First, the differences.

Tom Green was born in Townsville, and lived in these places before settling down in Canberra when he was 12: Toowoomba, Darwin, Toowoomba again, Melbourne, Tamworth, then Townsville again. His father’s job, as a helicopter pilot for the Air Force, took him, his mother and three brothers all over the country.

Lachie Ash, on the other hand, grew up on an orchard farm at Katandra, in country Victoria. He has always lived there, about half an hour past Shepparton and 45 minutes from Yarrawonga, riding tractors in his spare time, helping his father out on the farm and spending hours in the car travelling to and from his football games.

Green joined the GIANTS Academy when he was 12 and followed it all the way to our NEAFL team. He started last season knowing that if he was good enough – and he was determined to be good enough – then we would have first call on him. 

Ash set himself up for a big year, too. But where Green knew where he would probably be at the end of it, he was in the open draft like almost every other kid and didn’t know where he would be playing until his name was called out on draft night.

“It was a really long wait. You talk to all these clubs and think, ‘Where am I going to go?’, and then when it happens it just happens,” Ash said. “But I’d grown up in the country. When you grow up there you know you have to move no matter where you go. I was ready for it. I was sort of thinking, ‘who will I end up being drafted with?”

We, of course, knew that he would be coming up with Tom. But it was only a week or so before the draft that all our work was done and it became clear those boys would be our first two picks. We needed Melbourne not to complicate things by bidding for Tom at pick 3. By trading up to pick 6, and then again up to 4, allowed us to bring Lachie in with him.

We liked him because it’s hard to find players with real speed who play the game as well as he plays it. And we could see a clear spot for him; all year we had watched his games thinking we would love to add him into our backline.

Tom was different. He was something we already had a lot of: a big, strong inside midfielder. But there was way too much to like about him to let him go to another club. His ability: his hands, his awareness, his step. His determination. His ambition. How well-rounded he was as a person; no one has a bad word to say about Tom. He was a lot higher on our list than where he ended up at pick 10.

Now for the similarities.

Green started playing football in Queensland and is the first top-10 draftee to have come from Canberra, but the game has always been a large part of his life. His grandfather, Michael Green, is in Richmond’s Hall of Game and Team of the Century; he played in four premierships with the Tigers.

Grand Final day last year was an interesting one for Tom. “The only way I can describe it is as ‘conflicting,” he said with a smile. “I’ve been loyal to Richmond my whole life but being here I’ve spent a lot of the time with the boys and I really wanted them to do well and have success because I know what it all means to them.

“Richmond, to me, has always been in my life. I always knew my grandfather played there and that he had won flags, and that sort of thing. He was good mates with Kevin Bartlett, Royce Hart, Kevin Sheedy, people like that. It probably didn’t click until I was 12 or 13 that actually, not everyone’s grandfather has done that.

“He was at the draft and he was happy for me, like everyone in my family was. I think he can see that I’ve worked hard for it and he’s proud of me for that. It’s not Richmond but he’s happy for me to make my own way and work for what I want. I think his values have gone on to my parents and come through to me too.”

Ash has followed in some big footsteps, too. His uncle is Chris Connolly, the former Melbourne player and Fremantle coach who has helped him out through the years with ideas and advice. His father – Stephen – didn’t go to a Melbourne club. But he had a long and legendary local career, playing in multiple flags for Shepparton and Albury, winning a bunch of best and fairest awards as well as two league best and fairests. He retired in 2005 after playing his 309th game for Shepparton.

“I remember kicking the footy with him when I was a kid, and he never missed. I was like, ‘why does he never miss targets?’” Lachie said. “It just didn’t register, then I went to high school and started to play and everyone just kept saying my dad was one of the best players they had ever seen.

“I’ve always thought it was a good thing. It took pressure off me, because no one ever expected me to be as good as him. My mates used to hang shit on me a bit about it, but I didn’t mind that. But he has obviously been able to help me and talk to me.

“We talk all the time about footy, and I love it. He never gets in the way of my coaches, he says that’s their job, but as a kid growing up I knew he was there and he was always looking to help me get better.” 

Both boys also share a work ethic, a focus and a determination to be as good as they possibly can be. Ash had a really good bottom-age year for the Murray Bushrangers, and got to play for Vic Country. But he wanted to be even better. So he did his post-season running program, and then even more.

He went to the gym, got bigger and stronger and learnt how to use his speed more. He started up meditation, and began doing it every day. He pushed teammates, encouraged the younger kids and was the most professional player in his team. 

“At first I wanted to get to pre-season feeling good about myself, and after that I just wanted to keep going,” he said. “My whole week has always revolved around footy, I’ve always done extras and been really hyper about it, but I didn’t want to be too obsessive about it so my mum was the one who said, 'why don’t you see a psych?'.”

“I wasn’t big on it at first, but I went to see him and I loved it. I just learned new things every time, I had things to work on and even with the mindfulness stuff, it’s really helped a lot. I just felt so much lighter, so it was a massive thing for me.”

Green made some changes too. He cut his portion sizes, which helped him to lose some weight. He worked hard to improve his running, and started getting around the ground better. The time he got to spend with and around our NEAFL team showed him more about all the little things AFL players do, adding to the things he had grown up learning about as part of the GIANTS Academy. And whenever he got the chance to prove himself against good players he well and truly took it; his best game for the season was against Vic Metro in the national under 18 championships.

“I set myself some big goals, I suppose. There were things I wanted to achieve. I wanted to captain the Allies, make All-Australian, be the best contested player in the draft and that sort of stuff. Coming into the championships was where I really wanted to not only hold my own against the good players but prove to myself and show everyone I was in that group, that I was up there with them,” Green said.

“That goal-setting is something that really helped me and that’s one thing that I think came in part from being in the GIANTS Academy. Early on, it’s about getting extra touches on the football, which not every other kid in Canberra wants to do with you, and getting extra sessions in and doing all the basics over and over again. 

“That’s something I always valued – that extra chance to work on your craft, work on your skills. But as time went on, having access to the GIANTS, meeting the players, getting to play at national level, it all helps you realise that being in this environment is what you want and that everything is there to help you if you want to apply yourself fully and give 110 per cent towards becoming a better player.

“I knew the pathway was there, I just had to put the work in. My plan is to keep doing that and hopefully kids can look at that and think, 'if I do the hard work then my chance could come and it could come straight from Canberra, I don’t have to move to Melbourne or Sydney or leave where I am'. You can definitely do it from Canberra and that’s something that, for me, makes it feel a bit more special to be here.”