- Grew up playing Aussie Rules and cricket
- Was offered a shot at a new sport during Covid
- Is now a household name on the other side of the world
Eddie McGuire is one of the most famous faces in Aussie Rules, which is why his son wanted to forge his own identity in footy far away from the AFL in Australia.
Joe McGuire grew up like most kids in Melbourne, playing Aussie Rules and cricket and with the former Collingwood boss and Footy Show host as his dad, seemed destined for a career in the AFL.
Instead, he chose a very different path and is now in his second year at the Ohio State Buckeyes, one of the biggest college football programs in the United States.
He is joined by fellow Aussie Nick McLarty as punters for the Buckeyes, bringing a uniquely Aussie twist to the team which only happened because of a chance conversation during the Covid pandemic.
‘One of my friends sort of came up to me in Covid and said you’ve got a decent leg, why don’t you try this thing called Prokick Australia,’ Joe said.
Now, in a remarkable journey, the right-footed punter has forced his way into a side that has won eight national championships and plays in front of 100,000 diehard supporters at their Ohio stadium.
And now he has revealed why he spurned the AFL to take a chance on a sport where only 6.5 per cent of high school footy players will make it to NCAA college level.
‘What the world is like at the moment, anything I did in Melbourne there are going to be some people who say you only did that because of your dad,’ the 23-year-old told News Corp.
‘This is just one thing that it just does not matter who your dad is or whatever. You have to put in the work and you have to be good enough, or else there’s just no way they play you at a school like this.’
His father was surprised by his journey, but highly supportive.
‘It was very impressive to watch a young kid have a go at this outlandish sort of dream,’ Eddie said of his son.
‘He literally started from scratch … and now he’s playing in front of 100,000 every week.’
It has not been an easy ride, with McLarty selected as the first-choice punter ahead of the Buckeyes’ season opener in August.
That only made McGuire more determined and he channelled one of the team’s mottos ‘Iron sharpens iron’ to knuckle down and work even harder at training.
It worked, with McGuire forcing coach Ryan Day to make an 11th hour change and hand the Aussie the starting punter spot.
It paid off handsomely with McGuire kicking three punts and helped the Buckeyes to a 52-6 win in front of his mother, father and over 100,000 other supporters in the stands.
‘If you’re surrounded by good players challenging you, you have to get better,’ McGuire said.
‘I knew what I thought I was capable of, and I knew how hard I was capable of training. From the start of the year to now, I had a lot of development that I needed to do if I wanted to be playing … So I gave it absolutely everything.’
McGuire has also revealed the greatest culture shock that he had to overcome during his first season – the bitter winter chill.
The mercury can plummet to minus temperatures and playing in the snow is not uncommon.
‘You play in places like Wisconsin and it’s like kicking a brick,’ McGuire said.
‘I thought I was ready for it but it was an unpleasant surprise.’
