THE HEADLINE was splashed across the local paper: "Yarrawonga Pigeons set to unleash Dan Howe."
Howe, then two months from joining Hawthorn, ultimately chose not to play in the Ovens and Murray league preliminary final, alongside ex-AFL footballers Brendan Fevola and Kayne Pettifer.
He was managing a hip problem, and the 2014 NAB AFL Draft Combine was on the horizon. The Pigeons won a one-point thriller to book a Grand Final spot, but lost by seven points a week later to arch-rival Albury.
"I wasn't certain to get drafted. I wanted to play, but I thought it was probably in my best interests not to," Howe told AFL.com.au.
"The Yarrawonga coach (Chris Kennedy) is still the coach now, and they're still dirty about me not playing."
Howe played four matches in his first AFL season – the last of them in round 23, on finals eve – and watched his more seasoned teammates complete a flag three-peat in the following month.
A year later, the Hawks' four-thorn attempt ended in a straight-sets finals exit, with the Rennie and Yarrawonga product featuring in the first final as a late inclusion for fellow young gun James Sicily.
Howe's habit of being on the doorstep of success, but narrowly missing out had continued. His most-recent premiership came in the under-13s with Rennie, a hop, step and jump across the New South Wales border.
That status looked unlikely to change for some time as Hawthorn lurched to a 1-5 start this year. Howe's season debut came in round five, after hamstring issues sidelined him towards the end of the pre-season.
But a shift was happening at the Hawks, with overdue faith placed in the club's youth. The transformation has been impressive, with Hawthorn winning six games and drawing another from its past 11 outings to remain a slim finals chance.
Last week's victory over Fremantle included eight players – Howe (21 years old, 28 matches), Billy Hartung (22, 58), Tim O'Brien (23, 29), Kaiden Brand (23, 23), Ryan Burton (20, 20), Conor Glass (19, 1), Blake Hardwick (20, 15) and Sicily (22, 29) – aged 23 or younger and with fewer than 60 games' experience.
"The last two years I've been on the edge of the team, but I feel comfortable at the level now," Howe said.
"I think the new generation is really driving the standards and where we're heading and have taken a bit of ownership of the club, and for us to play finals would be massive for that group."
Coach Alastair Clarkson isn't just giving his young players a chance, he is entrusting them with genuine responsibility. Take Howe, whose move from defence into a full-time midfield role in round 14 coincided with him becoming the resident tagger.
It started with a stopping job on Adelaide's Rory Sloane, and his opponents since have been Collingwood's Scott Pendlebury, Giant Dylan Shiel, Geelong's Joel Selwood and Docker Nat Fyfe. Fyfe is the footballer 191cm Howe grew up idolising and wanting to model his game on.
Sydney champion Josh Kennedy, a similarly tall midfielder, looms as Howe's next big challenge under the Friday night lights.
"It's not too often you get to play against the best players in the opposition," Howe said.
"So even if a couple of times they got on top of me – a couple of quarters they have – the challenge of doing it and setting myself to do it is really enjoyable, especially when you go OK.
"Sydney's midfield is pretty star-studded; you've got Kennedy, Parker, Hannebery. I haven't really been through it with Clarko yet, but it could be one of those three. It's going to be a good battle and I'm really looking forward to it."
The Hawks can't slip up once from here if they want to book an eighth-straight finals berth, but Howe and co have them back on the path for – to borrow a Clarkson term – their next piece of silverware.
