It wasn’t. The reality dawned quickly. Thomas and Keeffe immediately made full admissions and threw themselves on the mercy of a court that was bound by inflexible rules that require athletes to be responsible for whatever goes in their body. “Relative to the consequence it was something that initially felt so insignificant but then had such a big impact,” Thomas said. “Once you are in that situation you want to find a way to cope and the biggest thing was being able to go back to Brisbane because there is not a lot of football back there. My friends are not super into football so I was able to get away from it.” “Footy is an awesome job but when things go wrong they go wrong publicly and I made the mistake I had to accept it.”

Thomas in some ways has endured both sides of a fence. He has had a chance to live like a normal 23-year-old – go to uni, backpack in Europe in the northern summer, drive an Uber – that regular non-AFL players get to live. But now he has had a chance to come back again and live the life many non-AFL players would love to live – the life of the AFL player. Loading “When everything happened I initially didn’t think I would be coming back and then when it looked like Collingwood were going to stick by me and Keeffey I was super grateful for it and always had the thought if I get back I will just give it everything I can and that is what I have been doing,” he said. “I don’t really have the fear of being in the real world now I guess because I have been out for two years and experienced it but I do appreciate playing footy (more).” Last year back n footy was hard. Having trained with just Keeffe and a trainer Cody Fullerton he returned fit but out of football touch.

“There was a lot of trepidation this time last year around how we would go but this year now is completely normal,” he said. “It just felt like you were trying to make up ground and it is not fitness it is the small things, your touch and running patterns and feeling a bit lost out on the ground. It all comes back eventually but when you are at the highest level there is not much room for error.” The language and terminology of football also changes as much as the game plan so he took time to re-learn the Collingwood lingua franca. “I was hell bent on playing one game last year to close the door on it all. I didn’t feel like just getting back on the list was enough I felt like when I got banned I was in the senior team then I had to have two years out so the senior team as where I had to get back to. “The first few VFL games last year I was very average, I had a lot of doubts, I was not sure I would get back to where I was. You do think has it gone past me? Two years out?

“So to get there and stay in the team was super rewarding. Eddie and Bucks were fantastic in backing us. I felt like I closed the door and was able to move on from it.” This year the plan is to be back there in the best 22 again from the start of the year but most likely playing more of his time half-forward than midfield. Thomas is not big and the every club’s midfield seems only to be getting bigger. It was perhaps fortunate timing for Thomas to have Richmond win a flag with a fleet of small high energy tackling forwards. The biggest change for him this year will be more profound than anything last year. For the first time Keeffe will not be with him. He was traded to GWS at the end of last year. Keeffe has yet to play a senior AFL game since his return from the suspension but that will change at GWS where he will play as a key backman. “It is weird not having Keeffey around. I am at the point now where there are not too many guys at the club around my age. I have managed to somehow outlast them all, which you wouldn’t have thought.” He pauses and smiles. “I wouldn’t recommend it, but I am here.”