The 18-year-old forward moved to Melbourne on Monday in pursuit of his AFL dream after he was overlooked in the November draft.

“I just need to improve my endurance, my aerobic fitness,” he said.

The 195cm Wodonga product started the season as a genuine elite level prospect.

“I thought it (my form) was on and off,” he said.

“My TAC Cup was pretty good, but my nationals (AFL under 18 championships) was pretty poor.”

Ironically, the 95kg powerhouse started the nationals in style and could have had three goals in the first quarter against the Allies, but was then kept quiet by Bushrangers’ team-mate Jacob Koschitzke, who was drafted to Hawthorn.

“The way the game’s transitioned, he would have been drafted 10 years ago, no doubt about it,” Bushrangers’ talent manager Mick Wilson said.

“A player like (North Melbourne’s) Ben Brown, for example, he runs up to 14km a match, Hudson worked really hard pre-season last year and he improved his running dramatically but, unfortunately, some of the recruiters thought he just needed to work a bit on his speed.

“In saying that, his speed is really strong, nought to five metres, but it’s more the repeat speed work, speed endurance the recruiters felt he needed to work on.”

But while some question Garoni’s ability to adapt to the athlete first mentality, there’s no doubting his natural football instincts.

“We played against Northern Knights and he flew one against three,” Wilson said.

“There was a bloke in front, one coming in from the side and one behind, the pack crashed together and he came down with the ball, Leo Barry-like.”

Garoni will be coached by Port Adelaide premiership mentor Mark Williams.

“I had a bit to do with him in the Academy and he was a big attraction.”