As a junior, Puopolo suffered stress fractures in his back that forced him out of the draft camp and to subsequently miss his chance to earn a spot at an AFL club.
He then battled issues with his weight, forcing a drop in form.
It seemed as though his dream was over, until the AFL announced that it would be expanding the competition with clubs Gold Coast and Greater Western Sydney.
That gave Puopolo the spark he needed to work harder, to keep his dream of playing AFL and compete in a grand final alive.
Eventually, the 173cm forward was given a chance, he was drafted to Hawthorn with pick 66 in the 2010 national draft and made his debut for the Hawks in 2011.
The zippy Puopolo finds himself just five days out from realising his dream of playing in an AFL grand final.
“That’s all you do as a kid, you dream of playing in a grand final and I’m lucky enough that it has happened to me,” he told hawthornfc.com.au
“I came to the Club at the right time I guess.”
Now, he’s just focusing on enjoying every minute of every day in the lead up to the biggest game of his career.
“I’m just looking forward to the week, it’s such an exciting time.
“I just really want to enjoy every moment.
“You hear people talking about it all the time and now to experience it, it will be a great feeling.”
Puopolo managed just six possessions in the preliminary final, but it was his tackling pressure and the inferred pressure his speed around the contest that makes him a valuable contributor.
He says that applying pressure is his role, and he’s happy keep performing it the best he can for as long as he can.
“That’s my role in the side and if I’m doing that, I’m performing my role for the team.
“I’m just happy to keeping doing that.”
The Hawks qualified for the grand final after overcoming the Crows in a nail-biter.
It was a tough, hard, contested game and one that was, at times excruciatingly frantic as both teams threw everything at the chance to compete for the 2012 premiership.
The Hawks were inefficient going forward, booting 19 behinds from 32 scoring shots and 64 forward 50 entries.
Puopolo believes the pressure and defensive structure of the Crows serves as the perfect preparation match-up with the Swans in the grand final.
“We couldn’t have asked for a better game to be honest,” he said.
“We know the way Sydney play and the game on the weekend will hold us in really good stead.
“Now we can try working around how we’re going to score and fix the mistakes that we made (on Saturday).”
Kate Salemme is a member of Hawthorn Football Club's Digital Media team reporting exclusively for hawthornfc.com.au from the Ricoh Centre.
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