OLLIE LORD is still pinching himself that he is living out his AFL dream, bumping shoulders daily with the likes of Charlie Dixon, Robbie Gray and Travis Boak.

Port Adelaide’s pick 49 from last year’s AFL National Draft has only been in Adelaide for a little over six weeks but has settled well and is due to have his first competitive hit-out in the club’s colours in an internal trial on Saturday.

He admits his first AFL pre-season has been as tough as he imagined it would be, especially given he hasn’t played a game in about a year because of the cancellation of football in Victoria in 2020.

But the Geelong Grammar and Sandringham Dragons product is not complaining.

“It’s been a pretty quick month or six weeks but I’m loving it,” Lord told portadelaidefc.com.au.

“The hot weather has been a bit of a challenge, coming from Victoria but I’ve really enjoyed it and I can’t wait to get into the games and a bit of match simulation which will be really good.

“As much as I’ve loved training and making myself better in the last six weeks, I’m really keen to get into games and some match sim and show everyone what I can do and run out with my teammates.”

Lord spent much of the pre-season removed from the main group as part of his fitness programme, but has joined in over recent weeks.

The teenager is being mentored by fellow forwards Charlie Dixon and Todd Marshall but he says most of the players have taken him under their wings.

That’s made it easier for the 195cm key tall to settle into his new home.

“There have been a lot of challenges but I think I was just so happy to be a part of it that even when my body was struggling, I was just smiling looking at the players I was running around with.

“I just felt really lucky to be in the scenario even though I was hurting inside but I was kind of expecting that.”

While he has already started forming bonds with the club’s young core, Lord admits still being star struck by some of his more experienced teammates.

“In the first two weeks I think it was still surreal,” he explained.

“I was thinking ‘wow, I’m at an AFL club, this is my dream’ looking around and seeing Charlie (Dixon), Robbie Gray and Trav (Boak) and even just coming back from our recent four-day break, I was still thinking ‘wow, this is awesome’ so it’s still a bit surreal.”

Given his limited footy in 2020, Lord is eager to get back on the park and pull on the Port Adelaide jumper for the first time in the club’s internal trial on Saturday.

And it seems the club’s tradition and history of success has rubbed off on him; among his goals are to play consistently and win games of footy.

“I just want as much consistency as possible with my footy and my body and to represent the club first at SANFL level and get myself as close as possible to an AFL debut,” Lord said.

“That’s my goal. I just need to get consistent in my footy, get some wins at SANFL or AFL level and get some respect from my teammates and coaches.”