RHYS Mathieson slowly reverses his car into the freezing water as Darcy Parish unloads the attached 'tinnie' boat into Geelong's Corio Bay.

The local teenagers are familiar with the area: the last time they came down for a couple of hours of fishing, Mathieson's car almost got bogged in the sand.

The time before that, a little way over to the left, they had a day out and reeled in about 30 fish in an afternoon. And just behind them, inside the gates at the nearby Geelong Grammar School, they met for the first time six years ago.

"It was a trial game for the Victorian under-12s team, and I didn't know Darcy at all," Mathieson said. "But I know he kicked a bag of goals that day and I thought 'Yep, this kid's a gun'. We've been pretty close since then."

In some ways, the highly rated 2015 draft prospects haven't had much of a choice.

They were teammates in the Victorian under-12s and 15s teams, played in Vic Country's under-16 championships team, made the All Australian under-18 side last year as bottom-agers, and both backed it up again this year as key players in Country's division one title win.

Their journeys have been shared through the Geelong Falcons TAC Cup team, and they've also graduated from the NAB AFL Academy program. By the end of this year, Parish will likely be a top-10 pick and Mathieson won't be too far behind.

"Everything I've done, Rhys has achieved as well, so we've spent a lot of time together," Parish said. "We've leant on each other heaps."

You can't manufacture friends like Parish and Mathieson, who were brought together by football but now spend their time doing pretty much everything alongside one another.

They room with each other on team trips, sit side-by-side at group dinners, get out on the boat, go on hunting trips and their parents have shared car-pooling duties for years. "If you see one, you'll see the other not too far away," one recruiter noted.

That includes at school. Mathieson joined Parish at Geelong's Grovedale College in year eight. "I showed him around for a year," Parish said. Five years on, they're still tight.

For the first half of the year (before Parish recently turned 18 and got his driver's licence) they had a morning routine: every day Mathieson would pick up Parish from his bus stop and they would go to the local Bean Squeeze coffee shop, where Parish would shout the lattes.

They'd chat about footy, school, or whichever club's scouts had gotten in touch to organise an interview, and then head into school, where they have most classes together. Once that's done, they head to Falcons training together.

"We probably talk a different language to most people," Mathieson said. "We've got inside jokes nobody understands or we talk footy, or we say things that only we think are funny. We rock up to school everyday and it's a new adventure that's for sure."

They have become known for playing pranks on each other. Parish's out-of-date lasagna that ended up in Mathieson's locker, and the spray of bug repellant that occasionally ruins Parish's sandwich before he's even had a bite.

Rhys Mathieson and Darcy Parish drop a line in Corio Bay. Picture: AFL Media

It was also Parish who first gave Mathieson the nickname 'Ross', after hearing someone in the under-12s mistake that for his first name. "I'm really hoping that one sticks when he gets drafted," Parish said.

The pair has a clear understanding of each other on the field, too. Parish knows Mathieson will be the player to dig in at the contest and win the first kick at every clearance, get it on his boot and send it long.

Two weeks ago, before he played for the Falcons that afternoon, Parish went to Simonds Stadium early to see Mathieson make his VFL debut. Mathieson had 10 clearances and 18 disposals in a game that showed his power at the stoppage and form at whatever level he plays.

Mathieson is an animated player – full of expression and effort – and Parish smiles at some of the idiosyncrasies in his mate's game. "He gets a lot of frees through the Joel Selwood-type shoulder shrug," he said.

Parish picked up 38 disposals, eight clearances and kicked two goals last weekend for the Falcons, and Mathieson has seen him add an inside element to his flashy running game.

"Darc is a clutch player. I'm not worried if we're five points down and I'm in the middle with him, because I know one of us will win the ball. I can definitely rely on Darc to do the job," he said. "He's taken his game to another level."

The pair doesn't discuss the draft much, knowing deep down both are feeling the same uncertainty and excitement. When clubs come to Geelong for a round of interviews, whoever of the duo is visited first will text the other afterwards to let them know how tough the interview was.   

It's rare to see Parish and Mathieson together without them grinning, laughing at each other or up to mischief. They haven't contemplated the thought of November's draft separating them.

"We talk more about going to the same club, and what that would be like. We haven't played much footy without each other so it'd definitely be weird to go to different clubs," Mathieson said.

"Last year Darcy went over to WA with the Vic Country team and I didn't play that game, and he sent me a text afterwards and said 'Weird not to be playing with you'. It was our first time not playing together in ages.

"I'd love to go to the same club as him, but the future might hold something else. We'll cope with it, we'll still be best mates. We'll give each other a high-five at the end of it and be rapt."