YOU'VE read this story before. A guy with the surname Ryan makes the leap from Maribyrnong Park in the Essendon District Football League to the VFL in his 20s. Months later he is drafted. History repeated itself last night. Just a different Ryan. 

Seven years after Fremantle plucked a 20-year-old Luke Ryan from Coburg with pick No.66 in the 2016 AFL Draft, Hawthorn used picked No.12 in Wednesday night's Mid-Season Rookie Draft to select 25-year-old Brandon Ryan from the Northern Bullants. 

Suddenly, the cousins are both in the AFL, having travelled similar paths from obscurity to the top. 

The Barwon Heads product has gone from local footy to the AFL in just over six months, following a stunning start to the VFL season where his stocks soar by the week to keep recruiters picking up the phone to his manager, Tim Hazell from Vivid Sports, inquiring where this 200cm spearhead had come from?

Ryan kicked three goals against Richmond's reserves in his VFL debut at Punt Road in March. He kicked five goals across the following fortnight against Essendon and Port Melbourne, before he booted five goals from 17 touches and 10 marks against Sydney to fuel the hype. 

Of the 13 players selected in the 2023 Mid-Season Rookie Draft, not many came from further back at the start of the season than Ryan. 

That is why pandemonium enveloped Preston City Oval on Wednesday night. The Northern Bullants were in the middle of a full ground drill when the trainers were huddled around an iPhone on the boundary. When players and volunteers started sprinting towards him, Ryan knew what had happened. 

By the time he hopped in his car after training, there was only one person Ryan could call that knew how he was feeling, only one person who knew what to do next. 

"Luke has been a massive influence on me. How he went about it is quite similar to me. He went back to local footy after not being drafted out of TAC Cup and wanted to just enjoy his footy. That spring boarded into a VFL pre-season and has led to much more," Ryan told AFL.com.au after joining Hawthorn. 

"He was the first person I tried to get back to. I was overwhelmed by the messages and calls tonight and he is the only person I know who has been through this before. I thought I'd call him and find out who I call next and what I do next."

Footy is full of sliding doors moments. If Adam Kingsley doesn't become coach of Greater Western Sydney, Ben Hart doesn't leave the Northern Bullants to join the Giants. If Brodie Holland doesn't fill that spot at the standalone VFL club, Ryan is still playing at Maribyrnong Park instead of heading to Waverley Park on Thursday. 

The Bellarine Peninsula product didn't play for the Geelong Falcons as a teenager. By his own admission, he was a fair way off it. It was only after a decent season with the Geelong West Giants that he thought he could play at a higher level. 

Ryan spent two years on North Melbourne's VFL list in 2018 and 2019 but didn't play a VFL game due to injury, before the coronavirus pandemic wiped out most of the next two years. When Holland got the job and started recruiting players, it was now or never for Ryan.  

"Brodie coached Maribyrnong Park before I got there; he coached my cousin Luke, and he still has connections at the club. That's how he knew me from seeing me at Maribyrnong Park. He gave me a call and said there is going to be plenty of opportunities being a standalone club. Come and have a crack," he explained. 

"It was in the back of my mind that I wanted to have another go at VFL level considering I spent a couple of years on lists without getting much of a run with injuries and what not. It was a no-brainer for me. I thought I'd take the opportunity while it was there and just have one full, really good crack at it."

Ryan didn't dare to dream of emulating his cousin over summer. It didn't feel like a possibility in March. But by the end of April, more than a handful of clubs were doing their due diligence. In May, he sat down with Hawthorn list manager Mark McKenzie but didn't get much of an indication if they were going to pick him. 

When he trawled through the messages and voicemails that had descended on his phone last night, hearing the voice of Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell welcoming him to the club and asking him to call him back was a quick reminder of just how far he has come.

"When I got here, I hadn't even played VFL yet, so I was purely focused on just playing a game of VFL, get to that game and go from there. It spring boarded from there each week. The first game I was competitive enough and then played better and better and realised I was going OK here, but didn't think the hype would get that big so quickly. I only played seven games of VFL in the end," he said.

"The whole timing of coming here with my body and motivation to put my head down; everything just fell into place perfectly. COVID wiped out a year or two and then last year felt really good playing local. I thought if I was going to have a crack, it would be now or never. I think that was the big reason. The opportunity and the motivation to have a full go at it. Can't believe how it has worked out to be honest."

Another Ryan is now in the AFL. He has a similar story, but is different. When you consider Luke has won a Doig Medal and earned an All-Australian blazer, you never know what is possible for Brandon.