Ashcroft played a variety of sports while growing up on the Gold Coast and was selected to represent Queensland in swimming as well as athletics before focusing on Australian rules football.

[6] He played junior football from a young age, and was at 10 years old selected by the Gold Coast Suns to take part in their academy program.

[10] Ashcroft relocated to Melbourne in 2019 where he began attending Brighton Grammar and once again competed in the U15 AFL National Championships, although this time he would captain Victoria to an undefeated gold medal performance.

[14] In 2022, Ashcroft captained the Sandringham Dragons to a NAB League premiership and Victoria Metro to an U18 National Championship, later receiving the captaincy honour in the U18 All-Australian team as well as the Larke Medal.

[15] After finishing his Victorian Certificate of Education at Brighton Grammar toward the end of 2021, he began studying commerce and sport management at Deakin University.

In Round 2, Ashcroft collected 31 disposals against Melbourne and received a Rising Star nomination as one of the best players on the ground in only his second game, earning widespread praise from the AFL media and community.

The AFL community all widely expressed their support for Ashcroft, who was the Rising Star favourite and had been a standout player for Brisbane despite it being his debut season.