Tom Green knows he had shown glimpses of brilliance, which is all well and good until you find yourself watching from the grandstand.
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Which is why he spent summer in Sydney making sure he never finds himself in that position again.
On Saturday he wakes up in Melbourne to prepare for an elimination final between the in-form GWS Giants and St Kilda at the MCG - the kind of stage he grew up hoping for.
Oh, and he is establishing himself as one of the premier midfielders in the AFL.
Green was selected in the extended 44-man All-Australian squad and is ranked first in the competition for disposals per game [32.1] and contested possessions per game [14.8].
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But in a warning shot to the Saints - and any other club the Giants might meet this year if they can keep their premiership dream alive - Green is "certainly not finished yet".
The 22-year-old Canberra product has outlined a desire to hit the scoreboard more consistently and test out his marking ability more often as he looks to add another string to the Giants' bow.
"It's certainly been the most consistent year of my career. Prior to this, I had shown glimpses of what I can do but I'd never been able to string it together at this high level for as long a period," Green said.
"I'm certainly glad I've been able to do that, but my game is certainly not complete. Only being 22, I feel like I've got plenty of room to improve.
"While it's been nice to do that and have the most consistent high-level year of my career so far, I'm certainly not finished yet. I'll be hoping to continue that form in the finals and in years going forward.
"[Being dropped last year] certainly motivated me to not experience that again and be more consistent. There were a lot of things that went not the way we would have liked them to last year, there was a lot of inconsistency around the club.
"It certainly gave me some motivation last summer to not experience that again, no doubt."
If the Giants are going to kick on and claim an unlikely maiden premiership, they're going to have to do it the hard way after finishing seventh on the ladder.
They head to the MCG - where they haven't won since 2021 - to face another Canberra product in Jack Steele and St Kilda. Win that, and you're boarding a flight to either Brisbane or Adelaide.
The Lions face Port Adelaide in the second qualifying final on Sunday. The winner heads straight to a preliminary final - just as Collingwood already have - with the loser left to scrap for their season.
My game is certainly not complete. Only being 22, I feel like I've got plenty of room to improve.
- Tom Green
Green knows the Giants face a momentous task if they are to make a deep finals run - which for some time looked virtually impossible before GWS claimed nine of their last 11 regular season games to book a place in September.
But the Giants are relishing the challenge as they head to the MCG as favourites against a club they haven't beaten since 2019.
"It is a little bit challenging but we tied an AFL/VFL record this year for winning in the most different venues. Hopefully we'll be able to add another one this weekend at the MCG," Green said.
"While it's lovely to play in Sydney in front of our faithful Giants fans, we've got no issue being on the road and playing in enemy territory.
"We've shown this year we've been able to do it and win consistently. We're certainly not worried about that. If anything, it's been a bit of a badge of honour for us. We'd like to continue to add scalps to it.
"We sort of assumed in the first part of the year it would take a little while to get a completely new game style down pat the way we wanted to. You've got all pre-season to do it, but executing under pressure in games is a different thing.
"We thought it might take a little while but an important win down in Geelong against good opposition, and a really convincing win against Fremantle, I think those two games probably gave us the faith that if we get this right, it's a really good game plan.
"When we get it right, we can beat anyone."
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