FORMER South Warrnambool footballer Sam Dwyer joined the Collingwood Football Club in this morning's AFL rookie draft.
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The Magpies selected the respected Port Melbourne midfielder with pick 28.
Dwyer, 26, joins Collingwood as a mature-age recruit after eight seasons in the VFL where his performances often had him in AFL draft calculations.
A Port Melbourne premiership player and best and fairest winner, Dwyer was linked to the Westpac Centre prior to the rookie draft.
Speaking to The Standard shortly after the draft, Dwyer said the news was yet to sink in.
Dwyer, an electrician, was working when he found out he'd been drafted and his first phone call to congratulate him was from Port Melbourne coach Gary Ayres.
"It's pretty exciting. I am looking forward to getting down there and getting stuck into it," he said.
"I spoke to them during the season and had a meeting with them a couple of weeks ago but apart from that I had no indication."
South Warrnambool teenager Louis Herbert and former Terang Mortlake and Collingwood footballer Luke Rounds were overlooked in the draft.
Herbert could be offered a spot as a 19-year-old on North Ballarat Rebels' 2013 TAC Cup list and Rounds is training with Port Melbourne and wants to continue his career in the VFL.