Less than a week ago, mid-season draftee Ned Long headed out to Windy Hill to take on Essendon for his seventh VFL game this year.

Having suffered a calf injury right on the eve of the draft in May, Long hadn’t played since being elevated from the VFL list to the senior list and could’ve been forgiven for easing his way into the contest.

But after kicking two brilliant goals and jumping straight back into a team where he’s averaging 22 disposals and nine tackles, the midfielder has earned another shot at the Bombers – but this time on the biggest stage of all.

When close to 90,000 people arrive at the MCG for what will be Long’s Club debut and sixth game at AFL level on Friday night, a culmination of hard work over the past nine months will come to a head.

“I guess it’s just a lot of emotions really - that's sort of the obvious answer - there's too many emotions and it just hasn't sunk in,” Long said in the wake of hearing about his debut.

“To go into it a bit deeper, it just feels pretty cool sitting back for a second and thinking about how the last six to 12 months have gone.

“There’s been a fair few ups and downs, but to get to this moment, I am proud of myself, which I find a weird thing to say. I am super happy.”

Those ups and downs the 21-year-old alludes to are a rollercoaster of circumstances over the past year.

Spending his first two years in the AFL system at Hawthorn after being picked up in the 2021 rookie draft, the big-bodied mid starred for Box Hill and showed promising signs in his handful of senior games.

But he was unfortunate to be delisted at the end of 2023, leaving him with a choice about what to do to progress his footballing career.

That choice was to join the Pies’ VFL program, and at times integrate within the AFL team’s training – fast-tracking his relationships at the Club and ultimately leading to Friday night’s moment.

And while there’s the high of finding out he’d be running out onto the MCG for just the third time in his career on the weekend, reflecting on his journey has offered nice perspective and contrast for Long as he looks back to where he was last year.

“I think I’m genuinely quite an optimistic person so even through some of those pretty bad times, I was still able to get pretty positive and I guess almost delusional in thinking that it would all work out,” Long said.

“It's all led to this from that moment, because it's a pretty hard thing to go through.

“That sort of thing is similar to this where you have that high and that buzz for days - when you find out you get delisted it's a few days.

 “The feelings between the two moments were two ends of the spectrum.

“It's actually pretty cool to have those two moments relatively close to each other for comparison.”

Things got tense for Long around the time of the mid-season draft this year, with that calf injury occurring only days before.

It meant that despite his blistering start to the 2024 VFL season, Long didn’t know exactly where things sat.

“It was probably some of the more stressful days that I've been through,” he said.

“You hear different things about how likely it is to happen and then during the midst of finding out that it is somewhat likely, or at a least a possibility, I then became injured."

“So that was a real high to a low moment and then to still get picked by Collingwood after that it was a crazy couple of days.”

Long’s consistency in training and recovery throughout his injury lay-off has been a testament to the work ethic that earned his spot on the list in the first place.

Having been selected in the senior side at just the second opportunity he’s been available to be, the midfielders integration within the Club’s AFL program over the summer and ultimate selection in the mid-season draft has been highlighted as a key reason behind Long’s success at the Pies.

Indeed, he has earned State VFL selection, a list-upgrade, and AFL debut all within half a year at the Club.

And while that was the ideal scenario upon signing the dotted line to come to the AIA Vitality Centre, not even Long could have predicted it would happen so quickly.

“I didn’t know how likely it was to happen (being elevated to the senior list). I came in and there were discussions around ‘just work hard, train hard and see where it goes because there are opportunities’ and that's the way I took it,” he said.

“You do hope for best case scenario and you think about what that would look like, but for it to come to fruition as quickly as it has in terms of getting picked up and then coming back from injury, I don't think I could have quite scripted that.

“I was able to consistently build into it through training a couple times a week and getting to know the players, and the system and all that type of stuff.

“I'd say it's been a lot of learning and new experiences in the last six or seven months. But yeah, I feel ready for what’s ahead.”

And what’s immediately ahead of him is a blockbuster with the Pies’ traditional rivals – in a maiden evening fixture for Magpie number 1193.

“I didn't play a night game at the Hawks so that’s exciting,” he said.

“Obviously given it’s a Club debut, I naturally have a lot of energy, but just feeling the crowd and then the atmosphere I think, is something I'm looking forward to.

“Two really passionate supporter bases, night footy and a crowd of 90,000 - that’s what you dream about.”