Essendon Football Club draftee Ricky Dyson fondly remembers the day he and Northern Knights teammate Brent Stanton turned up for their first training session at Windy Hill. ""It was awesome,"" he recalled as he parked alongside new teammate Adam Ramanauksas. Reports Lance Jenkinson from the Moonee Valley Community News.

‘Rama’ took it upon himself to introduce the bright-eyed pair into a changing room full of stars including club champions James Hird and Matthew Lloyd. ""It’s hard to come to terms with it but I’ve been training with them for the past six months and I am starting to get used to it now,"" Dyson said.

""They’ve made us feel really welcome and we’ve all fitted in really well – it has been really good coming to the club.""

The speedy Dyson was drafted by the Bombers’ with pick 44 in the 2003 AFL National Draft. He is yet another success story to come out of the Vic Metro representative team. The TAC Cup was his training ground and he acknowledges the coaching of Ray Shaw and Keith Burns at the Northern Knights for accelerating his progress.

For Dyson, TAC Cup was like swimming in a pond full of goldfish, while the step up to AFL resembles an aquarium full of hungry sharks. ""It’s a huge step up. Probably the speed of it – even from TAC Cup to VFL is a big step and then there’s another step from VFL to AFL.

""I guess you haven’t got much time. Once you get the ball you have to give it up. Whereas in the TAC Cup you can run with it a bit more and get more time to make a decision. In the AFL it is a split second decision of what you have to do with the ball,"" Dyson said.

Dyson lives with his sisters Bianca and Candice and parents Michelle and Craig in Mill Park. He rates his father, a former Preston VFL premiership player and member of the North Melbourne reserves, as having the biggest input into his career. ""He (dad) has been a huge influence. He is always there along with the rest of the family to give me encouragement.""

The left-footer is also taking part in the STEP program to improve his work prospects after football. At the end of the program, he will have a certificate one and two in sport and recreation. He will also spend the next 12 weeks undertaking a personal training course.

The four-gamer admitted that schooling was not his strongest point. ""It wasn’t my best asset, although I did enjoy going to school to catch up with my mates and everything like that; we had a ball at school. Year 12 was probably the best year I have had. However, I didn’t get as much out of it as I should have,"" Dyson said.