Playing 150 games of AFL football was the furthest thing from Daniel Jackson’s mind when he joined his new Richmond teammates on his first training camp, in the lead-up to the 2004 season.

Jackson, at the time, a 17-year-old schoolboy from Carey Grammar, had been selected by the Tigers at pick 53 overall in the 2003 National Draft.

The now 28-year-old, reflected on his long football journey to the 150-game milestone, which he will reach in Sunday’s Round 6 clash with Hawthorn at the MCG.

“I was that far off the mark back then.  I look back now at my first training session, and I don’t reckon I could even hit a 15-metre target,” Jackson said on this week’s edition of “Talking Tigers”.

“The system’s different now.  You just don’t get guys like us that come through (these days).  Everyone’s well bred, basically, to play football . . . I definitely wasn’t one of those guys.

“It’s taken me years and years and years to learn how to do it, and I’m still learning.

“I just needed time to develop.

“When ‘Dimma’ (Damien Hardwick) came in with his system all about learning, it was focused on building guys up, from the bottom up.  It wasn’t focused on the top echelon of blokes, it was focused on the bottom ones.

“So, even though I’d been around a while, I was able to build in skill development, which I’d probably short-cut over the years.

“I think, for me, it’s always just been hard work. 

“My natural ability in regards to my fitness has got me this far.  Once I was able to couple that with a little bit of playing ability, it seemed to help.

“That enabled me to play consistent football, which is what won me a Best and Fairest last year, I think, more than anything . . . nothing too outstanding, just do what I need to do every week.

“I guess the other part is I just started to enjoy myself last year.  We were winning games, which made it a bit more enjoyable and then, every week, I was looking forward to, rather than my first few years, where it was a daunting task to get up and play on the weekend.”