Top mid-season draft prospect Ryan Maric opens up on his journey to the AFL

Life is about to get very different for Ryan Maric when he joins the likes of Gary Ablett Snr and Dale Thomas as Drouin products in the AFL. And none of it has been easy.

The top prospect in this year’s AFL mid-season draft has not always been ready for the big league, let alone a local league.

During Victoria’s lockdowns in 2020, Ryan Maric reached for a can of Pringles a few too many times.

“I was a massive snacker,” Maric said.

“In the Covid year when we were stuck at home I stayed up late at night playing Xbox and I’d snack on potato chips, Pringles, anything I could find. All just stuff that wasn’t really filling and I probably had a lot of it.”

At one point that year, Maric tipped the scales at 107kg.

But the Pringles had not been the only problem.

The previous year, the Drouin local had been invited to trial for Gippsland Power’s under-16 squad.

He had to politely decline given a sizeable growth spurt had left him with some growing pains, including lower back and pelvis issues.

Ryan Maric celebrates a goal for the Box Hill Hawks. Picture: Getty Images

Gippsland Power talent manager Scott McDougal again watched Maric play for Drouin’s under-16s after lockdowns eased in late 2020.

At that point, Maric was low on confidence and playing an unfamiliar position in defence, with McDougal noting that he was not “anywhere near the standard required”.

“He thought I probably had the talent, but my weight was definitely holding me back,” Maric said.

Older brother Josh was Maric’s inspiration and a driving force in swapping the Pringles for protein shakes and getting back into the gym.

“I was a pretty active kid but it was just my diet holding me back,” Maric said.

“My brother got up to 100kg as well and he decided to lose the weight. He got into all his gym stuff and his nutrition. So once I saw him lose the weight, I was like, ‘Wow, I can do this as well’.

“I’ve just cut out all the junk food and all of my snacking. On a Sunday night I do all my meal prep so I know what I’m eating for the week.”

In less than three years since, Maric has dropped a whopping 24kg to now be maintaining a healthy weight of 83kg on his 193cm frame.

There was a hiccup along the way when glandular fever struck in 2021, but since Maric got himself fit enough to play senior football for Drouin in the Gippsland League last year there has been no looking back.

Having returned to the forward line, he kicked 6.4 in a senior match against Moe last August – a game in which Drouin managed only 10 majors.

After taking up a mid-season offer to train with the Gippsland Power’s under-18 squad, Maric also played three games in the talent league in the back half of last year.

Maric spends his nights working at Woolworths. Picture: Getty Images

However, it was a four-goal performance for the Power in Round 1 of the Coates Talent League this season which really put him on the radar.

“After that first game, my name was out there a bit more,” Maric said.

“I got seven or eight player agency companies’ get in contact with me so that was the first hint there might be a bit of interest.”

Maric ended up signing with Julian Petracca from Hemisphere Management Group, who had the first pick in last year’s national draft in Aaron Cadman.

Petracca now looks set to have another No. 1, with Maric being tipped to join West Coast with the first selection in Wednesday night’s mid-season draft.

A Carlton supporter, Maric starred at both ends of the ground during the Young Guns series earlier this month and has gone on to feature in two VFL games for Box Hill.

He kicked two goals in each of those VFL games.

“He’s a prodigious kick, so that’s always been his secret weapon,” McDougal said.

“He’s not only kicking goals but he’s playing his role for the team and that’s being recognised.”

Ryan Maric is set to be taken with the first pick in mid-season draft. Picture: Getty Images

Maric was once “concreted” to the forward 50, but now has the fitness to work up to the wings and back as a lead-up forward.

“I’m not going to be a 200cm key forward like Harry McKay but more that mobile, agile and crafty player like Bailey Fritsch, who can take a mark and is pretty quick,” Maric said.

“I also like watching Jeremy Cameron get up on a wing and impact.”

Having finished high school last year, Maric has been studying a Bachelor of Sport, Physical and Outdoor Education at Federation University by day this year and has been stacking shelves at Woolworths by night.

However, life is about to get very different when he joins the likes of Gary Ablett Snr, Dale Thomas and Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti in making it from Drouin to the AFL.

“It’s all pretty surreal but I’m still just trying to go about my everyday life and keep myself grounded,” Maric said.

“But I’m happy I can finally prove myself. I’ve always known that I’ve had the ability.”

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Originally published as Top mid-season draft prospect Ryan Maric opens up on his journey to the AFL