NSW Zone Selection Jake Barrett has arrived at the GIANTS ready to follow in the footsteps of another recent Slater & Gordon GIANTS Academy graduate, Zac Williams.

Barrett will be formally selected by the GIANTS as a NSW Zone Selection at Thursday’s NAB AFL Draft on the Gold Coast, but the teenager from Temora in the Riverina has already arrived at the club as he begins his career in orange and charcoal.

“It’s been good, very exciting,” said Barrett, a graduate of the Slater & Gordon GIANTS Academy.

“(It’s) tough at first but it’s been good meeting all the new blokes and getting the hang of it.

“It’s helped playing a few games last year but knowing the blokes like Timmy Golds and that it’s been easy getting to know them all because you’ve already played a few games with them last year so it’s made everything a lot easier.”

2013 has been a big year for the 17-year-old, lining up for the UWS GIANTS in the NEAFL before impressing for the NSW/ACT Rams in the NAB AFL Under-18 National Championships. 

He also attended the NAB AFL Draft Combine, finishing second in the beep test after reaching level 15.6, as well as recording a top-10 result in the 20-metre sprint. 

“It was tough, all the games you play and all the training and travelling you go through, it wears you out at times but it’s good to be over and you’re at a club now so that’s the main part I guess,” he said.

Barrett is the first cousin of Hawthorn premiership player Luke Breustand second cousin of former NRL star and Dally M winner Trent Barrett.

Barrett was told he would selected by the GIANTS just over a month ago at the NAB AFL Draft Combine in Melbourne, when he was sat down by GIANTS Head Coach Leon Cameron and GM Football Operations Graeme Allan.

“After the beep test I was going into recover and stretch down and warm down and Buzz (former Academy Coach Lachlan Buszard) rang me up and told me to come to the interview room where the GIANTS were,” Barrett said.

“They just told me there and then that I was coming to the GIANTS and I couldn’t be more excited.”

Barrett will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of Narrandera’s Zac Williams, the GIANTS’ most recent Slater & Gordon Academy graduate, who played 11 senior games in 2013.

“Hopefully if you work hard enough you never know what can open up.”