A new season of Becoming GIANT is back for 2022, as GIANTS recruiter and award-winning journalist Emma Quayle explores how our new draftees made their way to the club and are settling in.

Finn Callaghan was nervous walking into GIANTS headquarters for the first time late last year, but not as nervous as he might have been.

Callaghan had no idea he would end up in Sydney as last season unfolded, but took the chance to chat to two of the club’s star onballers about what he was in for as the draft inched closer.

He also knew Conor Stone well, having trained at the same gym as the 2020 draftee.

Callaghan’s zoom meetings with Josh Kelly and Tim Taranto were organised by contacts at his local club Parkdale and his NAB League team, the Sandringham Dragons.

“Both boys were pretty good. They’re pretty down to earth fellas,” the No. 3 pick tells GIANTS recruiter Emma Quayle in the latest episode of the Becoming GIANT podcast.

Callaghan’s fellow draftees – Leek Aleer, Josh Fahey and Cooper Hamilton – will feature in upcoming episodes, telling the story behind their journey to the GIANTS.

“I just asked them about the training they do, because at the time I wasn’t at the GIANTS and I was trying to learn as much as I could.

“It was, any tips for the year, how to handle the draft and the process and the time leading up to the draft.

“All those kind of things, just to use their experience and knowledge to try and influence how I go about footy and life in general.

“It’s so surreal, being at the club every day and being able to kick the footy with those guys and having them come up to you and ask how you’re going. It’s pretty good.”

Callaghan burst onto the under-18 scene early last season, having missed selection in the 2019 under-16 Vic Metro side then missed a year of footy through the 2020 COVID lockdowns.

He chats about the work he did to prepare himself for season 2021, his parents’ background in athletics and the footy injury that interrupted his season and his first few months at the GIANTS.

Callaghan has grown more than 20 centimetres since missing the Metro side, a setback that motivated him to push his training and work ethic to new levels.

“When the news came out I was pretty upset but in hindsight it was probably the best thing that happened to me,” he said.

“It made me super motivated. I got a bit of feedback on what I needed to improve on which was great, I was able to rectify some of the things I wasn’t doing too well, really improve my right footy kicking and work on my power which was area I needed to improve on.

“It was a good thing that happened looking back but obviously at the time I was shattered.”