The day Ben sealed a deal

BEN Brown only did what came naturally.

Read the flight, ran to the drop zone, jumped and marked at the highest point.

Walked back a long way, took a breath, jogged in and converted from 45m.

Only difference this time, at Frankston Oval on the second Saturday in June 2013, it unfolded in front of the right set of eyes and put North Melbourne in the box seat to draft the Tasmanian tyro.

“He just extended and took it ‘bang’ clean as a whistle,” then-Kangaroos development coach John Lamont said.

“I can still remember it in my head, it was a real ‘Wow’ moment. The ball went into our forward line, the sort of ball you don’t say it out loud but you think, well, that's going over his head and then ‘F--he’s marked it’.”

At 200cm, with vice-like grip, a prodigious set-shot routine and elite endurance, Brown, then 20, had the attributes to make the grade.

A willingness to move to Melbourne, even after being overlooked in three drafts, to join Werribee showed Kangaroos recruiters and coaches Brown also had the appetite to make it in the big time.

“He was prepared to move from Tasmania to Werribee because he thought that would give him the best chance of getting in front of [AFL] recruiters,” a source said.

“On the guarantee of nothing, to move your life for the best football opportunity.”

It was a risk worth taking, a decision the Kangaroos came to accept only after much deliberation throughout the 2013 season right up to the November 27 draft.

With three selections to make, North Melbourne had to be open-minded and riskaverse to pull off the Brown heist draft.

Opposition teams made sure North Melbourne paid a price for father-son Luke McDonald (pick No.8), and then the Kangaroos bolstered their midfield depth with South Australian prospect Trent Dumont at pick 30.

It meant Brown would stay on the board for at least another 17 nerve-racking picks before the Devonport junior would realise an AFL dream and become a Shinboner.

Lamont, who was appointed Werribee coach in 2014, saw the Tasmanian improve by the week, on and off the field, and could deliver progress reports to Kangaroos recruiters.

“It was just a growing interest,” Lamont said.

“A gradual and growing interest because his season built and built and built.”

Brown booted an impressive 29 goals in his breakout 2013 VFL season, including one fivegoal haul. Seven years on and twice Coleman Medal runnerup, Brown is on his way to mowing down John Longmire (511 goals) as the Kangaroos’ most prolific full-forward, with 280 goals from 122 games.