For freshly drafted Fremantle rookie Dillon O’Reilly, the easy part is over and the hard work starts now.

At least that is the advice he has received from father Stephen, a former captain of the club who played 98 games for the Dockers between 1995 and 1999.

O’Reilly, 19, had been touted as a top 30 draft pick in 2018 but struggled with injury all year and ended up missing out at the draft.

The Dockers, however, kept track of him over summer. The club’s strength and conditioning coach Jason Weber designed a program for him to deal with a patella tendon issue and recruiter David Walls kept in contact with him.

O’Reilly set to work at East Fremantle under Bill Monaghan, rectifying a few of the issues that had been concerns for clubs on draft day.

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“Last year I had shin splints which impacted a lot of my training. It didn’t help with my endurance which obviously, if you can run more you get the footy more, kick more goals essentially,” he said.

“I had a meeting with the Dockers at the end of the year and they said work on this, this and this and we will look at picking you up. So that is what I did and I am lucky enough to be here today.”

“I got my body right, got my shins right. I did the majority of the program, about three quarters of it. I worked with Bill Monaghan on training intensity, competitiveness, attitude, everything – just to improve it.”

O’Reilly has battled injury issues again this year.

He tore ankle ligaments in round one of the WAFL, then injured a shoulder a month later coming back. He played reserves for East Fremantle on the weekend and got through unscathed.

He had “indications” the Dockers might draft him but wasn’t one hundred per cent sure.

Camera Icon O’Reilly with his new jumper. Credit: Fremantle Dockers

“I am very happy with dad also having gone to the club. The whole family were one hundred per cent rapt,” he said.

“It is very humbling to follow in his footsteps. I pretty much just want to make him proud.”

Fremantle list manager Mark Micallef said O’Reilly’s attitude to working on his game over summer had been a key to him being drafted.

“He’s been very diligent with his application and how he’s gone about not getting drafted,” Micallef said.

“His turnaround from 2018 has been amazing, he’s been super diligent across the whole pre-season, he’s done extra fitness work, he’s made really great progress in his application and how badly he wants to be an AFL footballer.

“We’ve seen that first hand, hence the reason we’ve wanted to give Dillon an opportunity.”

O’Reilly will wear the #46 jumper for Fremantle, with his father’s old #10 occupied by after-the-siren hero Michael Walters.