Australian wicketkeeper Alex Carey has revealed the extraordinary method Port Adelaide used to decide an AFL list spot.
After missing get selected in the 2009 AFL National Draft, native South Australian product Carey found himself training at the Power to win a rookie spot.
Competing with a group of other players for the AFL rookie contract, Carey leaked the brutal way Port Adelaide and then coach Mark Williams decide the one player they would select.
After running the players ragged with 400m sprints, Williams announced that the final 400m would see the winner get a rookie contract with the Power.
MORE: AFL Rookie and Pre-Season draft: Every pick from every club
"There were about six-or-seven boys from South Australia go to Port (Adelaide) that week leading into the rookie draft," Carey said on Unfiltered with Hamish McLachlan.
"I had done the whole week - thought I had gone pretty well. Think there was about six-or-seven 400m thrown at the end of (training).
"We had done five-or-six at the time and we were struggling to get through it and the last one Choco (Mark Williams) said 'righto boys, the winner of this will get a rookie contract with Port Adelaide Football Club.
"I hadn't won one - my hopes weren't high - and as you do, you have a crack and the winner was Cameron Hitchcock."
Carey's AFL dream wasn't over, despite failing to be drafted, as he was invited to be a part of GWS Giants team in the two years before it made its AFL debut.
In 2010, Carey was captain and won the team's best and fairest as the Giants made the finals in the TAC Cup competition.
Carey also played the Giants in the NEAFL in 2011, but wasn't given a list position for GWS' inaugural AFL season in 2012.
"I was always a better cricketer - maybe that's why I wanted footy a little bit more, to chase that desire to be on the big stage with the big crowds," Carey said.
"But you see now with Big Bash it is certainly just as exciting as the footy season."
Carey went on to make cricket his number one sport, making his international debut for Australia in 2018 at T20 level.
An ODI debut followed shortly after at the 2019 Cricket World Cup, before he forced his way into the Test side for his first appearance in December 2021.