Brayden George remains high on the list of AFL recruiters despite the ACL injury which is set to keep him sidelined for the next year.
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George emerged as one of the top Draft prospects earlier this year after a series of outstanding displays for the Murray Bushrangers.
The 18-year-old missed three months of the season with a meniscus tear but returned in time to play for the Bushies against Sandringham Dragons in the finals.
However, he landed awkwardly in the first few minutes of the game and scans revealed his worst fears.
"My whole world fell down on top of me," George admitted.
"I knew what I'd done and all bad thoughts went through my head. I let my emotions get the better of me.
"There were probably 10 minutes to go (until quarter-time) and I bawled my eyes out until the siren went.
"I stood up and the coach pulled me aside and said 'there's a game here to be won still so if you want to bring the team down to your level, I recommend sitting inside or staying on the bench but if you want to be the leader we all know you are and respect you for, you need to pull it together and we'll worry about it afterwards.'
"I tried to be the best team-mate I could possibly be.
"I wasn't thinking in the best mindset but the team knew I was upset so I wanted to give them a bit of reassurance that it's not all about me, it's a team environment.
"I didn't really think about missing 12 months of footy at the time."
George had surgery the following week and is now on the long road to recovery.
"Everything's getting a little bit easier," he said.
"The first week was pretty ordinary, I was sitting in bed not able to move but my room-mate helped me out a lot.
"I've now started swimming, getting a full range of movement back into it and the swelling is going down so it's all becoming less of a hassle."
George was in Melbourne for the AFL Draft Combine over the weekend, sitting out the physical testing but doing a lot of media commitments as well as his club interviews.
"They've seen what I'm able to do and they've all said the same thing; they don't draft someone for their first year, they draft someone for a full career," George said.
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"That's given me a bit of reassurance, the stuff they've said about how mature I've gotten and how I've overcome all these injuries.
"That's made me feel like I'm in a pretty good spot still."
George, who grew up in Girgarre, is a far more resilient and mature character since making the call to leave home and start a new chapter in Wangaratta.
Life on the dairy farm is a world away from his base in the rapidly-growing city, even more so the weekend spent on Combine duty at Marvel Stadium.
But George, since joining Alex Rance's Academy, has felt both his footy skills and life skills blossom.
"At my old school, I wasn't even at the stage where I could go out and order food by myself," he said.
"I was too nervous to do that sort of stuff.
"But at the end of under-16s with Bushies, I got found out.
"The coaches pulled me aside and said my fitness levels weren't where they needed to be.
"I wasn't mature enough at that stage but when I did move away, I locked in and focused for the year and made some unreal improvements.
"That's when I began to take it seriously.
"I knew no-one in Wangaratta and I knew it was going to be a difficult move.
"Mum and Dad said they would come over in a heartbeat and pick me up if I needed to come home, so knowing that made it a lot easier.
"The first two weeks, I was giving Mum a call to come over and do the dishes and that sort of stuff because I wasn't really used to it, but I soon got off that when the COVID lockdowns hit.
"I had to do a bit more for myself and grow up a little bit faster.
"That COVID time probably was the best time for me as a person, growing up a little bit more.
"Moving to a new town, making new friends and meeting new people put me in a place where I felt comfortable to put myself out there.
"If I got rejected, so be it, I wasn't going to take it to heart.
"My motto is to give people the respect they deserve and if they don't give it back, all you can do is say you've tried."
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