JAY Kennedy-Harris will never forget the moment he was told he would make his AFL debut.

On the way to meet some friends for lunch, the 19-year-old – it’s his birthday today (Friday) – said his phone rang and it was the coach.

Wondering what he could be ringing about, Kennedy-Harris couldn’t believe how the phone called eventuated, which turned out to be a “special moment”.

“I got a call from Paul Roos and I looked down at the phone and everything started rushing through my head. I started thinking he might’ve known when the last time I had a chocolate bar was or if my skinnies weren’t right,” he told melbournefc.com.au.

“But I answered the phone and he asked me what I was doing on Saturday night and I said ‘I’m going to come and watch the game’. He said ‘if you have a couple of hours spare, do you reckon you could come on the field for us, because we’ve got a spare spot in the 22 and I was just wondering if you might want it?’.

“I thought about putting a joke in there, but I snapped it up very quickly and I wasn’t going to let that opportunity slip by.”

The exciting small forward, who was drafted at No.40 in last year’s NAB AFL Draft, said his upcoming debut against St Kilda at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night had “all come pretty quick”, but he was relishing the opportunity.  

“I’m just looking forward to the moment and I don’t really know what to expect,” he said.

“I just know exactly what’s expected of me and I’ll just go out there and do what the coaches want me to do.

“Hopefully it all comes together well and I fulfill my role and more importantly we get a win on the board.”

But Kennedy-Harris, who lit up the scene with three goals in his first official outing for Melbourne in its opening NAB Challenge clash against Richmond on February 14, said playing in that 14-point win had helped his belief to mix it at the highest level.   

“For my own confidence, it was good to see how I went up against AFL defenders and I think the best part was working out how myself and the rest of the forward line worked with each other, when we’re under pressure and under the pump,” he said.

“With anything, it gave us a real nice bond going into round one, knowing that we work really well together and we can get on top of the [opposition’s] defence, like we did last time we played together.”