Josh Fahey didn’t have to look too far to understand exactly how hard he had to work if he wanted to make it onto an AFL list one day.

Fahey was 16 when the GIANTS drafted Tom Green from Canberra with a first-round pick in the 2019 draft, and knew then that the midfielder was a player he wanted to learn off.

Fahey had shown talent coming up through the ranks of the GIANTS Academy but decided then that he needed to develop some more professional habits if he was going to take his football further.

“The realisation probably came when Tom Green got drafted three years ago, realising it is possible. There’s not many who come from Canberra, but it is possible,” says Fahey in the latest episode of the Becoming GIANT podcast, chatting with club recruiter Emma Quayle.

“It was more off field things, like recovery, what you’re eating, doing that extra touch to make sure that you are the best and that you’re putting yourself in the best position to become an AFL player.

“(Green) did that very well. Before he got drafted I was doing a bit of stuff with him and Cam Bernasconi, the Academy coach, and it made me realise that if this is where I want to get to, I have to do that too.

“He showed me a lot that I didn’t realise until I actually did some stuff with him.”

Fahey – the final member of the GIANTS’ 2021 draft class to feature on the podcast – also discusses his childhood in Queanbeyan, where he grew up playing rugby union and league before finding his way to AFL and the GIANTS Academy.

He chats about his decision to leave the Academy when his family moved to the Gold Coast in 2020, and his decision to move back to Canberra in 2021 to finish school and re-join the GIANTS’ program.

The move meant spending months away from his parents, brothers and little sister after Canberra went into COVID-19 lockdowns.

“Not being able to see family for nearly 12 months, at times some days were worse than others,” he says.

“It was a bit of a struggle at times - not knowing when I would get there and what was going to happen with COVID - but obviously it’s worked out well now.

“It did get challenging, but I had that great support network down there (in Canberra) that really helped me and made it a lot easier.”