Adelaide mid-season draftee Hugo Hall-Kahan says improving the mental side of his game has been the catalyst behind his rise to the AFL. 

The 22-year-old joined the Crows just 10 weeks ago, and has since played eight matches, averaging 19.4 disposals, 4.1 marks and 398.8 metres gained per game. 

Although the beginning of his AFL career has moved quickly, his journey to the highest level has been long, as he has dealt with injuries as a junior, being drafted and delisted by the Swans, and a number of positional changes. 

Speaking to the media on Tuesday, Hall-Kahan explained how his mental development had helped him achieve his AFL dream. 

“It definitely took a while, longer than probably most people (to get here),” Hall-Kahan said. 

“I didn't play a lot of football before getting to Sydney, I had a fair while out of the game through injury (as a junior) and then COVID. So I still think, even to this day, I'm still developing. I'm still learning. 

“The development side of it was probably more for me mentally than physically. I've obviously put on a bit of size since Sydney, but I think mentally was the main one. 

“Getting out of home, going to Sydney was a huge part of that. But then just getting over mistakes and being in the right headspace to attack each contest and each game.

“That was something that I worked on a lot and I'm pretty proud about.

In his first eight games, Hall-Kahan has impressed with his run and carry off half back and willingness to be brave with ball-in-hand. 

He said some advice from Senior Coach Matthew Nicks prior to his first match gave him the confidence to be bold on the field.

“Nicksy was great, he came to me straight away, pretty much, and said, ‘don't watch any vision, even opposition stuff, game plan, that'll all come,” Hall-Kahan said.

“He came to me straight away and said, ‘I put you in the team for a reason. It's just to play purely off instinct. So make it up, do what you do, and sort of go from there.’

Hearing those words from him, that gave me a real license to just go and do what I do, and there's still so much that I've got to go and there's a lot of growth in my game. 

But Nicksy's been great, and all the coaches as well, Homma (Jack Hombsch), the backline coaches. Everyone's been so good and given me the confidence to just play off instinct.”

Sunday’s clash against the Bombers was a memorable one for Hall-Kahan as he kicked his first goal in front of family and friends at Marvel Stadium. 

But it was a moment post-game that stood out most to the young defender, as he noticed a young fan had made a heartwarming sign for him. 

“I was going past, just acknowledging the fans that came out to Melbourne, and I saw the sign that said Hugo Hall-Kahan’s number one fan,” he said. 

“It's your first little interaction with your sort of ‘number one fan’, as they would call it, so to have that first interaction was really special.

“The mother actually reached out to me, and I was able to reach back out to her and just say thank you and say how thankful I am for the support, it was really nice.” 

Adelaide takes on Richmond at Adelaide Oval this Saturday night, with the match to begin at 7.05pm ACST. 

Get your tickets here.