There was one reason promising Giant Jeremy Finlayson moved from Culcairn's Billabong High School to start year 11 at Patrician Brothers College in Sydney at the age of 16.

He wanted to play AFL football.

So he left his close family 500 kilometres behind, accepted the Giants' offer to join their Academy and was billeted to a host family.

The shy country kid who had played everything from lawn bowls to tennis to cricket to football in Culcairn in the NSW Riverina was suddenly at a school heaving with a student population bigger than his home town.

Every Wednesday afternoon after spending the morning in class he joined the Giants at training and on weekends he played for the Sydney Hills Eagles and the UWS Giants.

But not everything was rosy.

Little did the Giants know there was a break-up happening in the family Finlayson had been allocated to live with and the kid from the country was not sure what to do.

Jeremy Finlayson celebrates with Stephen Coniglio after a goal against Richmond. AAP

He decided to just shut up and battle on.

"It was actually probably the toughest time of my life," Finlayson said.

"I kept it to myself and stuck through it and looked at the bigger picture."

The bigger picture for Finlayson was to not show any signs he might give up on his AFL dream so it was only after some delving from academy coach Mark McVeigh that the youngster finally revealed what was happening around him.

The Giants moved quickly, with assistant coach and now welfare manager Brett Hand taking Finlayson into his family home and Patrician Brothers' Peter Ross making sure he became a trusting face around school for the youngster.

"I will thank 'Handy' for the rest of my life," Finlayson said.

The youngster's determination to achieve what he wanted and not let anyone down had overridden any potential misgivings, his experience a good lesson for everyone including Finlayson.

"I still wanted to play AFL so if I had moved back home then it might have slipped away. I kept to myself and didn't really tell anyone what was going on with the family," Finlayson said.

He soon enough became part of the Giants' extended family moving from Hand's place, living at times with assistant coach Nick Walsh, St Kilda's Jack Steele and Fremantle's Nathan Wilson as he developed his craft in the NEAFL all the while receiving great support from his parents, Gordon and Carol.

With off-field sorted out his football challenges loomed large as he attempted to adjust to the demands of an elite AFL player.

He injured a knee in his AFL debut in round 15, 2017, after two seasons in the NEAFL that included a premiership and then played the first nine games last season before the physical and mental demands took their toll.

Talented, he returned to play five more games at the end of last year but was on the trade table at season's end although he had signed a two-year contract extension mid-season.

"Although I was seeing other clubs, deep down I wanted to stay," Finlayson said.

His endurance remains a work in progress as does his capacity to manage the grind so he can perform at his best each week during winter.

Finlayson, for all his talent, remains a fair way from establishing himself as an AFL player with just 19 games under his belt but he can play the game.

And given what Finlayson has endured, Hand has nothing but admiration for his determination.

But he also knows two strong games - playing up forward after some honest conversations over the off-season with Cameron - don't make a career.

The foundation has been laid but nothing more.

Finlayson understands all that.

"When I found out the Giants were going to take me I knew it was going to be a long, long road. It just came down to everyone's support. The club has been huge, even with what happened last year at the end of the year," Finlayson said.

"It also helped massively with Mum and Dad behind me.

"I'm knuckling down at the moment and hoping I can pay that back somehow."