Shannon Neale was earmarked as the Tom Hawkins replacement long before the champion Geelong forward retired.
In 2022, Neale sat idly by as the Cats went on to premiership glory, hoping one day he'd be able to experience the jubilation and elation of winning the flag.
"It is good to have a different perspective this week than 2022 grand final week, I knew I wasn't going to play," Neale said.
"We had those fringe players back then, I sort of knew I wasn't going to play, so it was good to enjoy the week as an AFL-listed player, but this week it is good to experience it with the opportunity to play."
The 23-year-old was forced to bide his time as Hawkins and Jeremy Cameron led the Geelong forward line, and it really wasn't until the 359-gamer retired that he had the opportunity to excel.
"No disrespect to the big guy, but when 'Hawk' was playing, it felt like I had to fill his shoes and play the role that was vacant," Neale said.
"Whereas now, especially this year, without him, I've been able to play my own game. I always tried to, but there was always an overarching theme of what would Hawk do. This year has been more about me."
Neale revealed that he still leans on Hawkins for advice or a general chat, and has looked to the 2020 Coleman Medallist for approval, hoping to follow in his footsteps.
"He messaged me the other night and in true fashion, he never got back to me, but that's alright," Neale said.
"It is good to hear from him, he is someone that is almost like a fatherly figure here at Geelong. As I messaged him, I said that I just want to make him proud.
"People sort of refer to me as the next Tom Hawkins. I try to not buy into that too much because I am my own player and my own person.
"But certainly there is a part of me that wants to uphold the history that is there, I just want to make him proud and the club proud."
This year marks the first season that Neale has been given the green light as the focal point in Chris Scott's forward line, playing 24 games and kicking 43 goals, which helps support Cameron and the fleet of small forwards.
A likely part of his role this week could be to curb the influence of Brisbane star defender Harris Andrews.
Neale has previously played as a negating forward on Andrews, which worked successfully in the qualifying final.
"I certainly think that he is always playing well. He is a magnificent defender, he reads the ball so well, he is really good at intercepting it, he has got long arms and he is strong," Neale said.
"I think when we played them down here about mid-year, he had a really good outing, and I sort of walked away and thought, yeah, I probably could have done a bit better at times.
"I do that every game, but that game was one where it was fair to say that I was disappointed with myself and how I performed.
"In the qualifying final, I tried not to get too anxious about it and not overthink that he has got the better of me, all those thoughts that you can have naturally as a young player.
"I think I flipped the script a bit. I am excited to play on those big names."
