WHEN Richmond selected Brett O'Hanlon in the pre-season draft on Tuesday we doubt his efforts against former Collingwood players Anthony Rocca and Jason Cloke were taken into account.

O'Hanlon had lined up on the duo in November 2004 in a Bega Cup scratch match between St Louis primary school and the Magpies at Glen Street Reserve, Aspendale.

"They were knocking me around," said O'Hanlon, recalling the good spirit of the exchange between youngster and AFL stars.

After all, the Tigers know the kid with the booming left foot and the steady hands can play. He kicked eight goals on his senior football debut as a 16-year-old with Edithvale-Aspendale against traditional rivals Chelsea, a footballing bout that is known in those bayside parts as being as tough and as tight as the game can get.

"I didn't know what to expect," said O'Hanlon.

Nor, we're sure, did Collingwood know what to expect when its president Eddie McGuire and a full contingent of stars took the bus to Aspendale that crazy afternoon to take on St Louis, winners of that year's Victorian Primary Schools championship, in a fun-filled game.

The quality in the team that won the right to play the Pies after beating Benalla by eight goals was not required to make McGuire's inspired idea work. But it was there anyway.
 
Alongside the awestruck 11-year-old O'Hanlon that day were two handy talents just starting to show their wares, GWS Giants prospect Dylan Shiel and Hawthorn's Jordan Kelly (No.38 pick in this year's AFL National Draft).
 
"That was pretty awesome," said Shiel, as he recalled Scott Burns playing on him that day. "When you're only 12 years old, to play against the stars of the AFL that you always look up to, that was excellent."
 
The scoreline was 19 points each as the crowd built into the thousands when word spread around that the Collingwood's senior team had turned up. One parent remembered the afternoon being "as good an exhibition of good will" as he'd ever seen from an AFL club.
 
Those good memories are part of a 'what are the odds?' story that O'Hanlon's admission on to Richmond's list on Tuesday created. Three players born in the same year, attending the same Catholic Primary School, joining senior AFL lists at the same time, hoping to make the grade in 2012 and beyond.  
 
Shiel, Kelly and O'Hanlon were born within four months of each other in 1993. Shiel began in prep at St Louis, Aspendale one year before the other two but the trio would spend lunchtimes along with their other mates kicking the footy around its grounds. "The boys were all good mates. We never had any issues with them at all," said the school's physical education teacher John Mitchell. With a big chuckle he then said, "what a nursery we have here at St Louis."
 
Mitchell says it is amazing for him to look back and remember those three in the same team against the Magpies. But he credits the players' development with the influence of their local club.
 
That local club was Edithvale-Aspendale, junior home to former stars such as brothers, Gerard and Greg Healy, and Stan Alves. The trio began playing at Regent's Park in the under-nines together and went through every grade as a group winning every premiership on offer.
 
"All three of us were in different parts of the ground. Jordan in the backline, Dylan in the middle and me up forward," recalls O'Hanlon. Kelly, however, recalls being centre half-forward for the early part of his junior career before heading into defence. Needless to say with Shiel - who was captain each season - in the middle, they were hard to beat.
 
The environment in which they learned how to win was fun but smart. Ted Turner, a graceful local player in his day, coached them in the early days before acting as a runner and manager and whatever else was required said they were all great kids. "They were so coachable and would listen."
 
All their dads were involved as coaches at one time or another with Greg Kelly and Tony Shiel taking on the duties at various stages while O'Hanlon's stepfather, Brett Wright - a gun footballer for Edithvale-Aspendale in the '80s - was the assistant.
 
"It was a great time. Everyone enjoyed it," said Kelly.
 
They were also spending summers playing cricket together for Aspendale, a classic Aussie sporting childhood in the suburbs.
 
Sport was fun. Basketball and athletics part of their routine too.
 
Kelly's grandfather Kevin would take a group of the players - not just the guns - to Mentone athletics track to teach them about running. Shiel has great memories of doing 200s with his mates from the age of about 12 but for the grandson Kelly, the training had a purpose. He had turned to Kevin after losing a 100-metre sprint in grade 6. "I've always been a competitive kid so I wanted to get better [at running] going into St Bede's," said Kelly.
 
The three attended St Bede's, a catholic secondary school in Mentone, until Shiel took a scholarship at Caulfield Grammar. Kelly then had the same opportunity and took it too. Both were in the system of elite development playing for the Dandenong Stingrays (Shiel played one game of senior football for Edithvale-Aspendale) and development squads and progressing.
 
O'Hanlon remained at St Bede's, playing school football and for Edithvale-Aspendale under-18s as a 16-year-old, where he won the best and fairest. He then played senior football up forward all season in 2010, kicking more than 50 goals in a competition that also included one of his new Tiger coaches, Brendon Lade (having a hit and giggle with Karingal). He played for the Dandenong Stingrays in 2011.
 
The Mornington Peninsula League was a tough environment for a skinny kid with talent but he had wise heads around him. O'Hanlon said Wright always emphasised one thing when it came to football: "Never give up."
 
That handy motto became useful as draft time came and went in November, almost seven years to the day after the buzz game against Collingwood, without his name being called. His mates were on a list and he had to bide his time. On Tuesday, all that changed when Richmond read his name out. The three had reached stage one in their pursuit of a dream.
 
"I was just hoping we'd all get an opportunity at some stage," said Kelly. "Luckily we have and we've ended up at different places, which is probably a good thing. Now we've got the opportunity to work hard and see how far we can actually get."
 
O'Hanlon was on his way to training at Richmond, Shiel to a sponsorship announcement and Kelly preparing to receive his number at the Hawthorn AGM. Three players with similar starts were embarking of different AFL journeys apart but linked.
 
"I can't believe that it has happened. Us three, from the same team, all picked up," said Shiel.