Sam Fisher has been doing his best to contain his nerves ahead of Friday night's AFL draft.
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The Marist College and Ainslie product will forgo the glitzy function in Sydney — he'll be sitting at home in his lounge room with his family and grandparents.
As a member of the GWS Giants academy, Fisher was one of nine players nominated by that club, meaning they have the option to match any club who select him Friday night.
But this ability to match bids through the points associated with later picks makes it tricky to predict which picks the Giants will have throughout the night.
For Fisher, this uncertainty has only heightened his nerves and the unpredictability of what may unfold in the defining moment of his football career.
"There's a lot of unknowns with the draft. There's no certainty until your name's called out, so I'm 100 per cent very nervous," Fisher said.
"It's been a long time coming and now the day is tomorrow."
To take his mind off the looming day he has thrown his energy into pre-season training with the Canberra Demons and relied on his family to talk about anything but football.
Fisher was described by the Giants as an elite endurance athlete able to kick with both feet.
This dual-sided ability allows the small forward to be agile in avoiding contact at stoppages and accurately hit targets by foot.
He also collects plenty of possessions, averaging 25 disposals across the three games at the division two national carnival earlier this year.
Fisher will be well prepared for mature football having played with the Demons in the NEAFL and also the Giants, including their NEAFL grand final win over the Sydney Swans.
His family are originally from Geelong and are mad Cats fans, and although it would be a dream come true to pull on the blue and white hooped jumper he said he already felt connected with the Giants.
"Obviously there's a lot of talented players from the academy and the Giants are likely to pick up the likes of [Harry] Perryman and [Will] Setterfield early," Fisher said.
"It depends on how early they go, there are a lot of factors that influence the draft and who goes where."
If a nominated academy player is overlooked in the draft, then the nominating club has the option to select them as a category B rookie.
"I'm not exactly sure but hopefully that would be the case, it would be pretty amazing to go there [Giants] considering all the work they've put in to me," Fisher said.
