It didn't take long into Tom Green's first draft combine interview with GIANTS officials for him to delve into the spiel he had wanted to get off his chest.

Green knew he was heading to the GIANTS, he knew it before watching that year's Grand Final, where the side was hammered by Richmond to the tune of 89 points, and he'd spent most days since waiting for his opportunity to let them know how he felt about it.

"He just said that he was confident that if he was out there, he would've been able to help us. That was his mindset watching the game, that he would've made us a better team if he was out there," the club's recruiting manager, Adrian Caruso, tells AFL.com.au.

Green has always had that self-confidence. It was first evident when he spent a week training with the club as part of its Academy program before his draft year, when GIANTS coaches left the track commenting on how they felt he could already mix it with their best players.

It was just as evident during the week after finally being drafted, when he spent much of his first day frantically trying to track down then-coach Leon Cameron for two minutes of his time, determined to know exactly what he had to do to play round one the following season.

Green plays with that confidence. He speaks with that confidence. He tweets with that confidence. He podcasts with that confidence. There is a big part of him that genuinely believes he is one of the best players in the competition, and so he should. Perhaps most importantly, though, he's also happy to project that confidence publicly.

Born in 2001, Green is an embodiment of the new breed of footballers that are taking the AFL world by storm. Opinionated, assured, cool, clever, intelligent, and very good. Speak to anyone at the GIANTS and he is also clearly the club's next captain. Unsurprisingly, it's an honour Green is desperate for. He knows exactly what he wants and he's happy to tell you.

But is the AFL world ready to listen?

***

Green loves watching the Hawks. He loves the celebrations, he loves the TikToks, he loves the fact they talk the talk and then walk the walk. They're a Gen Z club, catering to a predominantly Gen Z audience. It's right in his wheelhouse.

"NBA players, Premier League players, NFL players, whatever sport it is that you follow, that's just the modern environment that us young sportspeople grow up in and see," Green tells AFL.com.auduring a catch-up in Ballarat on the eve of the club's final home and away game of the season last month.

"The Hawthorn celebrations, I think they're great. Steph Curry has his own celebrations, LeBron James has his own celebrations, Bukayo Saka has his, James Maddison has his. I think it's great that people are bringing that stuff into the AFL.

"Why do you ask? Did you think I'd have a different opinion?"

The answer is no, it's exactly the type of take you'd expect from Green. The superstar GIANTS midfielder is at the forefront of a youthful group of footballers – like Nick Watson, Jack Ginnivan and Connor Macdonald at the Hawks – that are capturing the imagination of supporters across the country through a bit of cockiness, a bit of cheek, and a lot of talent.

But Green, in a way, is different. Green is a leader, renowned internally at the GIANTS as being the most clear and obvious candidate to succeed Toby Greene as the club's next captain. He's in their leadership group, he's the most vocal player in team meetings, he's an AFL Players' Association delegate, and he's also a star of the game. His passage through to being a future skipper is an obvious one.

Port Adelaide's Connor Rozee is just a day off being exactly one year older than Green and is currently the AFL's youngest captain. Yet their personality types are vastly different. Green embodies the stereotypical Gen Z character traits, surely putting him in the frame to be the first player from that breed to lead a football club. And so, while he wants that title, is the football landscape going to embrace a player of his profile taking it on?

"Definitely, I want to be captain," Green says.

"It is an interesting thing, but I think there's space for both. Just because I do a celebration on the field, or I'm outspoken on certain topics, doesn't mean I'm not a great on-field leader or I'm not setting standards around the club.

"If I do everything right from Monday to Friday and I go out on the field and I lead by example and I'm helping to set us up, all of the stuff that a traditional captain does, but I also have a podcast where I do 'red light, green light' or whatever … I think there's space for both of those things."

Indeed, the GIANTS don't want to coach or coax that attitude out of Green. If anything, the club's on and off-field structure has ensured the youngster is encouraged to find his own voice as a leader. It might ultimately make him the perfect man to lead the side's younger generation into the future.

