The North Melbourne assistant coach and ex-Hawk has taken both of Jay Lockhart and Tarryn Thomas under his wing in the past two years, coaching the former at VFL outfit Casey and the latter in his new role with the Kangaroos.

Visiting Newstead College's athlete development class on Wednesday, Rawlings reserved special praise for the 2017 TSL premiership teammates and particularly Lockhart's UTAS Stadium homecoming with Melbourne last weekend.

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"Jay Lockhart was one of the best success stories I've had as a coach," Rawlings said.

"I was well aware of Jay's performances at North Launceston ... we offered him an opportunity to come over and he grabbed hold of it and to watch his growth as a person and as a player over the last three years has been terrific.

"He's in a great position to be a consistent AFL player, I really enjoyed watching him play against the Hawks the other week and it looks like he's close to being in their best team."

Arriving in the AFL via the national draft and a last-minute rookie spot respectively, Thomas and Lockhart both debuted in round two and enjoyed promising first seasons.

Thomas (20 games, 16 goals) averaged marginally fewer touches but pipped his former teammate (12 games, nine goals) for match time after playing every game from round six onwards.

"I've really enjoyed Tarryn - I didn't know much about him before he got to North Melbourne but he's got a great attitude, he's a hard trainer, a very talented kid and he's very popular in the group," Rawlings said.

"The sky's the limit for Tarryn - he'll be the controller of how far he goes through how hard he trains.

"But as far as dealing with the AFL and knowing he can perform on the biggest stage, he's already been able to do that.

"You would think with more training volume, a stronger body and possibly a stronger mind, he's in a great position to put his best foot forward."

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