Every morning for two years, Hugo Hall-Kahan would climb into Josh Worrell’s little car for the daily drive to high school.

The pair grew up in Melbourne’s bayside suburbs and attended Haileybury College together, and despite Hall-Kahan’s morning moodiness, those car rides helped shape a lifelong bond.

“Woz had a small, little car that he could hardly fit in,” Hall-Kahan said.

“I wasn’t great in the mornings, so Woz used to give me a little shove to try and get me up and about.

“We’d mostly chat about footy, but also just general life stuff as well.”

Even after Worrell moved to Adelaide, after he was drafted to the Crows in 2019, the pair remained close mates, catching up whenever they could, chatting on the phone, and even training together during footy off-seasons.

Now, their friendship has come full circle, with Hall-Kahan being selected by the Crows at the AFL mid-season rookie draft earlier this week, and moving in with Worrell as he begins his career with the Crows.

“Woz and I spent a lot of time together growing up, he took me to school for a couple of years there, and I’ve been lucky enough to keep in contact with him over the years,” Hall-Kahan told AFC Media.

“He’s just such a great mate and I just can’t really believe that we’re at the same AFL Club now, it’s amazing.

“Over the years, we’ve done a lot of training sessions together, through the off-season and pre-season, and whenever he was back in Melbourne, we’d always catch up, so we’ve been able to keep that connection really strong.

“There’s been a lot of back-and-forth chatter between us over the past few weeks, but you never really know whether it’s going to happen, but it’s so great that it has.”

And it’s no surprise that Worrell was tracking updates during the mid-season draft while travelling back to SA following a short break in Melbourne, with the hope his good mate’s dream would come true.

“I think he was still on the plane, actually coming back from his four-day break, so he said he was refreshing the page the whole time,” Hall-Kahan said.

“As soon as he got off the plane, he called me straight away, and it was just like so much joy, it was incredible.

“And now he's taken me into his house, so I’m now living with him, it's been amazing.”

Hall-Kahan’s selection at the mid-season rookie draft came after he spent the first half of this year turning heads for Williamstown in the VFL.

It’s not the first time the 22-year-old has found himself on an AFL list, however, after being selected by Sydney at the 2022 mid-season rookie draft.

After spending 18 months on the Swans’ list, Hall-Khan returned to the VFL and had been honing his craft with Williamstown since 2025.

But it was a positional switch from the forward line to defence, and some ‘maturing’, according to Hall-Khan, that helped with his return to an AFL list. 

“I was predominantly a half-forward, then spent a bit of time in the midfield last year at Williamstown, but was fortunate enough to speak with my coach this past off-season to see what was the best fit, and he thought it would be half-back,” Hall-Kahan said.

“I've just absolutely loved it, looking at the game from that direction, I think that's just helped me a lot, and just maturing as well, just as a human, as a person outside of football, I think that has been a massive part of me getting here.

“I definitely had a lot of belief in my ability, I just knew there were certain things around just my mind and my habits, and everything around football and away from footy as well to get right.

“I have put on a lot of size since Sydney, and just kept working at it each year, there's obviously so many improvements still to come, but I always had confidence in my ability.

“It means everything to get another crack at it, I definitely don't want to let this one slip, but it feels different this time.”

After being selected on Tuesday night, Hall-Kahan wasted no time in making his way to Adelaide and trained with the Crows on Thursday.

He said he was looking forward to learning the ropes and adding a different skill set to the Crows’ backline.

“It was a big session, but I loved it, I loved every bit of it,” Hall-Kahan said.

“I want to take the game forward, run with the ball, provide options, use my skills, and just keep taking the game on, those will be the main things, and hopefully things flow on from there.”