coast last weekend.
Joining O'Connor as inclusions are Zac Smith, Tom Stewart and Jake Kolodjashnij with Aaron Black, Jackson Thurlow, Jordan Murdoch and Darcy Lang omitted.
While captain Joel Selwood has been passed fit after an ankle scare, defender Lachie Henderson won't play.
He was a late withdrawal from the side that lost to the Suns and was unable to prove his fitness through the week.
Scott said he was "very close" to selection this week, but would contend strongly for the round nine meeting with Western Bulldogs and "if he's available he'll play".
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