"We let him be him. He's playing good enough footy to spruik himself up. The way he goes about it is admirable. It's not really the way I'd ever go about it, but I don't think there's many that would," the club's long-time former captain Callan Ward tells AFL.com.au.

"In Australia, people get shot down for being like that. But he loves his American sport and, because of that, he is the way he is. He loves the confidence and he loves people knowing that he thinks he's good, because he knows he's good. I love that about him, to be honest.

"There's no doubt it'll rub some people up the wrong way. I'm trying to think who else has been like that in the last 15 or 20 years and I can't really think of anyone. I'm sure some people won't like it, but as a teammate I love it. It's just him. Whether people are ready for it or not, I'm not too sure. But we all love that about him."

***

The other aspect of Hawthorn that Green loves is the club's social media accounts.

"We started that to some extent," he says. "Well, Jacob did at least."

Jacob is Jacob Gaynor, the GIANTS' social media content king. His memes, barbs and trash talk have created a new beast on Instagram, Twitter and TikTok. But Jacob is also the co-host of Green's podcast In The Green Room, where the majority of his outspoken comments are housed. The others are voiced on his social platforms under the pseudonym 'Padreverdi', where he dishes out opinionated takes on issues ranging from rap beefs, to sauna etiquette, to mandarin season.

In The Green Room is meant to be light-hearted and anything but serious. Until it is. Back in July, Jacob quizzed Green on his opinions about teammate Toby Bedford's three-match ban for a dangerous tackle on Richmond midfielder Tim Taranto. Knowing no other way, Green teed off.

"The general uproar and consensus … is that it is a disgrace, and I couldn't agree more," he said. "Zak Butters punched me in the face and didn't miss any games.  Am I able to punch someone and am I able to get off? Because apparently I can, but if I tackle someone and they get concussed I get weeks. I think the entire AFL and the consensus of the AFL-watching public is that it is a disgrace, because that is what it is."

A couple of days later, an AFL statement lobbed formally reprimanding Green for his comments, saying they breached AFL Rule 19.18 (c) of 'excessive, unfair or unreasonable public comment and criticism'. Green unreservedly apologised, but doesn't shy away from his belief that there remains a place for such topics to be hotly debated and discussed.

"I think there should definitely be a space for players to voice their opinions. I definitely think players should be given a voice, but I also think, from what I understand, fans really appreciate getting to hear players' actual opinions, instead of a media-trained response," Green says.

But should players be able to call out the aspects of the AFL that they're also governed by? Like the Tribunal, for example?

"I suppose," Green says, carefully considering his answer. After all, he's already on an official AFL warning.

"Actually, yes, I do. You should be able to give an opinion. But my comments weren't helpful to the situation. I feel like everyone should be allowed to comment on (things like the Tribunal) and AFL players should comment on it, because I definitely think there's a space for helping these bodies and decision-making boards and for them to hear a players' perspective.

"But, again, I didn't go about it the right way. I didn't give an opinion or give thoughts that were conducive to finding a solution, I just said a whole bunch of rubbish that doesn't help anybody. I think players should be able to give an opinion on it, but I think they should go about it in the right way. I didn't."

It's not the only time Green's forthright nature and his willingness to speak openly and honestly on a range of issues has created headlines. There was his one-line response to Sydney premiership coach Paul Roos slamming the GIANTS' social media policy – "OK, boomer," was Green's short and sharp reply – to his comments on Tasmania's impending entry into the competition.

Purely by coincidence, Green is part of a 2019 draft class that will hit their free agency season right as the Tasmanian team arrives. Before a ball was kicked last season, he signed a four-year deal taking him through to that point in 2027, putting him directly in the new expansion team's sights as a potential marquee target. So, how did Green respond to the thought he might one day be gettable?

"Never say never," he laughed back in April. "I'm a guy who loves to live in the present. I'm here and I'm now. Maybe I will (go to Tasmania), maybe I won't. I don't know, that's why I can't tell you."

