Elijah Hollands remains a top draft prospect despite undergoing a knee reconstruction in his draft year.
"We were doing a full ground drill and I was leading up as a forward. The footy got kicked over my head a little bit so I was backing back to jump for the mark and as I did that I landed and my knee buckled as I came down," Hollands said.
"In my head I ruled out any ligament damage because I thought I heard a crack. I found out the next day that my judgment was very wrong."
Messages began pouring in from teammates, recruiters and AFL players on Instagram, while most Richmond players and officials called after he had trained there over summer.
"With all the messages that I got I had a fair bit of reassurance that I was lucky enough to play some good footy last year and got some exposure in the championships playing where there was a lot of recruiters watching," Hollands said.
"I got some reassurance there, but there was, and still is, a little bit of doubt that I might not be able to show as much as other boys will be able to show this year. But that's out of my control now and there isn't much I can do to change that."