Matthew Day didn't choose basketball, he says. It chose him. Until he was 13 he'd been playing both footy and hoops, but when he got to that age he started to make a few Victorian state teams on the court. "Before I knew it, footy was kind of taking the back seat, playing fewer and fewer games each year," Day explains.

"As I started making more state teams and a couple of [Australian] squads and things like that, I'd only be playing maybe four games of footy a year, and no training at all. Just mucking around with some mates on the weekend when I could.

Draft hopeful Matthew Day. Credit:Eddie Jim

"I made the under-17 [Australian] squad, the extended squad, and made the national performance program for Victoria, which is the top six or eight kids in the state."

But something was missing. Day's best mates were at his local footy club, Donvale Magpies. He was fond of the camaraderie of footy. There was an itch that needed scratching. "I'd always loved footy, always loved playing it, mucking around with mates, that's where all my best mates have come from," Day said.