The AFL's newest Brownlow Medalist - Bulldogs midfielder Adam Cooney - admits he was lazy and out-of-shape when he first joined the Bulldogs at the end of 2003.
Cooney, who on Monday night became the first-ever top draft pick to win the game's highest individual honour after being taken at pick one in the 2003 national draft, admits he was not fit enough to cope with the rigours of the AFL when he first started at the Bulldogs.
The 22-year-old on-baller - who showed a delightful sense of humour and was remarkably composed during his acceptance speech - even admitted he struggled to outrun the Bulldogs' giant ruckman Peter Street during pre-season training when he first arrived at the club.
"We used to have some good battles - me and 'Streety'," Cooney said.
"But I have got him in the last couple of years, but it definitely took me a while."
"I wasn't in the best shape when I first came over - my skin folds nearly topped 100 which is reasonably large for a young lad - so I had a little bit of work to do and my fitness wasn't up to standard."
"I wasn't strong enough either and I didn't think it (playing in the AFL) was as hard as it was I suppose."
Cooney also battled groin problems - thanks to the dreaded osteitis pubis which in particular affected his 2007 season.
But this year he began pre-season training - way back on October 15 - fully fit and according to Cooney that made all the difference.
"It was probably my first pre-season since my first year I got to the club (ahead of the 2004 season) and that has made a massive difference," he said.
Cooney, who also revealed during his acceptance speech that he proposed to his fiancee Haylea earlier this year by placing a 'Burger Ring' on her finger and is also the step-father to a seven-year-old with cerebral palsy as well as a son born only in May, said that he had always planned to make a career in football having struggled at school.
"I tried my best but me and school didn't agree too much," he said.
"I passed year 11 thanks to my Mum, who did most of my homework for me."
Cooney, who played for a junior club that used to be known as the Bushpigs in the Adelaide suburb of Flagstaff Hill, also revealed the tragedy he endured in 2002 when three of his close mates died while he was playing for SANFL club West Adelaide.
"I was playing for West Adelaide under 17s in 2002 and Jake Watson (the nephew of Essendon legend Tim) died on the field followed by two other mates in my under 17s clubs - Ben Mitchell and Glenn Knott - who I think about all the time," Cooney said.
"I played a lot of footy with them and it was obviously a hard year."
Yet the following season Cooney became only the fourth player in SANFL history to progress straight from the under 17s into the seniors - where he thrived under the coaching of former Adelaide ruckman Shaun Rehn.
And that 2003 season with West Adelaide then led to Cooney being taken at pick one in the draft of that year and now just five years later he is the first-ever number one draft pick to win the Brownlow Medal.