AFL Grand Final: Travis Varcoe credits his late sister Maggie for helping his finals campaign
TRAVIS Varcoe has revealed he feels closer to his late sister Maggie than ever, crediting her for fuelling his September campaign.
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TRAVIS Varcoe has revealed he feels closer to his late sister Maggie than ever, crediting her for fuelling his September campaign.
Varcoe, who will today play in his fourth Grand Final, farewelled his sister Margaret last month after she suffered a head knock while playing football in South Australia.
He said he had felt her presence throughout Collingwood’s rampant last month and hoped that she would be keeping an eye on him today.
“It’s been pretty difficult,” Varcoe admitted.
“Obviously Maggie was doing something she loved, and in a way it’s probably the closest I’ve felt to her.
“I definitely know she’s looking over me, and hopefully she does it for one more round.”
He said he was “absolutely” determined to win his third premiership in her honour.
“We’ve got to do it for ourselves,” the Magpie said.
“And this group in particular, but everyone has different motivations and the way they’re going to get up and about.
“It just fuels me a little bit more, I guess.”
Varcoe, 30, had shared the words of his sister with his teammates at training on Thursday, reading a passage she had written in lead-up to her own grand final — playing for Angle Vale — that had been her last game.
Varcoe said his teammates responded wonderfully.
“As anyone would be, they are so supportive and they wanted to go out and train well,’’ he said.
“I thought we did what we needed to do out on the park and trained the way we needed to leading into this.’’
He thanked the football community for what he described as “humbling” support and said that there was nowhere better to be amid such tragic circumstances than at a football club.
“Footy clubs, when you go through that sort of stuff, are special places to be around,” he said.
“I thought (my teammates) would get a little bit out of it and I wanted to share that with them.
“Without even knowing it, she’s probably helped me in a lot more ways even though she’s passed us physically.”
He had returned back to South Australia as Maggie fought for her life before returning to the club before the Magpies’ qualifying final, and said he would go back to his home state once tomorrow’s decider was complete.
He did not miss a game, and said his sister would have encouraged him to carry on amid his grief.
“Life doesn’t stop, and you’ve got to keep sort of rolling on,” he said.
“You’d love the world to pause for you, but that’s not reality.
“I think, too, you’ve got to have good support around you and we’ve got a pretty big family back at home … they were able to get around each other. I had my kids back at home as well.
“I know Maggie would have been like ‘just roll on and do what you’ve got to do’.
“Once this is all over, I’ll definitely get back and go and do what you’ve got to do.”
Originally published as AFL Grand Final: Travis Varcoe credits his late sister Maggie for helping his finals campaign
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