Mason Redman’s move from the country to the city signaled the beginning of an important chapter in the youngster’s football career.

Redman was renowned for his football talent in his hometown of Millicent , a small South Australian town with no more than 5,000 people – approximately four hours from Adelaide.

Having dominated the junior leagues, Redman caught the eye of many of the state selectors - particularly that of the Glenelg  Tigers’ head coach Matt Lokan who sat down with Mason at the end of 2014 to set out a plan to get Mason to Adelaide.

“I’ve had a fair bit of contact with Mason over the last few years through our junior grades,” Lokan said.

“We kind of sat down with Mason and his dad Joel around this time last year and put together a bit of a plan for him to come down and do senior pre-season and get his body conditioned to senior football.”

Lokan could not speak highly enough of the maturity Redman brought when he walked into the change rooms at the Tigers.

“The transition from 2014 until now has been huge,” Lokan said.

“Although he was playing some senior footy down in Millicent, his ability to be able to transition to senior level football has been great.”

A loveable character around the Club, Redman worked hard at Glenelg balancing the demands of senior football while also looking to impress at the National Carnival for South Australia.

Redman’s natural drive and desire to compete were two of the attributes showcased in both competitions as well his professional approach.

“Mason’s very driven,” Lokan said.

“He’s always been pretty driven and always had that goal of wanting to do the best that he could.

“I’d be lying if I thought that it would happen this quick, but he certainly ticked all the boxes from our point of view in regards to everything that he did.

“He’s one of those stories that you love to hear.

“He worked his backside off to get where he is and he got rewarded by being drafted to Essendon.”