JACOB Heron received the surprise of his life this week — twice.

The Cairns junior was still coming to grips with being selected for his AFL debut against Port Adelaide on Saturday when his mother Jillian and brother Oscar lobbed at the team hotel in Shanghai.

The Suns rookie thought he was travelling to China for experience much like he did for the club’s recent two-week stay in Perth.

When he was told he would be playing after Thursday’s training session he couldn’t wait to phone his parents to break the news.

“After training yesterday, Stuey brought the boys in and just announced it in front of the group and all the boys got around me,” he said.

“It was an awesome experience. Honestly I didn’t even think I’d be on the plane to start with. I just arrived here and wasn’t expecting too much and when it happened yesterday, I was like ‘Geez, is this actually happening?’

As he fronted his first press conference at Jiangwan Stadium on Friday to talk about the debut he expressed his regret that he wouldn’t have any family there to see it.

Little did he know Suns welfare manager Sam Cohen had hastily arranged visas and a late flight out of Cairns on Thursday afternoon for his mother and brother.

His father was unable to make the trip.

The Suns academy graduate’s teammates have been telling him he will be a trivia question for the rest of his life after this afternoon when he becomes the first player to make his AFL debut in China.

“Some of the boys mentioned it last night and we were trying to figure out if it was true or not,” he said.

“I guess it is, which is unreal. To be over here in China is almost surreal, and it hasn’t quite sunk in yet but I am looking forward to Saturday.”

Heron followed in the footsteps of 2016 top-10 draft pick Jack Bowes, who he has been mates with since they were kids and played together at the Cairns Saints, who left home at sixteen years of age to live on the Coast and join the Suns academy.

And he becomes another success for the Palm Beach Currumbin high school who have churned out more AFL footballers in recent years than the entire state of Tasmania.

He will play alongside PBC alumni Brad Scheer, and Brayden Crossley on Saturday while Jesse Joyce is an established senior player now but is currently injured.

Max Spencer and Jacob Dawson also went to the school and were part of the academy.