The 19-year-old was drafted by the Saints on a Friday night, and found himself on a flight to their pre-season camp in Maroochydore by Sunday.

Less than one hour after he touched down in Queensland, he was running time trials with his new teammates.

“It was a pretty surreal start to it all,” the defender said.

“You come out to see all these AFL stars waiting for you in the terminal, and before you know it you’re out on the track.

“It’s full on, they aren’t lying when they tell you it’s eat, train, sleep every day.” 

Back home until early January, the pre-season grind won’t stop for Coughlan over Christmas and the New Year.

He’ll be in trouble if he can’t better his most recent time over three kilometres on his first day back at Seaford.

“That’s what my job is now,” he said.

“We’re all on a holiday program, and I’ll have a couple of the Albury boys help me out with it hopefully.

“A couple of them are keen to find out the sort of stuff we have to do.

“There are some similarities to what we did with the Murray Bushrangers, but on a much bigger scale.

“We meet at the club at seven every day, and sometimes don’t leave until six, depending on what kind of sessions we’re doing.

“There’s a bit of pressure on when you have to hit blokes like Josh Bruce and Paddy McCartin lace-out as well.” 

While the Saints this year showed a willingness to give rookie-listed players games, Coughlan said his focus wasn’t simply on breaking into the senior side.

“We’re here to win a premiership, not just get games for ourselves,” he said.

“I’m not training just to play an AFL game, as amazing as that would be.

“Hopefully the time I’ve spent in the VFL this season will hold me in good stead.

“Nick Riewoldt will be back from overseas in the new year, I’m really excited to meet him.

“Hopefully I manage to get a couple of games under him, but we’ll see what happens.”