ELJAY Connors hasn’t yet had time to experience the peaks and troughs of life in the AFL.107% But if Connors’ playing career was to end before it had properly started, the Echuca youngster can at least take solace in the fact that he was given a chance.After all, he was the 65th of 69 draftees selected in the national draft, coming agonisingly close to joining the 1221 nominees who were not selected on an AFL list.A punctured lung cruelled Connors’ first season with the Bendigo Pioneers, but his fate was sealed when St Kilda used its final selection (number 70 overall) on the 17-year-old, selecting him on the strength of only three TAC Cup games.Despite the club showing faith where others shied away, the younger brother of Richmond player Daniel Connors believes that he is under no more pressure to perform than any other recruit.‘‘I don’t think I necessarily have to repay them, but I’ll just put my head down and do the best I can,’’ Connors said.‘‘It’s been tough so far, I was training with Bendigo for a few weeks just trying to get my fitness up, but it didn’t really prepare me for it.’’Having watched Daniel ply his trade in the cut-and-thrust environment that is the AFL gave Eljay some idea of how best to tackle pre-season.‘‘(Daniel) hasn’t really given me any advice, but just from watching him last year I had a pretty good idea of what to expect,’’ Connors said.‘‘I’ll be working hard to get my fitness to where I want it to be.‘‘I’ve been eating a lot of meals (and) I’d like to get my weight up a fair bit too.’’Any burden that has been placed on the far-from-broad shoulders of Eljay has been shared by St Kilda, who are representative of the wider shift within the AFL towards unprecedented player welfare measures.‘‘We’re responsible for helping players make the transition from TAC Cup level or whatever other level of football to AFL level,’’ St Kilda development coach Danny Sexton said.‘‘It’s a real challenge moving away from home, family and school and the size of the city and the footy club can be indimidating.’’Integral to the process are Connors’ home stay family, who are charged with maintaining the support of St Kilda when Eljay leaves the club every evening.‘‘At St Kilda we offer to put all our first-year players into home stay, some might prefer to live with family or partners, but we find that a lot of recruits stay in home stay just to find their feet a bit,’’ Sexton said.‘‘Eljay’s home stay family have supported the club for about 10 years (and) they basically just provide another support mechanism for the younger players.‘‘The family live around the corner from the football club (and) they’re up to date with cooking nutritious meals.‘‘With all the families that put their hands up for home stay we put a lot of time into seeing if they’re suitable.’’Easing the anxiety of parents who are often many kilometres away is one challenge constantly facing AFL recruit support staff.And while Connors’ parents had previously been through the process with Daniel, nothing was taken for granted the second time round.‘‘In the initial stages we’ll speak to mum and dad a couple of times a week and make them feel comfortable,’’ Sexton said.‘‘Anything that comes up, we make sure we’re always available.‘‘It’s a big thing having a kid move away from home, especially for the mums a lot of the time (and) we know it’s a difficult process.’’While Connors was far from shocked at the extent to which AFL clubs now prioritise player welfare, he felt gratified that he had found himself in a more sensitive football environment.‘‘I wasn’t really surprised, but it has definitely made it much easier.‘‘Everyone has been very supportive to me and to mum and dad,’’ Connors said.‘‘They were pretty experienced with it all and they were very happy with how everything was done.‘‘It would have been very hard (before clubs focused on player welfare), a lot harder then it is now.‘‘It would have made it a lot more difficult to focus on your footy because you would have to worry about lots of other things.’’In the frantic days when the lustre of the national draft is replaced by urgent logistical exercises, Connors soon found his head spinning in the clubrooms at Moorabbin.‘‘It was very quick, I was drafted and in a few days I was already down the club meeting people, but when I got down here all the players and the staff were pretty good at helping me fit in,’’ Connors said.‘‘(I was surprised by) just how laid-back the players are, they’re just really down-to-earth and make you feel comfortable with everything.’’St Kilda has described Connors as a ‘‘small midfielder’’ with ‘‘good speed and evasive ability’’ on their website, but speculation on Saints weblogs abounds as to whether Eljay will ever make the grade.But if effort is to count for anything, Connors may be gracing the big stage sooner rather than later.‘‘I’ve just got to give 110 per cent and do everything I possibly can,’’ Connors said.‘‘The biggest thing you probably notice is that it’s full-time, it’s everyday and there’s not much time for anything else.’’