“I was a bit jumpy and jittery, but it’s sunk in now – I’m playing AFL footy,” Ash, 18, said.
Moving from the orchard where he grew up, Ash will call Western Sydney home after GWS plucked him like an apple from a tree, with a chance to make an immediate impact for an AFL grand finalist.
His dazzling, line-breaking runs off half-back meant his reputation soared through the season and the Giants were heavily linked with the Shepparton premiership player, with his selection continuing a straightforward start to the draft.
Oakleigh Chargers inside midfielders and best mates Matt Rowell and Noah Anderson went to the Gold Coast with picks one and two and Melbourne took East Fremantle ruck Luke Jackson at three, clearing the path for the Giants to address their desire for more defensive explosion.
Minutes after his AFL dream became truth, the reality of the situation was beginning to sink in for Ash.
“I was a bit jumpy at the start, but I’m all right now, and I can’t wait to get started,” he said.
“I haven’t really spoken to (the Giants), I’ve spoken to (GWS national recruiting manager) Adrian (Caruso) last Friday, but I haven’t spoken to them since. I didn’t know at all, I was very nervous, but I’m very happy to be going to the Giants.”
From orchardists’ offspring to oval-ball professional, and from Invergordon to the inner-city, the stone-fruit saviour's new life will take some adjustments, but he immediately showed he was ready to face the new challenges.
“I have thought about it – obviously there’s no AFL team around our area, so I was moving regardless,” Ash said.
“I’m over the moon that I’ve gone to Sydney, if I had to go anywhere it would have been Sydney, hour-and-a-half drive to Albury airport and an hour flight. It’s pretty much ideal.”
In the Goulburn Valley at least, Ash might never shake his ‘'son-of-a-gun” tag being GVL hall of famer Stephen Ash's boy, but the new Giant acknowledged it was up to him to continue forging his own reputation.
“There’ll be a fair bit of emotion (when I see him), there’ll be some from him as well as me,” he said.
“He’s been a massive influence on my footy, the biggest one to date, but that’s about to change. I’m very thankful for what he’s done for me, but I’ll have to move his influence aside a bit and take advice from other people a bit more now.
“I’m just thankful to everyone that’s helped me along the way, I wouldn’t be here without the support of my family.”
With his junior career finally wrapped up, Ash paid tribute to the clubs that had shaped him - he spent his younger years at Katandra before shifting to Shepparton, where 10 senior games through limited availability with Murray Bushrangers duty netted him a role in the Bears’ miracle premiership last year.
“Obviously Katandra is where I started my footy; I’ll never forget the first game of footy I played, it was pissing down rain, fog and everything,” he said.
“I’ll never forget the time I spent at both clubs, in the later years as my development has gone on Shepp has probably become my home club – Dad’s played there and I was kicking around there when I was young.
“I’ve spent a fair bit of time there and it’s probably my home club, I can’t fault what both have done for me over the last 10 years.”
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