THE TIPS often arrive when Tyler Brockman and his partner need them the most.

Raising twins is hard, especially when its your first taste of parenthood, when you're only 20 years old, living away from family – a long way from home – and trying to relaunch your football career after a shoulder reconstruction wiped out your second season in the AFL. Every little trick helps.

Not many people inside Waverley Park can comprehend the challenges Brockman is facing at home, but Sam Mitchell can. The Hawthorn coach and his wife Lyndall had twins in 2011, less than 12 months after the arrival of their first child. It meant three under one and chaos at home. They know what it is really like, and make sure to keep in touch.

Brockman flaunted his own tricks in an eye-catching return to football last weekend following the most challenging and rewarding year of his life to date.

After playing less than two minutes of a VFL game and missing the rest of 2022, Brockman and his partner, Tyrah Kickett, welcomed twin daughters, Amaliah and Amyrah, into the world late last year.

Now Brockman is back at the highest level, back showing his prodigious talent. The Indigenous small forward kicked three goals from 11 disposals in Hawthorn's win over North Melbourne at UTAS Stadium, finally wearing Cyril Rioli's iconic No.33 guernsey for the first time after inheriting the number at the end of 2021.

Reflecting on the road back to the AFL, and all the challenges life has thrown at hime since he last played in round 23, 2021, the softly spoken West Australian is grateful for those who helped him get back; from his partner and his family, to the football club, the coach and his wife, who is never far away with a suggestion or just to let them know it will be OK.

"Sam has twins as well, so he wants to look after the twins at some point. Lyndall has been great," the softly spoken Brockman tells AFL.com.au, sitting in the stands at Waverley Park last week.

"Heaps of people say good luck with it, it is double trouble, but Lyndall messages us all the time with little tips and advice. She has been very helpful."

Hawthorn traded up in the 2020 NAB AFL Draft to ensure they got Brockman at pick No.46. Hawks list boss Mark McKenzie knew West Coast and Fremantle were interested in the Subiaco product and didn't want to miss out on a player they rated higher than that, one they knew was keen on coming to the club after extensive interviews via Zoom during the pandemic.

Brockman played 11 games in his debut season in 2021, but then disaster struck in his first appearance of last season when he dislocated his shoulder two minutes into a VFL game after catching an opponent holding the ball in the goal square. He ran off Windy Hill with his shoulder hanging out of its socket and his season hanging in the balance.

After putting his shoulder back together last winter, Brockman was granted an extended period back home in Perth in the off-season after the birth of the twins. But since returning to the club after Christmas, Brockman gradually mounted a case to be considered for senior selection sooner rather than later.

That arrived last weekend when Mitchell revealed in a meeting last Thursday afternoon that someone was going to play for the first time in a long time. That someone was Brockman.

"The first couple of VFL games that we've done helped me get back into my rhythm a bit. But, to be honest, it felt like it was my first game again going back out there," he said.

"Getting on the plane again was all new to me again. Once I got out there, I just did what I do, played my role and tried to help the boys win. I just tried to enjoy it."

Last year was a grind for Brockman. He didn't have a contract for 2023 when he went under the knife. He had twins on the way and no certainty of life in the AFL beyond October. And the injury happened at a time when he believed he was on the cusp of becoming a regular senior player.

"I felt that it was a huge setback. I felt like I was going to play good footy last year before the injury. Doing that shoulder was a huge setback, but overcoming it and getting another chance, I want to prove a point that I can play at the level," he said.

"Just knowing that I didn't have another contract at the end of the year was really stressful. Being on the sidelines I didn't get to be around the boys as much for that whole year … It was pretty stressful. The only thing I could do was try and get fit, but nothing was easy."

But after swerving around all the obstacles 2022 lobbed in his direction, Brockman now has greater purpose. He isn't just playing for himself anymore.

"I've got something to do it for now," he explains.

"Just knowing that I have two little babies, I know it is my job to help them grow and have a home. Everything is for them now.

"At the start I was taping my wrists up with their names on it, but I have it hammered in my head now that I'm doing it for them."

Tyler and Tyrah didn't plan on having children so early in life, but plans change. Brockman is the only parent on the list at Hawthorn right now, which underlines the age profile of the list – Hawthorn is the youngest and least experienced side in the AFL – but far from the only parent in the football department.

"I'm sure there will be some other dads soon," he said. "It’s been good talking to the older boys like the coaches; they all have babies."

Life has changed for Brockman. He doesn’t have the free time he used to and has had to grow up over the course of a summer.

Brockman and Kickett have moved around the corner from the football club to ensure he is always close to home. Mitchell encourages him to walk home whenever he needs to.

Now that he is back in the senior side, Brockman is determined to stay there, determined to keep building a career that his little family can be proud of. He knows he has support in the right places, support he doesn't take for granted.