For a player who has made an art form out of flying under the radar for much of his 299-game career, there was something about a teenage David Mundy that stood out to Xavier Tanner.

The 1977 North Melbourne premiership player and then Murray Bushrangers coach doesn’t have to think hard to recall the kid from Seymour.

“My very clear memory of David is that when we had our pre-season camp when he first came into the Bushrangers as a 17-year-old, we were sitting down in a group having a team meeting and discussing options,” Tanner says. “Most of them are midfielders or forwards who love kicking goals, but we don’t get many defenders at that age.

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“I said: ‘Some of you are going to have to play back at different times and learn how to become defensive players’. And he put his hand up straight away and he said: ‘I wouldn’t mind playing full-back’.

“We actually played him full-back for the rest of that year and he was absolutely brilliant. He moved into the midfield from time to time the following year but essentially was a back-line player for the majority of the two years he had at the Bushrangers.”

Neither Tanner, who rates the champion Docker alongside Steve Johnson and Brett Deledio among the best players he coached, nor former Bushrangers talent manager John Byrne saw Mundy’s transformation into gun midfielder coming, but they were confident he would go on to a solid AFL career when he was taken with pick 19 in the 2003 draft.

“I always thought he’d make a really great half-back in league football because he was so clean and smooth and had fantastic kicking skills,” Byrne said. “He could read the play and he was strong and he had such a penetrating kick.”

The common theme among his junior coaches is that Mundy was good without being outstanding.

His coach in under 14s and 16s at St Mary’s in Seymour was Peter O’Keefe.

“He was good but didn’t stand out as being someone who was going to go on and win a best and fairest at Fremantle and play 300 games,” O’Keefe said. “He played well and he was a good leader and a great kid. But I reckon he’s a real late bloomer.

“What he has achieved since those junior days is a credit to him.”

Mundy wasn’t an All-Australian in his under-18 year with Victoria Country.

His then teammate Ryan Murphy reckons he was very unlucky not be acknowledged alongside the likes of Adam Cooney, Andrew Walker, Eddie Betts, Farren Ray and Kepler Bradley in that 2003 team.

“I thought he had a very good carnival,” Murphy said. “The thing was he’d never put his name up in lights. He wasn’t one to do anything lairy, he just did his job and let his football do the talking.

“I remember one game he was actually on the mark and someone was having a shot at goal. He timed it to perfection so instead of just smothering the ball he actually marked it so that’s one highlight that really stood out to me in the under 18s. I thought ‘gee, this guy is a freak’. He’s just got really good hand-eye coordination. He can read the ball a lot better than other people.”

Murphy and Mundy would end up being drafted to Fremantle together, with Murphy seven spots ahead of him at No.12.

Murphy’s career ended in 2010 after 48 games, but the pair remain mates.

“We clicked straight away, he’s just a good country kid and really down to earth,” Murphy said. “He doesn’t get caught up in any hype or anything. A really good bloke to talk to, a really loyal friend. We ending up rooming together at draft camp so it was weird how it all worked out.

“He hasn’t changed. He is the same person that I met when we were fresh 18 year olds.”

It’s easy to forget that Mundy copped a hard time from some fans in his early days.

Murphy always knew his friend was going to make it.

“Football purists would have been able to see that (he was a gun) but a lot of other people see it as he moves laconic and looks slow,” Murphy said. “But he knows exactly when to go. So he might look a bit slow but he’s actually quite quick and knows the gaps to pick.

“Dave always went about his business so that’s him to a tee. It didn’t matter what anyone else thought. You could see he had that inner drive to be the best that he could.

“There’s a few from our draft that obviously didn’t make it but it’s hard to predict with draft picks. I’d hate to be a scout.

“Dave is an exception in that draft. He was always going to make it but he never came with the wraps.”

One thing everyone who knows Mundy can agree on is that he would be hating all the attention this week ahead of his celebrated milestone tonight.

O’Keefe reckons Mundy is Seymour’s favourite son — and admires the person he is.

“Dave moving to the West was traumatic for the family,” he said. “I think it was, especially with Karen, his mum.

“There’s a buzz that goes around the place whenever he comes back. It doesn’t matter where you go, someone will say: ‘Dave is back in town’.

“When he’s home, he’s very free with his time. He doesn’t think he’s too good to come back and talk with the locals.

“I don’t think he’s changed much, even from the mop of hair. He doesn’t have tickets on himself and he doesn’t forget where he came from.”

2003 NATIONAL DRAFT: TOP 20

1. Adam Cooney

250 games, 202 goals

2008 Brownlow Medal

2008 All-Australian

2. Andrew Walker

202 games, 139 goals

3. Colin Sylvia

163 games, 130 goals

4. Farren Ray

209 games, 59 goals

5. Brock McLean

157 games, 76 goals

6. Kepler Bradley

117 games, 87 goals

7. Kane Tenace

59 games, 12 goals

8. Raphael Clarke

85 games, nine goals

9. David Trotter

Seven games, two goals

10. Ryley Dunn

Eight games, 0 goals

11. Beau Waters

120 games, 25 goals

2006 premiership player

2012 All-Australian

12. Ryan Murphy

48 games, 50 goals

13. Brent Stanton

255 games, 158 goals

14. Fergus Watts

Six games, three goals

15. Troy Chaplin

215 games, 15 goals

16. Josh Willoughby

0 games, 0 goals

17. Billy Morrison

0 games, 0 goals

18. Llane Spaanderman

Three games, one goal

19. David Mundy

299 games, 130 goals

2015 All-Australian

20. Sam Butler

166 games, 16 goals

2006 premiership player