The comments themselves were fascinating enough, but the fact they were platformed on the Giants' own website was another interesting indicator of the club's standing as one of the most forward-thinking teams from a media perspective. And while they earned a few headlines at the time, Green hasn't backed down from his unique perspective.

"The reality is, I still don't know," he says. "It's all going to be so different in three years' time, so I'm not going to think about it until it's actually a bridge that I have to cross. I don't know how I'll feel in three years."

***

To know a bit about Green the footballer, you have to know about Green the draftee.

Green has always wanted to be the best and has always thought of himself as the best. In a 2019 draft class jam packed with talented footballers – from Matt Rowell, to Noah Anderson, to Luke Jackson, to Caleb Serong, to Hayden Young, to Chad Warner, among many others – there's no doubt in Green's mind as to where he sits now.

"In terms of how I feel like I can stack up against anyone there, I'll put myself at No.1," he said when asked to re-draft the group on his podcast back in March.

The 23-year-old is ambitious, and so he should be. He averaged 32 disposals and six clearances last season, earning his first selection in an All-Australian squad. If you were to ask him, though, he should have made the final team. Green has set his stall out. He has a single-minded determination to be the very best.

"In terms of my output, I definitely want to perform at an All-Australian level every single season for as long as I can," Green says. "Hopefully for the GIANTS, that's for 10 years and I'm going about it in a way that's helping to keep us competitive for 10 years. But that's certainly the goal, to play my best football. I feel like that's of an All-Australian level."

Green, a Canberra product who represented the Allies as a junior, has been vocal in his belief that there was "an element" of disrespect in the fact he ultimately slid to pick No.10 in his draft year, and has strongly alluded in the past to the entire draft process being "biased to Victoria". It's an opinion shared by the GIANTS, though perhaps one that's aired a little bit more subtly.

"We do it differently, but he was definitely in the top two or three," Caruso says.

"Him against Luke Jackson was the big debate, even among us. There were scenarios there where if he got bid on before our pick No.4, where we took Lachie Ash, then we'd have to make a decision on what we would do.

"We had so many midfielders and so bringing in another midfielder was probably not the smartest thing. But we summed it up by saying, 'We think Tom is better than the midfielders we have there'. Without talking down the ones we had in Jacob Hopper, Jye Caldwell, Tim Taranto, Callan Ward … all of these sort of players, we thought Tom would go past them. We had to pick him.

"But, in terms of ranking him against the others … if he was in Melbourne, he would've been discussed with Matt Rowell and Noah Anderson. That was the only reason that he wasn't. He was every bit the player they were."

The goal for Green is simple now. He thinks he can be the best player in the competition, if he isn't already. "I do believe, and it's my goal, I'm striving to be the best player in the competition. I don't think that's that outrageous of a statement," Green has said in the past.

It's his view that only when he's recognised as the best will he then be perfectly placed to help the GIANTS claim a maiden premiership victory.

But he wants you to think he's the best player in the competition as well. And while he's aware that type of self-confidence can and will be perceived as arrogance in some quarters, that doesn't make him afraid to share his belief publicly.

"At some point, there's going to be a moment where that type of confidence becomes the norm and the narrative shifts and when it first does there's going to be a bit of, 'Oh … we haven't seen this before, what's that?'" Green says.

"People don't inherently love change, but I think that's the way it's going. If you look at how big American media is, I feel like Australian media is a microcosm of that. I think we're just going to head that way.

"In every facet of life, though, there's always older people looking at younger people and going, 'That's the problem'. Older people now, when they were younger, they'd have had older people tell them, 'You're what's going wrong with the world'. It's just the way it goes."

***

And so, only one question remains for Green.

Can he help the GIANTS win that elusive flag? And can he help them win it as soon as this season? Knowing everything we know about the strong-bodied, self-assured and ultra-talented midfielder, his one-word answer – delivered with a cheeky grin – won't surprise anyone.

"Definitely."