WHILE Australia and Ireland continue to mourn the death of Melbourne legend Jim Stynes, mature-aged rookie James Magner will carry the spirit of both countries in his blood when he debuts for the Demons at the MCG on Saturday.
Born in Australia in August 1987, Magner is the son of Irish immigrants, John and Breda, who arrived in Australia in 1986. Both parents still carry a strong Irish accent and Magner's older sister Regina, who lives in Australia, was born in Ireland.
In typical Irish fashion, his mum has 13 siblings and only one lives in Australia. His name is Noel and, fittingly, he happens to be a Melbourne supporter. The rest of Magner's uncles and aunties are watching their nephew's progress from afar with interest.
Although Magner never lived in Ireland, he attended primary school in County Limerick for a few weeks as a youngster. That's because the family holidays often stretched for months and his dad's friend was a local principal. Magner lost count of how many family holidays he spent in Ireland but he guesses about six or seven.
During that time he would pick up a hurling stick and muck around. The Limerick Leader reported recently that the Magner family has a strong connection to sport in the Killeedy parish. Magner's dad was a hurler and one of his uncles, Gerard, was good enough to represent his county in the sport in an under-21 All-Ireland Championship.
Stynes only became aware of Magner's Irish heritage when he made a surprise appearance at the club's commencement dinner a fortnight ago. "We had a little chat about it," said Magner. "He thought it was a nice thing to have another Irishman at the club."
An Australia with Irish heritage is probably more accurate, although as a 16-year-old Magner found time to play a season of Gaelic Football for Garryowen at Gaelic Park in the Melbourne suburb of Keysborough. "That was really good. I enjoyed that," said Magner.
Magner's parents embraced the Australian game soon after arriving and their son's passion for the oval ball began to develop at the age of four or five. It has never left him. Summer sports never grabbed the barrel chested lad. He would just hang out for the footy season to start.
Playing for Beaconsfield in the City of Casey, it was soon apparent he played a tough brand of Australian football. "My old man has always honed it into me and I love being really aggressive on the field," said Magner. "I prefer to lay a big tackle than kick a goal sometimes."
Now, finally, his chance has come to show what he can do in the AFL.
He showed he could do it in the VFL. He played three seasons with Frankston and two with Sandringham. He won Sandringham's best and fairest last season and won more possessions than anyone else in that competition. He trained with St Kilda but when the rookie draft was held it was the Demons who took the punt.
He has not disappointed. His work-rate has been exceptional from the moment he wore the red and blue.
In the mornings he leaves home in Berwick to head to the club at 6am. He not only avoids the traffic but also has extra time to do whatever he needs to do to reach his goal. Some mornings that means an ice bath. On other occasions he has succumbed to the need for a nap and been seen asleep in the players' room as others arrive.
Compared to his former life working in construction, such effort does not seem out of the ordinary. Magner says he's actually home more often these days than he was when working and training with a VFL team. "I'm super-appreciative of the opportunity Melbourne have given me," said Magner.
Such is the attitude of a mature-aged rookie who is determined to see what he can achieve.
"[I'll] use every avenue I can to get the best out of myself and then hopefully the on-field stuff will look after itself," he said. "I just want to go out and play my natural game, which is aggressive. I think if I do all the basic things then the rest will come."
That's Magner's spirit, a spirit making people in two countries proud.
James Magner is an $85,800 midfielder in Toyota AFL Dream Team. Register your team here.
