Jack Dalton has been through more than most draftees. The star midfielder captained his state and claimed Vic Metro's MVP at the U16s national championships, and is currently churning out eye-catching performances for school, club, and state. But his consistent footy belies the turmoil to which his body has been subjected.
The fact he's even on the field in 2025 is an opportunity Dalton was told he wouldn't have.
On the eve of his top-age season the 18-year-old snapped both wrists in a freak gym accident. He'd set his weights and resistance bands on the squat rack and was box squatting as he felt the bar become unstable, then slip. In a fleeting moment the weight on Dalton's shoulders lifted and only his hands separated the bar from the floor.
His wrists bore the weight and broke.
"One of the doctors came in, looked at my wrists and goes 'Oh, you'll probably be out for 12 months'.
"You can imagine what I was feeling and thinking straight in that moment," the 18-year-old tells ESPN.
Reality set in as he stared down at his fractured wrists, agonising over the wait as throbbing pain set in.
"They were completely snapped, I knew they were broken. I sat there for two hours waiting for the ambulance.
"It didn't hurt at all for the first hour, but I think I was just in complete shock. Once it got to that first hour, that's when it was hurting. I couldn't move them or anything."
By the time an ambulance arrived, Dalton's parents had seen the state their son was in. His mum didn't leave his side until 1:30am that night.
It was that first night in hospital where he was told to forget about football this year. Dalton had set three goals across his season; he wanted to make the AFL Academy side, start strong in his first three Sandringham Dragons games and play all four representative matches for Vic Metro. All three goals had been crushed.
"They put me on anaesthetic and pulled my wrists back into place, then straight into surgery the next morning at about 8am," he explains.
"Heaps of people came by and supported me which was great, but it was a shocking feeling.
"I was already mapping out when I was gonna come back and play, I was telling everyone who came into the hospital to support me, I was telling them 'I'm gonna be back at this date hoping to play all these Vic Metro games'."
Initially told it would take 12 months, Dalton returned in 11 weeks. He collected 35 disposals in wet and windy conditions for the Dragons to put his name up in lights once more.
Noted by coaches and recruiters as the utmost professional, Dalton's rehab shattered expectations. He had worked his way back from a point where both arms were in casts to best on ground performances within three months.
The dedicated teen credited his strong mindset after returning from a navicular stress fracture 12 months prior, the same reoccurring injury threatening to derail the career of Will Day.
"My biggest strength and probably my biggest weakness is how hard I work. It ended up with me having a stress fracture," he says.
"I was on crutches and in a moonboot for six weeks, but I was in the gym three times a week for two to three hours smashing it out.
"Just being able to get off the crutches and walk in a moonboot was a win."
Dalton had put the work in this pre-season after his last was wiped out. He equalled the all-time Yo-Yo test record at the pre-season combine at 22.4, showing off his freakish running ability.
After breaking his wrists, he was still back in time to feature in Vic Metro's last three games, and was best afield for his side in the culmination of the national championships against Vic Country with 28 disposals and 11 tackles.
Dalton's best qualities suit the modern game. He's an endurance beast with clean hands and a healthy appetite for the contest. There's scope for him on a wing after he won a premiership for Sandringham stationed on the fringes of stoppage, and at his dynamic best he's slicing apart teams with a powerful left boot.
Those are the traits that helped him become Vic Metro's MVP two years ago. It's his character and professionalism that saw him named skipper. And after overcoming more adversity than most, it's Dalton's obsessive determination that gives him an opportunity to thrive at the next level.
"Obviously the main goal of everything is getting drafted, but you've just got to enjoy the moment because, as I know, anything can happen."