Adelaide recruit and debutant Hugo Hall-Kahan has all the attributes to be an AFL footballer, but there was one aspect in the past he desperately needed to work on which held him back.
Hall-Kahan spent the first half of 2026 turning heads in the VFL for Williamstown Seagulls, and rose through the ranks after an unsuccessful stint at Sydney in 2022.
Seagulls coach Justin Plapp took Zero Hanger into the development of the dashing defender, and his elevation into AFL contention which not many people would know.
"That's where the story around Hugo needs to be explained a bit deeper," Plapp told Zero Hanger.
"I had known of Hugo when he got drafted to the Swans when he was a local boy around Beaumaris. His exit out of Sydney, had the year at Sandy, but I was connected to him through players at Williamstown like Cam Polson. I watched a bit of his footy, and the one thing that struck me about Hugo was his lack of maturity physically and maybe mentally.
"He was an 18-year-old kid who was plucked by Sydney, and when I got him, there were some deficiencies in his game, which were around his lack of maturity and his body and the mental part and resilience part of the game.
"What I was able to, and it's not just me, the football club were able to put a supportive plan in place for Hugo. We got him in, we played him around the ball which had some benefits, and watching him play last night at AFL level, I think the plan we put in place with him, to build more resilience in his body (worked).
"If Hugo is going to get another chance at AFL level, we needed to put him in a place where he could show his strengths, and we put him half back that helped us as a footy team. A lot of things aligned.
"He was able to play with some flair and freedom, whilst he was doing that, there was a fair bit of work behind the scenes around resilience and moving on to the next contest. Hugo, and he'd say this, is an emotional young kid, and did a fair bit of work in that space. He made sure his body language and the way he was feeling become more of an internal thing, rather than external.
"And I think that's the biggest part where Hugo got drafted as an 18-year-old to now. His maturity and resilience around his body and mindset allowed him to play better football, and showed the attributes he's got.
"We got some stuff right around his reviewing. We made sure we reviewed behaviour. We reviewed the stuff in his games where he struggled to move on from games. We would look at that quite deeply. Stuff off the ball where he made a mistake and needed to get his mind back into the game.
"That part needs to be explained around Hugo. It wasn't necessarily the player, it was more behind the scenes and between his ears, and to his credit, he was able to embrace it and he got the opportunity.
"That's a pretty in-depth thing that needs to be explained about him."
The Seagulls duo worked closely in unison to improve his game, even to a point where Hall-Kahan would be open and explain to Plapp in-game when he was highly emotional, helped the coach acknowledge trigger points and assist him in returning to neutral.
Every week began to look the same, from weekly in-depth reviews to a structured training regime, Hall-Kahan began to garner the interest of AFL clubs once again.
Multiple sides reached out to Plapp, including Collingwood, who were interested in the 22-year-old.
But it was the Crows who took the punt on Hall-Kahan, and benefitted immediately on Thursday, drawing surprise from Plapp.
Hall-Kahan joined a rare club last week when selected in the mid-season draft for the second time, with the Crows youngster standing beside Brynn Teakle (Port Adelaide and North Melbourne) as two-time MSD recruits.
The former Seagull didn't look out of place on the Adelaide Oval, recording 16 disposals, two clearances and 352 metres gained.
