When Dyson met Darcy: 2015 photo of future greatness

• Dyson Daniels once shared an AFL junior team photo with future Bulldogs star Sam Darcy
• Daniels’ AFL beginnings mirror those of Patty Mills, Josh Green, and Ben Simmons before NBA careers
• The 2015 School Sport Victoria team produced 11 future professionals across basketball and football

In a remarkable 2015 photo, a group of 12-year-olds donned the "Big V" for School Sport Victoria's under-12 AFL team at Geelong’s Simonds Stadium.

Among them were future Western Bulldogs forward Sam Darcy and NBA guard Dyson Daniels.

It was a squad chock full of talent that would produce 11 future professionals across two sporting codes - 10 AFL-listed players and one destined for the NBA's global stage.

Alongside Daniels and Darcy is Campbell Chesser (West Coast), Connor MacDonald (Hawthorn), Massimo D'Ambrosio (Hawthorn), Finn Callaghan (GWS), Josh Ward (Hawthorn), Blake Howes (Melbourne), Ben Hobbs (Essendon), Anthony Caminiti (St Kilda), and Dante Visentini (Port Adelaide).

It's an extraordinary roll call of talent from a single under-12 representative team.

For Darcy, the jumper represented a step in the family tradition of footballing greatness.

For Daniels, it served as a reminder of basketball's unusual but growing link to AFL, with several Australian NBA stars once running onto the oval before discovering their true calling to basketball.

When Two Worlds Briefly Intersected

The careers of Daniels and Darcy took very different paths, crossing continents and sporting codes, yet their connection remains. Daniels, a mad Richmond fan in the AFL, is still connected to the game through friends like Darcy from his sporting journey.

"We played under-12 SSV (School Sport Victoria) footy together," Daniels told Fox Footy earlier this year.

"So obviously Sam back there, known him for awhile, obviously come through the ranks, and look what he's doing now on the big stage. So it's good to see him killing it."

"I had a pretty good junior career," Daniels previously told AFL360.

"I didn't want to give footy up. I loved footy so much, I always say, if my basketball career doesn't work out, if I still have a little in me in the end I want to come back and play some footy. I was definitely a mobile big, I liked to play in the ruck or ruck rover. I could go forward and kick a couple of goals every now and then."

Parallel Dynasty Builders

Darcy's rise to the AFL highlights the power of sporting bloodlines. As the son of Western Bulldogs legend Luke Darcy and grandson of David Darcy, his journey to the Western Bulldogs seemed almost inevitable.

His younger brother Will is now making his way through the NAB League junior ranks, keeping the family legacy alive across generations of Australian Rules excellence.

Daniels' story unfolds differently but with the same dynastic ambitions. His father, Ricky, played college basketball in the United States for the NC State Wolfpack before relocating to Australia and playing for the Bendigo Braves in the SEABL.

While basketball eventually won out for Dyson, that influence now extends across the family.

His older brother Kai recently signed for the Richmond VFL team, while younger brother Dash has already broken into the professional ranks, debuting for Melbourne United in the NBL and making history as one of the youngest players ever to represent the Boomers

From Ricky to Dyson to Dash, the Daniels household is quickly establishing itself as a basketball dynasty in its own right.

AFL as a Springboard for NBA Stars

Daniels' story adds to a growing list of Australian NBA players who started out playing footy.

Patty Mills is well known for training at the AIS alongside Collingwood champion Scott Pendlebury, with both switching between basketball and AFL sessions until Mills dedicated himself to hoops. Josh Green, now with the Dallas Mavericks, spent his junior years in the GWS Giants academy before heading to the United States.

Even Ben Simmons played footy until he was 14 before breaking onto the scene at LSU.

Those early football days have led to a lifelong friendship with Melbourne Demons star Christian Petracca.

"He was a gun," Petracca told ESPN of Simmons’ football abilities in 2017.

"He was an absolute freak. He could jump. He could run. He could kick.

"He honestly would've been a top-five draft pick had he stuck with football."

The cross-code connection hasn’t gone unnoticed by Aussies at the top level.

"So many things on the court for me to translate," Boomers great Joe Ingles told ESPN.

"In AFL, you're not afraid of contact. You're going to drive into a crowd with your eyes up and your face up. You don't go up for a rebound against other people half-assed because in AFL, you'll get hurt."

AFL traits like spatial awareness, endurance and contested possessions have become increasingly valuable in the modern NBA, where pace, athleticism, and court vision are at a premium.

An Extraordinary Roll Call

That 2015 photo captured the moment where two sporting worlds intersected, before two young athletes embarked on journeys that would take them to the highest levels of their respective codes.

As Australia continues producing NBA talent at an unprecedented rate, it's worth remembering that some of these stars first learned to compete on the footy field.