Like a lot of Australian men in their early 20s, Collingwood's Angus Anderson is doing an apprenticeship. However, he is not sharpening his tools as a sparky, plumber or chippy.
Instead, Anderson is doing his apprenticeship as a forward, to become a Magpies midfielder in the years to come.
The 23-year-old was a late-maturing Pick 57 in the 2025 National Draft, but already he has become an important pressure-focused and physical force in Collingwood's forward line, kicking 18 goals in 16 games.
Anderson spoke to Zero Hanger about his first year in the system and his aspirations to join the likes of Nick and Josh Daicos, Ed Allan, Jordan De Goey and Jack Crisp in the Pies midfield.
"I break it down and see this is just my apprenticeship phase," Anderson said.
"Every chippy or tradie goes through the apprenticeship phase where they're doing stuff like that they necessarily don't like or don't want to do, but for me, I guess I see forward as, something I can add to layer my game.
"A bit like Jordy and Nick whenever they have a rest down forward and kick goals and impact, and hopefully in my future career, I can continue to do that (as a midfielder)."
Anderson journeyed around Australia before cracking into the AFL. Growing up on the North Coast of New South Wales, becoming the first male player from that region to be drafted to a primary AFL list, and he played for the Sydney Swans Academy.
He then moved to play for Sturt in the SANFL, winning a best-on-ground medal in the grand final for the Double Blues at the end of 2025. A performance that helped the 190cm midfielder get drafted to Collingwood a couple of months later.
Since arriving at the Pies, the bullocking player has been used as a forward, a role he wasn't expecting to play when initially drafted.
"I didn't, but I guess as the season rolls on and you can play more positions, the more chance you get picked in the team," he said.
"I'm happy to experience something new, whether that be deeper forward or playing a bit higher. I think I've always been asked, would you rather be playing (forward) AFL or VFL (in the midfield)?
"I think I'd rather just be playing a little bit of a different role at AFL level and growing in that department, and then moving on, and then hopefully bide my time and get back up into playing some midfield minutes.
"You don't want to look too far into the future, but is that a long-term goal? Yeah, absolutely, to get back into the midfield is my main position."
Being a Collingwood footballer brings the well-publicised benefit of playing in front of large or sell-out crowds every week.
With the club coming up against the Western Bulldogs in a Wildcard Round final on Friday night, Anderson said he has family coming over to watch him play in front of a packed-out MCG crowd.
"Playing in the big games, like the big crowds, they've been exciting," he said.
"I spoke to someone before about my first 10 games, would have averaged out around 60-70,000 people. The games against Carlton, Anzac Day, all those games are all pretty exciting.
"Mum will come down from the coast. She'll jump across, and my little brother's in Adelaide at the moment, so they'll all fly across for the game on Friday night, and it'll be nice to see them there."
