The GWS Giants have turned to Canberra to unearth more stars of the future, and you can only wonder how many had just watched Riley Hamilton's fairytale debut and thought: "That could be me one day."
The region's most talented juniors were on display at Manuka Oval this week when GWS hosted a series of Giants academy development matches.
Teams representing Canberra, Greater West, Riverina and Murray were duking it out across under 14 and under 15 age groups from Monday until Wednesday.
The series was held days after Canberra product Hamilton capped off a fairytale AFL debut in his hometown with an upset win over competition leaders Fremantle.
Cast an eye over the list of Giants academy graduates who have spent time on an AFL list and you see names like Belconnen duo Jack Steele and Logan Austin.
There are Giants stars like Tom Green and Harry Himmelberg, as well as Sam Fisher, Tom Highmore, Josh Fahey, Cooper Bell and Logan Smith.
You wonder which of the rising stars playing at Manuka Oval this week could follow in their footsteps.
"You only saw Riley Hamilton play his first first grade game last week. He would have played in those games as a young kid," AFL Canberra boss Steve Mahar said.
"Tom Green, Jack Steele, people like that. It's fantastic to see the Giants bring that kind of content to Canberra.
"If you saw the photos of the Hamiltons getting around Riley for his first game and getting his jumper presented, it looked like they had a cast of thousands there.
"It's great for the people that support these kids, who drive them to all these rep carnivals and things like that as 13, 14-year-olds.
"Yes, the player feels good about themselves and they've worked hard, but it sends a message to their parents that all of that work to support their kids has been worth it, and all their dreams are coming true.
"It also sends a great message to young kids that are just starting their journey to go: 'Oh, that could be me one day.'"
The Giants will return to Manuka Oval to face the Gold Coast Suns on August 9, before rounding out the year with a pair of AFLW games against Port Adelaide [August 30] and Richmond [September 20].
Until then, rising stars from across the region will recount the day they spent walking on the land of the Giants.
"It's great for the kids, especially from the regional areas, to be able to come into Canberra and have that opportunity to play at Manuka which is pretty special," Mahar said.
"To give those kids an opportunity to play at an elite level is great, and for the local kids to be able to play against the best from other regions."
