IT WAS during the NAB AFL Under 18 Championships earlier this year that Zak Jones really started to believe he belonged at AFL level.
The 18-year-old had only been playing in the TAC Cup for half a season, having gained a call up to the Dandenong Stingrays team after spending a year in the club's development squad.
The younger brother of Melbourne's Nathan always believed he had the ability to improve his fitness and skills and become an AFL player.
But it was when he took out the most valuable player for Vic Country in the championships that he really felt he could be headed for a career like his brother's.
"The championships gave me more of a feel for what the next level is of football from the TAC Cup is like, so the nationals were a huge thing for me to step up," Jones told AFL.com.au recently.
"I guess I never really doubted myself and said I'm not good enough but I kind of doubted my skills and things like that, which I realised I needed to work on and still to this day need to work on.
"I just thought the Stingrays have given me a shot so surely I'm good enough, and playing on the best players gave me more confidence to try and play for an AFL club."
Jones is described as a medium defender but considers himself capable of holding down a role as an inside midfielder, while being able to take on a lock-down job if needed.
His outstanding carnival for Vic Country earned him All Australian honours, less than 12 months after he was playing for Mt Eliza in the Peninsula League.
Jones found 2012 to be a difficult year. He was part of the Stingrays' development squad but wasn't getting a game, which was hard for him to take.
Over summer, he enlisted the help of 157-game player Nathan to make sure he was picked by the Stingrays when the 2013 season started.
"Nath's a huge role model to me. Both my brothers are. They're so committed and help me out with my football and I see how committed they were when they were my age," he said.
"Two years ago, I would have slacked off a bit with pre-season but this year I didn't slack off. I worked hard.
"I really worked on my fitness, focused on my endurance and took it from there."
Jones made his TAC Cup debut in round two and impressed throughout the season, to the point where he not only gained a Vic Country call-up but was invited to the October NAB AFL Draft Combine, where he was interviewed by multiple clubs.
He also played a pivotal role in getting the Stingrays to the Grand Final, where they were heavily defeated by the Eastern Ranges.
Jones still lives in Mt Eliza, where he grew up, with his mother Liz.
He finished school at the end of year 11 in 2012 and this year, worked three days a week with his Rosebud-based father, Brad, who is a carpenter.
He is looking for an electrician apprenticeship and hopes he'll be able to complete one while playing elite football, if he is drafted.
Growing up with two brothers – Nathan, 25, and Josh, 22, who is a fourth-year plumber – couldn't have provided him with better preparation for the physical nature of an AFL career.
"Our house was full of footy," he said.
"We had a fair few wrestling matches; mum's probably got heaps of stories about us breaking things.
"Having two brothers older than me, beating up on me and me trying to fight back makes you more competitive to beat them but then also when you go on to the football field, you just want to win."
It's this level of competitiveness Jones believes influenced his most positive on-field trait; his never-say-die attitude and hunger at the contest.
He also believes the insight Nathan has been able to give him about what's required to play at the highest level and how to ride the ups and downs associated with it is worth plenty when compared to the other potential draftees.
"There's many lows at the moment but when [the Demons] get on a high, it's good to see how happy he really is," he said.
"There's a huge mental battle in footy and that's what a lot of people don't really see.
"Having my brother there, I get to really see what emotional battles he has."
Jones would love to play for Melbourne but would be just as excited by the prospect of coming up against his older brother on the field.
And, there could be two visibly tattooed members of the Jones family running around before too long if Zak decides to add to the image of his surname on his back and become the third brother to get a sleeve.
"I'll probably get my arm done but I'll wait a bit," he said.
"Mum really doesn't have much of a say. She likes the ones that mean something but at the same time, she doesn't really like the things that don't.
"I don't just want to get silly things on my arm. I want to wait and see what really means something to me before I do."
