Rhyan Mansell is quickly becoming a household Richmond name.

However, many wouldn't know exactly the adversities he has faced and why he believes it's made him a more well-rounded contributor both on and off the field.

Mansell's AFL dreams started a few suburbs over from Punt Road, when the North Launceston local was taken in at North Melbourne.

The then 16-year-old was part of the Kangaroos inaugural Next Generation Academy, with high hopes of being drafted and making the move to the mainland, away from his football and family in Tasmania.

"They invested into me. I went over and trained with North Melbourne once or twice in every pre-season for two weeks or so, got to stay with a player, got to actually be an AFL player without being an AFL player. I gained so much experience from that," Mansell said on the latest episode of Konversations with Konrad.

"I could have gone there as a category B rookie, but ultimately they decided to pass that up, which I'm happy with now, as I ended up at Richmond."

After North passed on Mansell as a rookie, he figured his chances would continue to roll on, as he honed in on his football at North Launceston, a place he and his family have made their own.

Collecting senior premierships as a a teenager in 2017, 2018 and 2019 surely would have been enough to get Mansell back into the AFL Draft conversation, he thought.

But his time at the top was still a while away, much to his dismay, as he wasn't selected in the 2018 and 2019 drafts.

"It was probably the first time I hadn't made it. I'd made all the state teams. It was the first experience not getting what I wanted. It did crush me for a few days. But I got over it pretty quickly and was hungry to prove the people right in my corner," Mansell said.

A year later, a brave move to South Australia to play for Woodville West-Torrens, led to another premiership. It left Mansell with four flags in as many years, but more importantly, the life experience and humility he lacked as a teenager.

"Looking back on it now, I'm grateful I missed a couple of drafts. It humbled me," he said.

"I went to Adelaide and had to work a 9-to-5 and play SANFL footy. I don't take being an AFL player now for granted, which I may have if I was picked up straight as an 18-year-old."

But even his premiership stint at Woodville West-Torrens didn't lead to 2020 National Draft interest. Another setback, but not one that would end his potential AFL career just yet.

Enter Richmond. In January of 2021, Mansell was invited to train at Punt Road.

This time, he took a different and less cautious approach.

"Missing out on three drafts, I was in the mindset that I was happy to go back to Adelaide and play in the SANFL," Mansell said.

"I was just giving everything. I was nervous, but I wasn't anxious to make mistakes. I was going to give it my all, because I wasn't going to look back on it and be like, 'I wish I had done this different, had a bit of a crack there'.

"I put myself out there to make mistakes to learn from. I looked up to Jayden Short and Liam Baker as halfbacks, before I even talked to Richmond. To learn off them was invaluable.

"Day one was the 3km time trial. I had never met anyone at the footy club, rocked up to that and ran a pretty average time. I thought my time might be over before it even began."

It wasn't.

A month later, Mansell was signed as a supplemental selection.

"I'm just forever grateful that Richmond gave me a chance," he said.

And the defender turned forward didn't have to wait long for a debut, being called up to the seniors in Round 4 of the 2021 season, facing off against Port Adelaide, in the state he'd just spent the last year.

"Dimma (Damien Hardwick) dragged me into his office on the day off, before team selection and said, 'your GPS numbers aren't good enough. We would have loved to have played you this week'," Mansell said.

"I slept on that and went back to the Club for main training the next day and as like, 'I'm just going to sprint around everywhere'."

It earned him the call up that week and since then, he's gone on to play 60 games and kick 37 goals.

And behind all the trials and tribulations, Mansell thanks dad Brett for the unwavering support.

"Dad was a massive driver for me. I wanted to live out my dream and he saw the potential in me," Mansell said.

"I've used that to motivate me to get me to where I am today."

Join Konrad Marshall every second Wednesday for Konversations with Konrad. Richmond President John O'Rourke is the next special guest.