JACK Grimes grew up as a Demons supporter idolising Travis Johnstone but began his AFL career as Johnstone’s direct replacement in the Melbourne team.

Grimes was taken by the Demons with draft pick No.14 in 2007, which came to them as part of the deal that sent Johnstone to the Brisbane Lions.

This week he is the NAB AFL Rising Star nominee after a 29-possession game against West Coast while wearing Johnstone’s old No.16.

But while he does seem to have taken Johnstone’s spot, Grimes says he never felt he was living in his shadow.

“None of the boys ever put any expectations on me which is lucky. He was such a good player at Melbourne so it is a bit to live up to,” Grimes said.

“He was one of my favourite players when I was younger. His skills were amazing and he could do some freakish things on the field.”

While the teenager was not fazed by any comparisons, he admits he found it surreal to be sharing a changeroom with his heroes.

“It was really weird when I first got there because a lot of the guys who were down there were guys I’d grown up watching on telly and barracking for,” he said.

“I was a bit overawed by the whole experience but once you get to know them all you realise they are great people and easy to get along with. They’ve made the transition really easy.”

One of the players Grimes saw as a supporter was Melbourne legend Jim Stynes. While he says he was too young to remember seeing the champion ruckman in action, his parents were huge fans and made sure they took their young son to see the Brownlow Medallist in action.

So when news broke last week that Stynes, now Demons president, was battling cancer, the life long Melbourne fan did not have to be told of his significance to the club.

“We spoke about it a lot during the week. Before the game we stood in the circle with Jim’s jumper in the middle and had a chat about it. It was a pretty emotional sort of game,” Grimes said.

“Everyone wanted to do their bit for him because he is such a lovable guy around the club. You hate to see something like that happen to anyone but especially someone like him.”

Before he became a Melbourne player, Grimes was a product of the highly successful Northern Knights TAC Cup team. He says the club’s resources and systems were a key reason behind his development.

“In my year we had a few drafted – Matty Kreuzer, Trent Cotchin, Brett Meredith and Patrick Veszpremi who have all done well since. They get a hold of us pretty early and get us in the development squads to introduce us to the system and keep us ready for the TAC Cup,” he said.

“When I was there for three years they had three different coaches because they kept going up to be assistants at AFL clubs. I definitely think the coaches have a big part in it too. When we were down there, we were all a pretty tight-knit group by the time the 18s came around.”