Hawthorn's Nick Watson and Western Bulldogs' Michael Sellwood have had polar opposite starts to their respective careers.
One's a small forward who was touted for the AFL at an early age and was taken with pick five in the national draft; the other is a tough-as-nails defender who has taken the long and arduous road to the big league.
As the pair battled throughout Friday night's thrilling encounter between the two sides, in the first half, it was the speedy, mercurial talent who took the chocolates.
Sellwood struggled to contain the energetic Watson as he booted 3.1 from nine disposals and had seven score involvements.
At halftime, Watson told the Fox Footy broadcast that he likes to see Sellwood talk the talk, but that his opponent was yet to walk the walk during their fiery encounter.
As the Dogs trailed by 27 points at halftime, Sellwood came out of the sheds using all the resolve he had gained during his time plying his trade as a senior footballer for Peel Thunder in the WAFL before being taken with - ironically - pick five in the 2025 Mid-Season Draft by the Dogs as a 21-year-old.
Sellwood played an integral part in the Bulldogs' memorable fightback and nullified Watson's influence in the second half.
The gun small forward was limited to three disposals across the third and fourth quarters (none in the last) and only managed to add one behind.
Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge was full of praise for his tough defender post-match.
"Watson probably had his biggest impact as a midfielder in the first half," Beveridge said in the post-game press conference. "He kicked one of his goals from centre bounce where he spat forward, so that's not on Michael.
"As the game wore on, it seemed like Watson was more forward and not much in the midfield and 'Sellers' was able to play on him more. That's a significant thing for Michael to be able to do that.
"He rolled his ankle, he came off, we thought we were going to lose him. So he just showed enormous courage. He played through pain, and in the end, he got a pretty important scalp."
Speaking on Seven's broadcast, Sellwood shed light on what happened between him and a Hawthorn fan during the post-game celebrations as the 22-year-old did a lap of the ground.
"I'm not going to repeat what (the fan) said … but I wasn't happy with it,” Sellwood said on the Seven broadcast.
"But he cowered a bit pretty quickly.”
The AFL has not commented yet on whether any further action will be taken regarding the fan and his comments.
