On Jackson Merrett's draft night, two years ago, he was tense. He had spent the day at home in Cobden, in country Victoria, playing golf with some friends, before killing a few hours "pottering around".

Before some family friends dropped by, inside there was only Jackson's mum Cathy, dad Greg and younger brother Zach, then 16, all of them guessing where his football might take him. Greg had picked Zach up from school at Melbourne Grammar, where he was on a cricket scholarship. 

Zach walked in the front door and wished his sibling good luck – "I didn't get many words out of him," he said – before going for a jog to his nearby grandparents' place for some fresh air. By the time he returned, the draft was about to start. 

The first 20 picks flew by. The 11 after that went just as quickly, and when Essendon read Jackson's name at pick 31 they didn't take much notice of what happened next. 

"He was pretty uptight and was zoned into the TV," Zach said. "I was pretty relaxed, I don't know why, but I was chilling out. Everybody turned up pretty quickly after it happened. I think the local reporter was outside the house waiting for his name to be called."

Just over a week from this year's NAB AFL Draft, Zach is on the verge of having his own draft story to tell, his own moment when footy hopes become reality. A crafty half-forward and midfielder, Merrett had a strong season with the Sandringham Dragons, Vic Country and his school team, and is a likely top-30 draftee. "He's definitely come a long way this year," Jackson said. 

Zach always grew up wanting to do the same things Jackson did. In the backyard they were usually teammates instead of opponents, setting up their own goal posts against the fence in the backyard. 

Occasionally there were grudge matches, even a brawl three years ago on Melbourne Cup day when some indoor kick-to-kick got fiery, but they worked best in tandem. 

Jackson was "good at everything he tried, pretty much" according to Zach, including running, cricket and football. Zach was keen as a younger brother, throwing himself into all that and more. 

"It was good for me to have him, because I didn't want to lose to him at anything," Zach said. "It helped me become competitive, I think."

Jackson also gave Zach someone to follow. One night at junior level Zach watched his brother kick five goals from centre half-forward against South Warrnambool, which was the top team. Greg umpired the game and gave his son only two votes, which cost him the runner-up spot in the league best and fairest. "He was best-on by a mile," Zach said. 

Jackson made his senior Cobden debut when he was 16, and then went away to play for the Geelong Falcons at TAC Cup level. Zach wanted to make his Cobden debut at the same age as his brother, if not a little bit earlier.

He got there at 16, too, and Jackson went back to Cobden from Melbourne to watch his second game. Usually, one of the boys' granddad's took their statistics from the sidelines, jotting down every disposal and then sending them a message after the game.

"He was always pretty generous no matter how many kicks we got," Jackson says. "For this game, I did Zach's stats and I think he had 43 touches and a couple of goals.

"He was always a better kick than I ever was." 

A better cricketer, too. Zach made the Victorian under-13 and under-15 state cricket teams, and at home worn-in bats are scattered everywhere. 

This year was his first proper football season, having had most of his pre-seasons cut short by cricket commitments. From focusing on footy this year, he already feels fitter and like he has a lot more development to come.

As the pair have got older, their relationship has changed. Jackson, who made his debut in 2012 and played 13 games in his second season this year, has become Zach's sounding board. 

Earlier this year, as Zach started to play with the Sandringham Dragons (he plays there instead of Geelong because he boards at Melbourne Grammar), he would hit Jackson with question after question. Jackson had some advice: relax a bit. 

"He generally overthinks and over-analyses a lot of things," Jackson says. "He puts quite a lot of expectations on himself about what he needs to achieve. It was his first year at TAC Cup level, and he made the most of it. I think he put a little bit too much expectation on himself and was always asking what to do here or what to do there, which is good. But he was obviously doing the right things anyway so he just needed to try be happy with how he was going." 

In between his own impressive games for Essendon, zipping across half-forward and the wing and making things happen, Jackson went to a number of his brother's games through the year.

At the start he was "just playing in the forward line, running around there like a headless chook", Jackson says, "but as the year went on you could see he knew where to run, and used his voice a lot more. He was probably a lot more comfortable around the group, demanded the football, and he was consuming a lot of it and using it quite well".

Zach, too, enjoyed seeing his brother's success and improvement on the bigger stage, still finding it strange that his brother is an AFL player, like the ones who used to be on the footy cards he collected.  

"When you go as a kid to AFL games you see AFL players and they didn't seem human, they were something different. So to go and have someone so close to you playing, it's really exciting. I sort of just watch him play; I don’t really watch the game. It's exciting, especially when he gets a touch or you hear the abuse from his supporters or hear them saying 'Well done', especially little kids who admire him as well," Zach said. 

"Anzac Day was the best memory. He was free and got the ball on the wing and I started cheering but looked away, and I turned back and he had bounced it but didn't hold the ball, and all of a sudden he was tackling Dane Swan. But when he kicked those two goals, and I saw all the people in the stands jumping up and down, it was pretty good." 

Jackson is hoping for more games and more involvement next season for the Bombers, after being happy with his 2013 campaign. He's a little stronger, a little more ready for a full year of senior contests, a lot more confident he belongs at the level. 

"Leading into the year I didn't have too many expectations … I was quite pleased with how it went," he said. 

Being Jackson's younger brother, and hopefully joining him as an AFL player, doesn't cause Zach any worries. 

Occasionally through this year he got a comment about Jackson from the crowd at school games. Against rivals Scotch College, in the win that virtually sealed Melbourne's premiership, a confused crowd member even yelled out "Stop living in your cousin's shadow". "That was funny," Zach said.

The thought has crossed both of their minds about the prospect of Zach joining Essendon, and Jackson spoke to list manager Adrian Dodoro and recruiter Merv Keane every day last week about the chances of them choosing his younger brother at pick 26. 

"They said 'Oh, could be a chance, you never know, we'll see what happens'," Jackson said. 

"You think about it, but you don't really think it's realistic given there's 18 clubs and if he's lucky enough to get drafted to then fall into that one club, it'd be pretty lucky.

"It'd be unreal - we've only ever really played one game together and that was in the under-14s when Zach was eight, so to go to training each day, play games together each weekend, it'd be a pretty good feeling. 

"I had a chat to mum and dad the other day. It'd be lovely to see us play together I suppose, but in a way it'd be nice to see Zach go to another club so he doesn't have the brother thing and all that, so he can have his own start. They'd be stoked if he goes anywhere; they'd be happy no matter where that is."