But Geelong's Sam Simpson was a little different. When the Cats called his name at pick No.57 in the rookie draft, he was instead working with a bunch of young schoolchildren in remote southern Uganda.

Simpson was part of a small group of students from Geelong's St Joseph's College who'd ventured to the remote township of Manya, 175 kilometres from the Ugandan capital Kampala.

To say it was far from the surrounds in which most AFL recruits learn of their induction to elite-level football would be some understatement.

"I managed to get on to some Wi-Fi and heard the news," he said. Even then, he couldn't be 100 per cent certain to which club he'd actually been drafted. "It was pretty comical, actually. I had a few messages from mates saying, 'Well done, go and kill it at Sydney'. I had no clue what they were talking about. All the rest were saying Geelong."

Simpson still doesn't know how that mix-up happened. But after a whirlwind introduction to life at Simonds Stadium in just a couple of days since touching down back on home soil late on Tuesday, he is sure that he's a Cat. Just like his dad.

Sean Simpson was a disciplined run-with player and wingman who made his name at Geelong after struggling for a regular game at St Kilda. He spent eight seasons at Kardinia Park between 1991-98, finishing with 121 games, including the 1992 grand final.

His son, also a wingman, isn't as tall and not nearly as big as his father, the 18-year-old arriving at Geelong a very lightly-framed 65 kilograms, a kilo gained simply off the back of a hearty meal upon his arrival on Wednesday.

But there's high hopes nonetheless for Sam Simpson, despite the Cats electing not to take him as a father-son selection at the national draft.

Simpson, who'd already spent one day a week late last season at Geelong working closely with development coach Paul Hood, managed only seven games for the Geelong Falcons in an injury-interrupted year.

But he caught the eye of Cats' recruiting guru Stephen Wells in those he did play enough for them to commit to taking him if he slipped through the national draft.

Not that he was going to be in the country when it happened. Simpson had long ago committed to his Ugandan adventure, one his school dubs the "alternative schoolies trip". And after having previously travelled overseas only as far as Bali, he's rapt he did.

"It was an epic trip," he said, "an unbelievable experience. We just visited schools over there in the Manya community, which were very welcoming to us all. We got to teach them a few classes, plant some trees with them … it was great."

Simpson still smiles at the memory of the group's arrival. "We turned up to the compound and 500 of the primary school kids came running down the hill to greet us, singing, 'We are very happy to see you'. That was a truly amazing moment.

"My motive behind the trip was to gain a bit of perspective". And did he? "Yeah, sure did. All the kids over there are extremely happy with the little that they do have, and it makes you so much more grateful for what we have."

Even more grateful now the dream of an AFL career is under way, Simpson also inheriting his father's No.37 for the Cats. "Hopefully, I can make it my own as well, but I think he's pretty happy that I took it."

He's had the odd look at videos of his dad in action, "but not a great deal to be honest". He does know Sean had some tough gigs tagging the likes of former Collingwood star, now coach, Nathan Buckley.

And he's aware of the trouble the Cats of his father's generation had with West Coast, to whom they went down in two grand finals. "One day when he heard the West Coast song he said, 'It still haunts me'," Simpson chuckled.

He hopes he'll have happier memories of finals football. But that's a long way down the track. Simpson junior knows there's a lot of work to be done before he can start thinking even about an AFL debut.

"I was definitely a bit anxious over there fearing what I'd be missing out, so it was good to get back to it all," he said.

"But I've been told it's not really a game of catch-up for me. Especially being a rookie, it's not as if I have to be ready for game time, so I'll just ease into it and hopefully then catch up through that.

"It's a privilege to be here, really, pretty surreal at the moment. I'm still getting my head around it all."

Not surprising, really. The end of school days and the start of an AFL career are a lot to take in as it is. Doing so on your first big overseas adventure, and to a place barely registering on your homeland's radar, is another altogether.

Different, certainly. But just one of a number of football tales Geelong's latest father-son product hopes to be telling many years from now.