With the national draft less than a week away, the phrase ‘talent pathway’ is one that will increasingly be bandied around in conversations.

It’s all about the journey that an emerging prospects has taken to the draft, and most often for the Victorian contingent, it centres around the TAC Cup.

But there’s always those that take the road less travelled, and Shane Biggs is one that made his own way to football’s highest level. And at the Kennel, he’s not alone.

Of the 31 Victorian players on the Bulldogs list, Biggs is one of six (Dickson, Wood, Crameri, Morris, Redpath) to not have played TAC Cup football before entering the AFL ranks.

After finishing school, Biggs played local football for Warrandyte in the Eastern Football League, before getting his chance late in the 2011 season at the Bendigo Bombers in the VFL.

“I was playing school footy for Yarra Valley Grammar and didn’t quite get a look in, I just kept playing with my mates and tried to enjoy footy,” Biggs said on Friday speaking with RSN Radio.

“I then played some local footy down at Warrandyte again with my mates and just tried to enjoy it as much as I could and it was a bit of a shock when I got the call up.”

That call up came from the Sydney Swans in the rookie draft ahead of the 2012 season.

Biggs played six games for the Swans, including two finals in 2013.

“I spent three years up in Sydney, it was a bit of a shock when I got drafted… I wasn’t really expecting it at all.

“I had to pack all the bags and move up to Sydney and move away from home.

“It was pretty big for me. I was 20 at the time but it was still a long way from digging holes as an apprentice plumber.

“I loved it up there and learned a lot from guys like Nick Malceski and Jarrad McVeigh and they taught me a lot about my craft in the backline.”

The 24-year-old joined the Bulldogs at the end of the 2014 season and played 10 games in his first year at the kennel.

Biggs played rounds eight and nine in the senior side before being sent back to the VFL, but he impressed with his solid end to the season – playing the last eight games in a row.

“It was probably a confidence thing, I started in the VFL and got my chance and probably just didn’t have that belief in myself which was pretty disappointing.

“I just needed a bit more time in the VFL to get a bit more confidence and realise I could do it and when I came back I wasn’t going to make that mistake again. I just tried to play with as much confidence as I could.”