Over the past two years, Tom Doedee watched enviously as other top 20 picks in his draft year made their AFL debut.

Top-five selections in the 2015 AFL National Draft, Jacob Weitering (Carlton), Callum Mills (Sydney Swans), Darcy Parish (Essendon) and Clayton Oliver (Melbourne) didn’t have to wait at all, selected to play in Round One of their debut seasons.

Adelaide’s first pick Wayne Milera Junior, who was called six names before Doedee at No.11, also played in the opening round of 2016 after an impressive summer.

One-by-one the 2015 draft class realised their AFL dreams. And when developing key forward Harry McKay pulled on the Blues jumper in Round 18 last year, Doedee was the only top 20 pick still waiting.

“It kept motivating me to keep getting better,” Doedee said, acutely aware of the statistic.

“I knew that my time would come.

“I was playing SANFL and doing the best I could there … and when my time came I knew I’d be able to step up and fill the role.”

It’s hardly fair to compare Doedee to some of those ready-made juniors.

When he was called by the Crows at No.17 – in what was considered a shock to some – the raw teenager had only been playing football competitively for a few, injury-interrupted years after making the switch from basketball.

Knee tendonitis ruined his first pre-season at Adelaide and it flared up again last summer, delaying his start to the year and allowing others to jump ahead of him in the selection queue.

Doedee recovered to play 15 SANFL games, finishing one vote behind retiring star Scott Thompson in the State League Club Champion count and ranking No.1 in the League for intercept possessions.

It was third-time lucky for the Geelong Falcons recruit the pre-season just gone.

The athletic backman managed to stay on the training track and for the first time in his young career felt ‘match-ready’ come Round One.

“It makes a huge difference,” Doedee said.

“A full pre-season obviously gives you a little more fitness, but you’re also in more drills and feel part of the team more.

“In rehab, you’re kind of doing your own thing and then go home and that’s pretty much it for the day.”

Doedee’s time finally came against Essendon in Round One last week.

Jake Lever’s departure opened up a spot in defence and Crows coach Don Pyke decided to give Doedee first crack.

The 21-year-old worked his way into the fast-paced game against the Bombers, and held his place in the team to play Richmond on Thursday night.

His first home AFL game resulted in his first win.

“It’s three years completely worth it,” he said after the game.

“I’ve probably been thinking about this since I got to the Club and it’s finally happened.

“It’s a dream come true and I’m super proud of the boys.

“We knew tonight we had to put our foot down. Richmond are a good team.

“We came out, avoided the distractions and played to our best.”

The attributes that once saw him described as the ‘best one-on-one defender’ in the TAC Cup were on display.

In the second quarter, Doedee contorted his body in the air to get a fist on a Reece Conca kick on the goal line.

Around the same time he gave away a free kick for front-on contact in a marking contest, but won over more Crows fans in doing so with his courage going back with the flight.

It’s this unconditional approach that has also seen the fierce competitor clean up opponents and also his share of unsuspecting teammates.

At 188cm, 88kg, the agile and high-leaping Doedee has the capacity to play on talls and smalls depending on the team’s needs.

“(My role) changes weekly because we’ve got the two talls down there in ‘Harto’ (Kyle Hartigan) and ‘Tals’ (Daniel Talia) who do a great job, and they try and take the big fellas,” he said.

“Last week, I played on (James) Stewart who’s about 200cm and then tonight I was on (Dan) Butler who is definitely shorter than that!

“I’ve got a bit of a mixed role, (to be) versatile and trying to contribute to the team where I can.”

As well as contributing defensively, Doedee provided much-need attack from the back half.

He finished with six marks, 11 intercept possessions and 25 disposals at a team-high 96 per cent efficiency.

It’s a remarkable improvement for a player whose kicking was considered a weakness three years ago.

“It’s been the biggest thing I’ve worked on. I knew when I got drafted that it (my kicking) was probably the only thing that was going to hold me back early,” he said.

“It definitely held me back in my first year and in my second year a little bit. This year, I just did my best to build trust in my kicking so that everyone knew, if I had the ball in my hands, they’d trust me to hit the target.

“A lot of hard work has gone into it … but there’s still a lot of work to go.”