FOUR Riverina footballers have been handed AFL careers at the National Draft in Adelaide on Thursday night.
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Jacob Hopper, Matt Kennedy, Harry Himmelberg and Matt Flynn will add to the Riverina contingent at Greater Western Sydney (GWS) next year after being picked up by the Giants.
In a phenomenal effort, AFL Riverina produced three first round draft picks.
Hopper (seven), Kennedy (13) and Himmelberg (16) all went to Greater Western Sydney (GWS) in the first round after bids from Gold Coast, Richmond and Adelaide respectively.
Flynn then went to GWS at pick 41 after the Giants matched a bid from Melbourne.
Hopper and Kennedy were in Adelaide for the big moment and were over the moon as their AFL dream came true.
“I can’t put it into words the feeling right now, I’m still pinching myself,” Kennedy said.
“There had been all that expectation and the speculation stuff did get to us in the end but now it’s all done, the weight is off our shoulders.”
Hopper said it had been an unbelievable night.
“It’s been a whirlwind, it’s been crazy with a lot of media stuff,” Hopper said.
“It’s unreal, super stoked it’s done now and looking forward to enjoying the night.”
Himmelberg was in Brisbane watching the Draft with his parents and was surprised to see his name feature in the first round.
“It’s awesome, unreal,” Himmelberg said.
“It was a bit of a surprise, I wasn’t expecting my name to be called that early, if at all, so its unreal.”
Flynn watched it all unfold in Narrandera with family and close friends and was starting to get anxious before seeing his name appear on the television screen.
“It’s unreal, I can’t believe it,” Flynn said.
“It started to slow up there for a while and I was like, what’s going on here.
“It’s just unreal.”
Even better if that he is off to Sydney with good mate Hopper.
“It’s ridiculous, it’s only a couple of weeks ago we were joking around saying we would both be in Sydney next year and it’s actually came true,” he said.
It was a big effort from two Riverina schools, Wagga’s Mater Dei Catholic College and Leeton’s St Francis de Sales Regional College. Kennedy and Himmelboth graduated from Mater Dei, while Hopper and Flynn attended St Francis together.