THE street is small and unexceptional. The house is a classic inner-west weatherboard. Out front sits a weathered car with an L-plate fixed to its windscreen.

For so many at draft time, an L-plate is an apt metaphor. Not only Callan Ward, but his family and friends are learners in a week that young men begin as sons, brothers and mates, only to come out the other side AFL footballers. It is a transformation that can change not only a teenager's bank balance and address, but his very self.

All a parent can do is lay the foundations, and hope their boy has taken in enough to make the adjustment. All a sister or mate can do is hope they don't lose him forever. It is a heady time — for everyone.

The mum

KERRI Ward was having a meal with friends in Williamstown last Saturday night when her only son walked past with three mates. They joined her for a while, and before leaving she told him she didn't like to see him walking the streets at night. Soon after, he sent her a text message: "Mum, this is probably the last weekend I'm going to have just chilling with my mates." Yes, she thought, come next weekend, things are going to change.

At the Western Jets' 2007 presentation night, Kerri's admiration grew as they built up to announcing the winner of the inaugural trainers' award. The winner was described as a kid who was always well mannered, always thought of the trainers, never rushed them and simply appreciated what they did for him. What a lovely kid, she thought.

"Then they said, 'and that's Callan Ward'. I was so proud, that he's a really nice kid to everybody, whether they're wrapping his ankles or they're his coach."

Kerri says she doesn't know much about football, even though her father, Bill Gunn, played 104 games for South Melbourne in the 1950s. "I'm pretty hopeless, and here I am the mum of someone who's potentially going to be an AFL footballer."

People have been asking, what if he goes to West Coast? Kerri worries, but backs her boy to cope. "He's a smart kid, he knows the danger of drugs. He doesn't drink now, very few times has he had a drink. He is strong, and all you can hope is that common sense will prevail."

Kerri thinks Callan has gone a bit quiet since last weekend, a little subdued, not quite himself. (Cal scoffs at this, although he did lose his phone on the train on Monday, which was not like him).

The dad

GREG Ward lives around the corner. He and Kerri separated a few years ago, and their children split their time between the two houses, carrying their things in plastic tubs.

Greg works at a pulp and paper mill in Reservoir, two days, two nights, then three days off. When he's not working, Cal stays over. "It's been hard, frustrating for him because he's got to pack up and shift. But there's lots of families in that situation." Both Greg and Kerri have left Cal's choice of player manager up to him. Five pursued him, and a week out from the draft he decided to go with Chris Judd's man, Paul Connors. This presented a problem — he had to ring the others back and tell them no.

"I said to him the other night, because he was in such a quandary, 'I'm feeling a bit guilty that I put the pressure on you to handle this yourself'," Greg says. "You do wonder whether, with everything else going on, it's the last thing he needs." Cal appreciated that it was hard, but also that it was his job to do.

Greg played under-19s at Footscray, then more than 100 games for Yarraville in the old VFA before finishing with Spotswood. He is a lifelong Essendon member. "Pick 23 to the Bombers sounds pretty good to me, but I'll just be rapt if it's a Melbourne-based club," he says, then thinks again and rules a line through Carlton, Collingwood and Richmond — "just because I hate them".

It's amazing how quickly things happen, Greg thinks; Cal began 2007 unsure if he'd make the Western Jets' final cut of 36, then raised the bar to simply trying to get a game in the 22. A week from draft day, he was being touted as a possible first-round selection. "It doesn't really matter … At the end of the day, it's just a game, and if you don't play AFL football, it's not the end of the world. You've still got a life to live."

The twin sister

"I'M ACTUALLY really upset now," Aysha Ward said last Sunday, as she finished packing to fly to London the next day. "If I'd thought about it earlier I would have booked my flight after the draft."

Aysha is flying around the world for six weeks with her best friend Bridget. She and Callan are close, as people who have shared a womb tend to be, and the realisation that when she returns just after Christmas, her twin might already be with a football club in another state has hit hard. But, "that's his dream".

The older sister

"IF HE goes to Collingwood, I won't talk to him," says Mickayla Ward, Cal's 21-year-old sister, who reckons being the only other sibling in Melbourne on draft weekend will be no bad thing. "Because I'll be getting all the attention."

A state league netballer with VU Flames, Mickayla got downwind of the discussions her brother had with potential managers about the money in AFL life. "It's just amazing." But no, she says, it won't change him.

The oldest sister

FRIDAY night drinkers at The Wick Inn in Brighton, south England, must have wondered what hit them as the pub's manager, 23-year-old Kiandra Ward, her partner Nick, little sister Aysha and travelling buddy Bridget gathered around a laptop computer to follow the AFL draft.

"We've got a 2am licence, so we'll definitely make the most of Friday night over here," Kiandra said on Wednesday, having just picked Aysha and Bridget up from Heathrow. "But yes, I'd like to be home about now."

The mate

JAMES "Jimma" Hinds and Callan Ward have known each other since prep, and share the easy rapport of lifelong friends. On Tuesday they caught the train to Werribee to retrieve Cal's phone, getting off at Spotswood on the way home so they could walk through Westgate golf course, because "there's plenty of targets to kick the footy at there".

Jimma reckons his friend has always had something in his hands. "There's no rocks left between here and the station, Cal's picked them all up to chuck around."

His mate's reluctance to phone the managers he has decided against doesn't surprise Jimma. "He's always hated to disappoint people."

Sitting across from each other in Cal's mum's living room, Jimma says Cal "always takes people along with him". Cal smiles, and shoots back: "Yeah, I might even take you along to training one day."

He's good at telling stories, says Jimma. "You saying I'm cocky?" Cal shoots back. "No, he's not cocky. Just a good story teller."

Emerging from the pre-draft camp medical to see a nervous Rhys Prismall in the waiting room, Cal told him, "You have to get totally nude in there, it's freaky." He's still laughing at the look on Rhys' face.

Jimma is a Western Bulldogs fan. "But I'm changing if he goes somewhere else." Cal is mortified. "No you will not! You've been a member for 10 years!"

The outcome

AT 10.12am yesterday, Western Bulldogs recruiting manager Scott Clayton announced: "Pick 19, player 112791, Callan Ward, Western Jets."

In a small, unexceptional street, the roof was almost lifted off a weatherboard house. Kerri Ward gave thanks that her son would be able to finish his schooling at Williamstown High, and wondered if it was too early for a chardonnay. Jimma and another mate, Ben, couldn't stop crying. Phones started ringing, and would not stop all day.

People talked of it being another Rohan Smith story, the local boy making it with the local club. Preparations were made to adjourn to the clubrooms at Spotswood, where a crowd in the hundreds would celebrate into the night.

Callan Ward, just 17 and only eligible to be drafted by 20 days, leapt in the air. "I'm so happy right now, just over the moon."

Then he was off, to take another call, to hug another mate, to start a new life.