Geelong coach Chris Scott has been left impressed by the debut of young West Australian product Lawson Humphries on Saturday night.
The 21-year-old Nyul Nyul, Oomiday and Worrora man registered 15 disposals, three tackles and a handful of important pressure acts in the Cats' comprehensive 45-point win over Essendon at the MCG.
Scott told media post-game that Humphries was 'impactful' in his first appearance in the hoops.
"I'm pleased that he was able to get the ball enough to show what he can do with the ball – his decision making and his kicking," Scott said.
"But even in the contest he was good.
"It's hard to get these things right but it does feel like we've been talking about him for a couple of months (for AFL selection).
"I guess you're always hopeful that you look back and think 'I should have pulled the trigger on that a little bit earlier', but at least we got him in there tonight."
Humphries was selected by the Cats with pick 63 in last year's AFL National Draft after being overlooked the past couple of years.
The silky-skilled wingman-defender has produced excellent form in the VFL across the first half of the season, averaging just under 22 disposals per game before receiving his AFL opportunity on the weekend.
He told Channel 7 post-game that he "loved" every moment of making his AFL debut on the big stage.
"It's every kid's dream to play at the MCG and play in front of a pretty good crowd," Lawson said.
"It was pretty amazing to be honest, I'm still trying to come to terms with it."
Humphries said that he found out that he would be making his debut during a Geelong coaches meeting last week.
"I came in and saw my name up on the board – it was surreal and something I didn't think would ever happen.
"I had the family come in for the jumper presentation and nearly got teary-eyed for a bit there.
"To have all the friends and family come and have a win a do my role is pretty epic."
Humphries has enjoyed a meteoric rise with his football in the past year, going from a WAFL reserves premiership to debuting at the MCG.
"I guess in my 18th year I didn't work hard enough, I wasn't fit enough and wasn't ready to go to the next level," he told Seven.
"I won a flag there at Swannies (Swan Districts) when I was 18 so I had a really strong passion for the football club there and we had a really good group of boys.
"So I wanted to hang around and I am super-competitive, so I just wanted to be the best player (that I can be) and keep improving.
"I just backed it in that I might get lucky, and here I am."
