Jacob Koschitzke and Mat Walker didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
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They probably still don't.
After putting in the biggest pre-season of his life at Hawthorn, Koschitzke couldn't have entered the Hawks' intra-club in better shape.
It was all going to plan until the third quarter when his good friend grabbed the ball and prepared to break free.
Koschitzke's eyes lit up when he saw the opportunity to get one up on his housemate.
"I actually tackled 'Walks' and smashed him," Koschitzke said.
"But as our weight went to the ground and I had him wrapped up, I landed right on the point of my shoulder and the ground separated it.
"He got up a bit slow and turned and looked at me and I just said: "I'm no good mate."'
The result was a grade five shoulder injury which required a surgeon to insert a fully artificial AC joint with plate and anchors.
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The good news for Koschitzke is he's missed only one match of football due to coronavirus and is still good mates with Walker.
"We saw the funny side of it," he said.
"It is what it is and we just laughed it off.
"He claimed I came off second best but I've got the footage of the tackle."
Koschitzke was on track to return from injury for Box Hill in the early rounds before coronavirus intervened and wiped out the VFL season.
The former Albury junior said he had learnt the art of patience since arriving at Hawthorn as pick No.52 in the 2018 draft.
He was restricted to 13 matches last season due to hip and finger injuries.
"The patience and development side is pretty big and has probably been the biggest eye-opener to me," he said.
"Mentally when you arrive you think things will start to happen after training hard, but it takes time and I only really started to find my way at the end of the first year.
"I'm pretty hard on myself and I would go home and reflect on it if I had a bad training session but they tell you to forget about it and move on.
"At Hawthorn they are right into ensuring players have balanced lifestyles as well which helps you adjust."
As well as living with Walker and first-year player Emerson Jeka, Koschitzke has 2015 premiership defender James Frawley as his mentor.
"I've done a fair bit of work with 'Chip' (Frawley)," he said.
"He's a key defensive pillar and I think they see that as my role moving forward.
"He's been helping me with body positioning and things like that and going through film on different players.
"He's happy to give up his time and stay in contact which has been great."
