An ancestry test would show Maynard is 100 per cent Magpie. Who embodies the spirit of your club?
Having your DNA tested to give you accurate data about where you come from is pretty common these days and I joined the trend by exploring my ancestry recently. Eighty-three per cent Irish felt like unders, to be honest.
On my first trip to Ireland in 2002, a group of schoolboys from the local area started launching rocks at our team bus, and I was struck. Not by the rocks, but by the resemblance. Each one of these mousey brown-haired, freckly, red-nosed kids could have been me. We were connected. Curiously, when I received my DNA data in the post a few weeks back, there was no mention of Footscray or the Bulldogs, but they're in my blood, too.
A few years ago, whilst chatting footy with a mate of mine, he commented that Brayden Maynard was a 'proper, old school Magpie'. I pushed him to elaborate and got the sense he had thought about it quite a bit.
'Maynard is a direct link to the old tribe from Victoria Park, I reckon. He's tough, industrious, likes a good time off the field, plays for the jumper on a Saturday and probably skips the cryptic crossword on a Sunday,' he said. It was all in jest, but it stayed with me.
Now, when I watch Collingwood, I do find myself watching No.4 more closely. Maynard, one could argue, is the offspring of a spliced gene pool of Tony Shaw and Darren Millane, both heroes of the 1990 flag. Versatile, robust ... and loyal? We'll see.
It begs the question, does your club have that one player who epitomises the spirit, lineage and physicality of your club's history? I kicked it around for a few days and found that some clubs were easy to allocate that symbolic individual, while others were more difficult.
It raised a couple of questions for me. What does it say about a club that doesn't have a player who captures the ancestral links of their history? Does it matter? The Bulldogs have 'Libba', the Giants have Toby Greene. Carlton were tougher, but Jacob Weitering's quiet demeanour and classy output reminds me somewhat of Bruce Doull's presence amidst all the egos and drama. He's ike a giant boulder in the middle of the Howqua River, still and smooth, waters surging past and all around him.
But at other clubs, such as Essendon, St Kilda and the Swans, I couldn't find one. Again, is that a problem? Is it the problem?
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