A 205cm Brisbane 18-year-old, who has played just three games of AFL football and has never been a registered player, has been signed by the Sydney Swans.

In a fairytale that wouldn’t be out of place in ‘Boys Own Annual’, Jake Orreal, who has excelled in a myriad of other sports, will take up the sporting opportunity of a lifetime next month.

The would-be ruckman will begin a two-year rookie list contract with the Swans when the club begins summer training on 5 November.

It is an extraordinary chapter in the sporting escapades of a young man who was tempted by a volleyball scholarship to the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, was a member of the QAS beach volleyball squad, represented Brisbane in basketball, has been a standout track and field athlete and also played rugby league, rugby union and soccer.

The Swans have targeted a little-known and rarely used clause in the AFL rookie list rules to snare the athletic teenager ahead of next month’s AFL draft.

Because he has not been a registered AFL player for the past three years – or in Orreal’s case ever – he is not required to go through the normal draft process which awaits up to 1000 youngsters from across Australia on 24 November.

“It’s all still so hard to believe,” said Orreal, who has been privately committed to the Swans since May and spared the normal anguish that aspiring AFL players go through.

Orreal, working part-time this year at McDonalds and Kmart while studying, has trained privately this year under Craig Starcevich, a former Collingwood AFL premiership player and Brisbane Lions triple premiership fitness coach who is now fitness coach with the Queensland Roar A-League side.

The Swans chose to punt on Orreal on the strength of three games with the Western Taipans in the Queensland U18 Championships in March despite the fact that he chose not to play in a formal football competition this year because of study commitments.

Why? “We look more and more at someone like Dean Cox (West Coast Eagles and All-Australian ruckman) as the premier ruckman in the competition and see a big, mobile type who can really cover the ground,” explained Swans recruiting manager and ex-captain Stuart Maxfield.

“Not for one moment are we comparing the two but in the brief time we saw Jake we saw a young guy with some real athletic ability. He didn’t do a lot in the games we saw in terms of pure football but he showed he’s got some real athletic attributes.

“We know and he knows he’s got a long way to go to become an AFL footballer but we reckon he’s got a pretty fair base and some genuine athletic tools to work with,” said Maxfield.

Orreal, a graduate of the rugby-dominated Marist College Ashgrove. which counts John Eales and Matthew Hayden among its favorite sons, had been chosen in the preliminary Queensland U18 squad after the State Championships.

But he chose to put a Bachelor of Business at QUT ahead of football and told AFL Queensland Talent Manager Mark Browning he wouldn’t be playing football this year.

Orreal, the middle of three children and the only son of Leo and Paula Orreal of Arana Hills in Brisbane’s north-west, was born in Brisbane on 26 September 1989 – AFL grand final week.

Home in his early years was determined by his father’s army postings and he spent time in Wagga (twice), Sydney, Townsville and Perth before settling in Brisbane five years ago.

Wherever he went a sporting love affair followed the now 90kg 205cm giant.

He turned his hand to just about everything in Little Athletics from U5s to U15s and was a State medalist in 400m, long jump, high jump and triple jump as a youngster.

He played rugby league at U9s, soccer at U10s and U11s and rugby union from U12s to U15s at school and club level. In grade eight he took up basketball and in Grade 11 added volleyball to his sporting repertoire.

So quickly did he take to volleyball that in his first year he was a Queensland U17 representative. An AIS scholarship was the next step but instead he chose to finish his schooling in Brisbane.

Orreal was invited to join the AFLQ Rookie Search Program whereby Browning endeavours to lure elite athletic talent to the code.

Ironically, Browning, a former Swans captain and 259-game champion, was oblivious to the Orreal deal at the time.

“I was trying to convince him to play AFL football – I was disappointed when he gave it away because he’s a super athlete and had shown enormous potential in his short stint with the Taipans.”

Orreal put his studies first. And then in April came a phone call from the Swans.

“I was blown away … I didn’t even really understand the game and an AFL club was ringing me up. I didn’t just say ‘yes’ – it took a day or so – but I knew straight away what a great opportunity it is,” he said, having flown to Sydney to inspect the Swans SCG training facilities.

So began a crash course in AFL football. He watched a lot AFL tapes supplied by the club, caught the Swans on television whenever he could, and saw his first AFL game live between Sydney and Brisbane at the Gabba in round 20, when Lions captain Jonathan Brown kicked a last-minute goal on the siren for a draw.

Of special interest were the ruck skills of Sydney pair Peter Everitt and Darren Jolly, who will become personal mentors next year.

In round 22 he flew to Sydney to watch the Swans play Hawthorn and finalise plans for the adventure which begins officially when he flies to Sydney on 3 November.

He will stay initially at Bondi with Swans players Lewis Roberts-Thomson and Paul Bevan who by chance are also converts from a rival code. Roberts-Thomson played rugby union at school in Sydney while Bevan, another local product, is the grand nephew of former rugby league legend Brian Bevan.

“It seems like such a long time ago this all started and I can’t wait to get down there now and get into it. I’ve got so much to learn,” said Orreal.