Greenwood spent several years at the AIS in Canberra as he plotted his path towards a professional basketball career, a path he turned his back on when he decided to pursue his dream of playing in the AFL.

Now the 26-year-old is back in the capital to represent a city that lives and breathes football when the Adelaide Crows face the Greater Western Sydney Giants at Manuka Oval on Saturday.

He has had this date circled since the fixture came out. After all, Greenwood says "I had some of the best years of my life in Canberra".

His old man and cousins are coming to watch, and he is bringing his partner Kirsten to check out what was "a huge part" of his life.

It's also a chance for Greenwood to soak up just how far he has come in the past three years. He had plenty of doubts - basketball was what he knew best, and he "wasn't making too many strides" during his first year in the SANFL.

But now he is an AFL regular and while his high-profile teammates get the plaudits, Greenwood is playing some fine football along the way.

"To throw the AIS away, throw college basketball away, and throw everything I had done away for another sport was pretty daunting. There was absolutely no guarantees," Greenwood said.

"In basketball I was going to have hopefully a 10-year plus career, I’d been able to build that over a number of years. I was throwing it away for a two-year deal - maybe - if football worked out.

"It wasn’t an easy decision but thankfully it’s paying off at the moment now. It was almost a fairytale last year if we would have got over in the last day in September.

"It would have been a fairytale but that obviously wasn’t to be, but just to be playing AFL footy, I’m up to 30-odd games now and it’s 30 more than I thought I was ever going to play.

"Even in my first year in the SANFL I wasn’t making too many strides, that was the only time I thought maybe I haven't made the right decision here but fortunately enough things fell into place.

"Things started to click and now I love playing footy, love being in Adelaide, and being in Australia playing the biggest sport here, playing at the MCG, Adelaide Oval, Friday night games, it’s pretty surreal."

Greenwood spent countless hours on the AIS basketball courts before moving to the United States for college and then earning a deal with the Perth Wildcats in the NBL.

That's why he was disappointed to hear the AIS is not what it once was, with the institute breaking away from its initial purpose to reinvent itself and become a world leader in sports science.

"I read an article the other day just saying it’s not the same anymore, which is sad to see because when I was coming through that was what every young Australian athlete wanted to do, go to the AIS," Greenwood said.

"A lot has changed since I’ve been there so I’m keen to have a look around. I’m sure there will be people that I know that have been there since day one. I’m keen as.

"I love Canberra and I had some of the best years of my life in Canberra. I’m pumped to get back there and to be able to play footy there, I’m really excited and hopefully we can get the result we’re after."

AFL ROUND 21

Saturday: GWS Giants v Adelaide Crows at Manuka Oval, 7.25pm. Tickets available from Ticketek.

Giants squad:

FB: 19. N Haynes, 1. P. Davis, 40. A. Kennedy
HB: 50. S Reid, 20. A Tomlinson, 21. M Buntine
C: 6. L Whitfield, 8. C Ward, 22. J Kelly
HF: 14. T Taranto, 27. H Himmelberg, 2. J Hopper
FF: 17. Z Langdon, 18. J Cameron, 10. A Bonar
RR: 37. R Lobb, 3. S Coniglio, 5. D Shiel
Int: 23. H Shaw, 16. B Daniels, 24. M De Boer, 32. R Griffen
Emer: 25. L Keeffe, 31. J Finlayson, 38. D Lloyd, 43. D Buckley

Crows squad:

FB: 42. A Keath, 25. K Cheney, 16. L Brown
HB: 33. B Smith, 39. T Doedee, 29. R Laird
C: 21. R Atkins, 5. M Crouch, 30. W Milera
HF: 7. J Gallucci, 13. T Walker, 27. T Lynch
FF: 44. L Murphy, 4. J Jenkins, 18. E Betts
RR: 24. S Jacobs, 9. R Sloane, 6. B Gibbs
Int: 1. H Greenwood, 14. D Mackay, 26. R Douglas, 28. C Ellis-Yolmen
Emer: 8. J Kelly, 31. P Wilson, 37. P Hunter, 41. M McGovern