When the V/Line Cup takes place in Shepparton later this month, AFL recruiters will be there to see the state’s best young footy talent.
The V/Line Cup gives young players the best chance to put their names up in lights ahead of their draft years, with the tournament a scouting ground for NAB League sides like the Murray Bushrangers.
However, it won’t just be players scouts keep an eye out for — umpires will be under the microscope too.
And Shepparton’s Max Morrison is hoping to put his name up in lights alongside the city’s next potential Jy Simpkin or Josh Rachele.
Morrison, 15, will be one of the younger umpires running around through the cup, but the boundary rider has his sights set high.
“I want to eventually make it to the AFL,” he said.
He knows he’s some way off that for now, but Morrison will be running the boundary for the Goulburn Valley League this weekend and hopes to push his case umpiring Murray Bushrangers games as well.
He started umpiring after wandering over to watch the football at the Undera Recreation Reserve during half-time of his sister’s netball.
"I went over to the footy and watch the umpires and the games, and heard about them getting paid,“ Morrison said.
“I was a fat, chubby little kid who couldn’t run for my life and thought, ‘let’s try this’.“
He hasn’t really played the game itself, joking that he never developed the knack of kicking or handballing or marking — all rather crucial skills for footballers.
“I was never really good at playing, every time I try to go kick a goal it went out of bounds or would just go through the points,” he said.
“I was never good at that and never got paid for footy either.
“But I started to enjoy umpiring and made some good friends, came to training every single week. I thought it was real good getting pocket money.”
The good friends he made six years ago when he first joined are still there and he said the AFL Goulburn Murray umpiring fraternity was like a “second family”.
At his “third or fourth” year in the system he made his GVL debut along the boundary, following on from Kyabram District and Murray league games, with each step getting “even faster and more intense”.
While Morrison had stints in the middle during his early days umpiring KDL thirds, he stopped when he made the AFLGM’s academy as a boundary umpire and he’s not looking to become the next Ray Chamberlain.
“On the boundary I feel more comfortable with, it’s a lot less pressure on the end, a lot more fun to be honest,” Morrison said.
"It’s mainly fitness and concentration which goes into it, and reading the play — knowing which way it’s going to be kicked.“
He also said there’s less heat and abuse on umpires when they do the boundary, aside from the odd comment following a close call.
He’s covered plenty of kilometres, both running the boundary and in the car to and from games, which he’s grateful to his parents for.
He also encourages anyone who’s interested in knowing more to come down and give umpiring a whirl.
But his eyes are firmly set on the GVL’s opening round, and then the V/Line Cup, which begins on April 11.