MANY tears are shed on AFL draft day, and not all of them in the joy of a dream fulfilled. While being chosen confirms that a young man is going places, that place is often a long way from home.

Of the 69 players drafted yesterday, 39 will move interstate to pursue a football career.

Fourteen are Victorians who will cross paths with the 10 young men from Western Australia who must pack their bags and fly east.

Some, such as Mill Park teenagers Patrick Veszpremi and Brett Meredith, will have company on their journey — the Northern Knights teammates were both chosen by Sydney.

So too Scott Selwood, the youngest of Bryce and Maree's amazing quartet of sons from Bendigo, who joins big brother Adam at West Coast.

Others, including Brad Ebert, felt the draft's most bittersweet edge. From a legendary Port Adelaide football family, the highly rated Ebert missed his chance to stay home when Adelaide, where his cousin Brett plays, overlooked him with pick 10. Three selections later, he was off to join the Eagles.

And then there are the lucky ones who will embark on an AFL career still sleeping in their own beds.

Callan Ward, 17, made the draft age cut-off by only 20 days and still has a year of VCE to complete.

After the Western Bulldogs chose him with pick 19 yesterday morning, he can do so without changing his Williamstown High School uniform.

"I just jumped so high, I'm over the moon," said Ward, who splits his time between his parents' houses, who live around the corner from each other in Yarraville.

By mid-afternoon, the inbox on his mobile phone was bulging with more than 100 text messages. He had spoken to his twin sister Aysha by phone from England, and oldest sister Kiandra, with whom she is staying. Like his mates who could not stop crying, middle sis Mickayla was on hand to hug him in person.

The celebrations continued into the night in the clubrooms at Spotswood, his junior club, where mum Kerri likened the fairytale to the story of Rohan Smith, the Kingsville boy who played 300 games for the club down the road.

Dad Greg simply gave thanks he hadn't gone interstate. Or to Carlton, Collingwood or Richmond.

Ward's grandfather, Bill Gunn, captained South Melbourne in the mid-1950s. He is still best mates with Fred Goldsmith, the Swans' 1955 Brownlow medallist who lives in Williamstown. Both were at the Spotswood rooms to raise a toast to the new Bulldog.

Tomorrow, Ward starts his new life. He hasn't yet decided how he'll get to training. Maybe on his bike. "I might even jog."