It was the Tasmania Devils' last chance of the year - and Jared Dakin's first and only chance to rouse AFL scouts.
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The injury-ravaged Dakin was forced to miss the entire 2019 season after a shoulder operation in November 2018 had left the skillful midfielder little more than a spectator.
That was 15 NAB League home and away matches that the Devils ran out without a touch of Dakin's influence.
The newest vagaries of the under-18 elite competition did permit the Tasmanians, who finished second-last in their debut campaign, to still be able to reach this season's finals from a wildcard round.
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Call it a roll of the dice.
Dakin was in.
The 18-year-old was quick to make his presence known three months ahead of the AFL draft with 16 kicks, nine handballs, three marks, three tackles, 10 inside 50s and a goal against Calder Cannons.
The ex-Kings Meadows High student treated the solitary outing like a grand final.
"It definitely helped," he said of his performance.
"Obviously when you play a bare minimum amount of games that I played, I didn't want to go out there and it reflect poorly about me as a footballer on the field."
One-game wonders are nothing new come draft day.
But Dakin went one better.
Still that's somewhat cold comfort for Dakin that AFL Tasmania football manager Craig Notman rates as highly as a number of players that have been drafted under the watch of the former Oakleigh Chargers mentor.
"I definitely feel like I'm a chance, but whether or not a team will take me off the minimal amount of games, I don't know," Dakin said.
"They will have to trust a lot of what Notty and Trev [Darren Trevena] have said."
Mitch O'Neill, now a two-time All-Australian, was the only invited Tasmanian at the national draft combine.
Dakin still got a spot at the state combine, along with some Devils teammates, in front of interested onlookers.
"Even when you speak to these people, they don't give you much of an idea because they can't really guarantee anything," he said.
"Things have changed so much with the new trading of picks and stuff like that."
Notman believed the idea of shuffling picks around has aided Tasmanians, who only this year have returned to the elite Victorian-based league after a 17-year absence.
There are hopes that Dakin will go in the late rounds of Thursday's draft, but his best chance will be as a rookie, as the unpredictability of drafting demands compels clubs to have a greater depth of knowledge of national talent.
It's a far cry from last year when star North Launceston half-forward Tarryn Thomas was selected pick nine through North Melbourne's Next Generation state academy and Launceston midfielder Chayce Jones went the very next pick to Adelaide.
Jones and Dakin had been teammates at the TSL Blues and briefly the Mariners, but that's where similarities end.
"Our stories are very different. I don't think he was ever under question as whether he'd get drafted," Dakin said.