Brent Daniels set up more goals than almost any other AFL player, last year. In fact, only one of his own teammates, Harry Himmelberg, notched more assists than he did. And in the last three minutes of the GIANTS’ semi-final against Brisbane he could have had one more. Daniels noticed Jeremy Finlayson, on his own close to the goals, as he burst though the 50 metre line, gathered the ball and zoomed away from his opponent. For a split second, he thought about kicking to him. Instead, he straightened up, snapped and put his team in front.

“Instinct took over a bit. I think it was pure adrenaline. I remember there being a lot of long down the line kicks, it was going up and down for about five minutes and my role with Daniel Lloyd was to protect the corridor down the line because we knew Brisbane liked to use it,” Daniels said.

“We got a bit starved of opportunities, so I just thought, I’m going to go for one here and try and get it on the run. It’s hard to remember now, but I knew someone was there on me, and I was able to get past him to get to the ball, so I thought I might have had him for some speed.

“Usually I would have given it to Jez. It was sort of what happened for a lot of last year, I missed a few opportunities I got and ended up giving them off. But for some reason instinct took over and I just went ahead and took the shot, which was a pretty cool feeling in the end.

“I’m not sure many people would have picked me if they were thinking who might kick the winning goal. I wouldn’t have. It was probably going to be Toby Greene or Jeremy Cameron or someone like that, so it was good to do something like that for the team and to see how happy everyone was, for the win especially but also for me.

“It was good. They would have been happy whoever kicked it, but it was a good feeling, to be able to help us get over the line in a game like that. It definitely helps with that feeling of belonging to the team a bit more.”

It took a little longer than he thought, to feel that way. Daniels was drafted at the end of 2017 and when he got to the GIANTS he knew exactly what he was there for: to fill an opening in the team as a small forward. A knee injury held him back close to the end of his first pre-season, and when he played his first NEAFL game he realised the standard was a lot higher than he had expected. He had never really had to worry before about forcing his way into a team, or finding a way to stay there. Having to do both of those things was something very new.

“I just had it in my head that the GIANTS needed a small forward, and that was me. In my mind I was going to come straight in and be that player. Obviously that didn’t happen and to look back now, I don’t know why I was thinking it would be that easy. Even the NEAFL; I was half expecting to come in and dominate, and it was much better than I thought it would be so it took me three or four weeks to get my ahead around that and find a bit of form,” he said.

“I felt like I was a bit of a temporary player in my first year. My pressure was all right but I wasn’t really kicking goals or doing anything that special. I knew guys would be coming back from injury and when I got dropped it was fair enough, I deserved it. But in the end it was a good experience, that whole first year. I got to play seven games and get a good idea of what it was all about. I had a much better idea coming back last year about how much work I still had to do.”

It started with a full pre-season; having flicked his whole life between footy and cricket seasons, it was the first one Daniels had ever done and he felt fitter, stronger and leaner by the end of it. He knew when Zac Langdon got injured just before the season started that he was going to get to start in the senior team, as bad as he felt for his teammate. And for the first part of the season he felt confident, like he was playing well and that he’d keep his spot.

Then, things changed. “Something happened to my mindset. Early on there was no-one really there to take my spot. I was thinking ‘I’ll just play, it doesn’t really matter what happens.’ But then Zaccy came back and started playing some good footy, and I got a bit self-conscious and started thinking about things a lot and putting lots more pressure on myself.

“I remember Leon spoke to me, Zac and Daniel Lloyd before one of the games and he just said, we’re going to play an extra midfielder this week so only one of you blokes is going to play. I honestly thought I’d be the one to go out, but eventually I got picked and I think that helped my confidence a fair bit, not that he was picking me over those guys, but knowing  that he was just giving me another chance to keep playing and that he was happy with me.

“From there I just felt confident and settled and my last half of the year was much more solid, I think. So it was a good lesson, I reckon. The hardest thing I’ve had to deal with or get my head around is that you’re always fighting for your spot, in a way. In juniors you just roll up and kick goals, and you never have to think about it. But you can’t rely on that when you get into the AFL. It’s obviously a lot different and that’s one of the biggest challenges that I’ve had, definitely.”

It’s still there, though in Langdon, Bobby Hill and Tom Hutchesson, Daniels sees not just competition for his spot in the GIANTS’ side, but teammates who can push each other to get better and complement one another, “because it’s healthy to have that competition and not just assume you’re going to be the one who get picked. It makes us all work a bit harder, for sure. I think there’s definitely room for a couple of us in the side, and all of us really want it.”

Daniels was frustrated like everyone else when the season was paused after round one – after another good pre-season he was very ready to get started on year three – but on his nine-hour drive home to Swan Hill a few days later decided that if he was feeling so fit, healthy and good ahead of round one then there was no reason not to be feeling the exact same way whenever round two rolled around.

“It was weird at first. It was a struggle to have no training, but not having my teammates around was harder to get used to,” he said. “But as time went on I got used to it, got into a bit of a routine and even with training, it was hard at first to find the right intensity and get my head around the fact that we weren’t going to be able to train together as a group for a while but that got better.

“It’s not going to be a normal season that’s for sure, but I don’t think the plans will have to change too much. For me I want to hopefully play every game; that’d be nice. And the main thing is to kick a few more goals, or at least be a bit more accurate and take some more of my chances. And maybe just get up around the ball a little bit more and see what I can do. That’s the plan, so we’ll see what happens. All I want at the moment is to get back and play.”