You couldn’t wipe the smile off Joe Berry’s face on Thursday morning as the Benalla product stood outside Marvel Stadium for the first media opportunity of his AFL career.
Berry was proudly sporting the black, white and teal of Port Adelaide after the Power picked him with the 15th selection in the 2024 AFL Draft on Wednesday night, a move that will see him head to Alberton Oval this weekend having realised a childhood dream.
“I’m pretty honoured to have my name read out last night,” Berry said.
“I head over there (soon), I leave on Sunday, so I’m super keen.”
While Berry had met with Port Adelaide in the lead-up to the draft, there was plenty of talk about Fremantle scooping up the Vic Country talent too, and with the Dockers looking to potentially turn pick 17 into a higher selection, the Power struck.
A live pick swap saw West Coast, which was on the clock at pick 15, trade back to pick 16 while also gaining pick 45 from Port Adelaide, as the Power moved to ensure there was no chance of anyone stealing ‘the Berry’.
Among the throng of people busily trying to execute that pivotal pick trade in the Port Adelaide war room was Power legend Robbie Gray, now part of the recruiting team, and someone Berry has aspired to emulate on the football field.
To have Gray as one of the key decision makers that drove his selection was icing on the cake for the Goulburn Valley export.
“Watching Robbie growing up, I tried to base my game around his a little bit,” he said.
“If I can do half of what he did for Port Adelaide, I’ll be stoked. It’s pretty surreal.”
Berry becomes one of only a handful to make it to the AFL from Benalla since the competition went national in 1990, joining the likes of Jarrad Waite, Tom Rockliff and current Hawk Harry Morrison.
And while the FCJ College student has plenty of supporters in the Rose City, he had a pretty good inkling he would be leaving it behind for bigger and better things.
“I’ve got a good group of mates and friends and family (in Benalla), and they’ve all supported me from there,” he said.
“To head over to Port now, I think I knew I was probably going to leave Benalla anyway, but to head over to Adelaide, it’s an honour.”
Berry’s route to the draft was almost unrivalled in how explosive his rise was this year, climbing from an outside chance early this season to a first-round lock through consistent impressive displays in the Coates Talent League and at the national championships.
There was plenty of hard work behind the scenes, however, with the Murray Bushranger confident the work ethic that saw him drafted would hold him in good stead at the elite level.
“I think having a big preseason, using my resources and working with the coaches and the strength and conditioning (staff) really helped me, and just banking the sessions,” he said of his brilliant top-age season.
“But yeah, I think it’s a fair bit of intrinsic stuff as well, making sure I’m doing all my recovery, it’s just all kind of set up getting into good habits.”
Having fielded calls from Port Adelaide coaches on Thursday morning, and having met Zak Butters along with the recruiting team after getting picked on Wednesday night, Berry said he was excited to get to know the rest of his new teammates and start life as an AFL footballer.
“All of them, to be honest,” he said, when asked if there was a teammate he was looking forward to playing with the most.
“I don’t want to pick out too many, I’m just keen to get in and get started and meet everyone.”