- I grew up playing Australian rules and cricket.
- They offered him the opportunity to play a new sport during Covid
- Now he is a household name on the other side of the world.
Eddie McGuire is one of the most famous faces of Aussie Rules, which is why his son wanted to forge his own identity in football 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 presenter as his father, he looked destined for an AFL career.
Instead, he chose a very different path and is now in his second year with the Ohio State Buckeyes, one of the top college football programs in the United States.
He is joined by fellow Australian Nick McLarty as punters for the Buckeyes, bringing a uniquely Australian touch to the team that only happened due to a chance conversation during the Covid pandemic.
“One of my friends came up to me on Covid and said you’ve got a decent leg, why don’t you try this thing called Prokick Australia,” Joe said.
Now, in an extraordinary journey, the right-handed punter has made his way onto a team that has won eight national championships and plays in front of 100,000 die-hard fans at its Ohio stadium.
And now he has revealed why he turned down the AFL to take a chance on a sport where only 6.5 percent of high school football players will make it to the NCAA college level.
Joe McGuire has worked hard to become the first-choice punter for the Ohio State Buckeyes.
McGuire wanted to challenge himself in a sport away from the public eye in Australia, where his famous father Eddie is a big name in the AFL.
“The way the world is right now, whatever you did in Melbourne there will be some people who will say you only did it for your dad,” the 23-year-old said. news corporation.
‘This is just one thing that doesn’t matter who your father is or whatever. You have to work hard and you have to be good enough, or else there’s no way they’ll play you at a school like this.’
His father was surprised by his trip, but was very supportive.
“It was very impressive to see a little boy try this kind of outlandish dream,” Eddie said of his son.
“He literally started from scratch… and now plays in front of 100,000 people every week.”
It hasn’t been an easy ride, with McLarty selected as the first-choice punter ahead of the Buckeyes’ season opener in August.
McGuire found himself in the United States after going through the Prokick Australia program
McGuire’s big right foot could propel Buckeyes to ninth national championship
That only made McGuire more determined and he channeled one of the team’s mottos “Iron Sharpens Iron” to push himself and work even harder in training.
It worked, and McGuire forced coach Ryan Day to make a change in the 11th hour and give the Australian the starting punter’s job.
It paid off with McGuire kicking three punts and helping the Buckeyes win 52-6 in front of his mother, father and more than 100,000 fans in the stands.
“If you’re surrounded by good players who challenge 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 beginning of the year until now, I had a lot of development that I needed to do if I wanted to play… So I gave it absolutely everything.”
McGuire has also revealed the biggest culture shock he had to overcome during his first season: the winter cold.
The mercury can plummet to sub-zero temperatures and playing in the snow is not uncommon.
“You play places like Wisconsin and it’s like kicking a brick,” McGuire said.
“I thought I was prepared for it, but it was an unpleasant surprise.”