Ryan the Eagle
Drouin's Ryan Maric is a West Coast Eagle after being selected at pick one in Wednesday night's AFL mid-season rookie draft.
With much speculation as to where the talented 18-year-old might land, in the end it was the Eagles who swooped with the first selection.
Watching on from his beloved Drouin Football Club's social rooms, the tears began to flow as the entire room erupted when his name was read out as pick one.
Ryan flew out to Western Australia the next day, despite never having been to Perth, and will now ply his trade with the Eagles WAFL side as he hopes to break through for a senior debut.
He made his first appearance in Eagles colours on the weekend, collecting five disposals and a goal in his first WAFL match.
It's been a rapid rise for Ryan, who lost more than 20kg over the past 18 months to put himself into draft contention.
He played a part in Gippsland Power's campaign last year, and though he stood little chance of being taken in the national draft, he nominated himself anyway at the encouragement of team talent manager Scott McDougal just in case.
The advice paid off, with Ryan's ripping early-season form for the Power putting him on the radar of just about every AFL list manager in the country and his earlier nomination making him eligible to be selected in the mid-season draft.
A 193cm forward, Ryan compared his style of play to Melbourne's Bayley Fritsch as a third tall forward who can impact in the air as well as on the ground.
He joins Poowong's Jai Newcombe as another local talent to have been selected in the mid-season draft, a concept re-introduced by the AFL in 2019 for the first time since 1993.
Given West Coast's struggles both with injury and form, a senior debut may be on the cards for the teenager later this season should he find form in their reserves side.
It would be a dream come true for Ryan, who said he had always wanted to be an AFL footballer but had never realistically believed it would be possible until this year.
His drafting briefly made the Drouin Football Club the centre of the AFL universe, with media pundits all lining up at the club to speak to the league's newest up and coming star.