My Story: Jeremy Howe explains how he was really discovered, his move to the Magpies and more
Following a win against St Kilda, the usual banter was going on inside the Collingwood rooms. That was until Jeremy Howe heard a comment from Jaidyn Stephenson that pricked his ears.
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There’s a story going around that Melbourne discovered me on the Almost Football Legends segment on The Footy Show.
It was a video of me taking a hanger while playing for the Hobart Tigers in the Tasmanian Football League. It’s a good tale and there’s some truth in it, but here’s the full story.
In 2008, two years before that video, I broke my leg which meant I was cut from the Tassie under-18 championships team.
The following year I played in it as an over-age 19-year-old. I was awful and did nothing.
They played me at centre half-back because coach Matty Armstrong told me: “If you’re ever going to make it, it’ll be as a backman.”
I kind of laughed as I’d never played there in my life, but I’ve now played more than 100 AFL games at half-back.
But more on that later.
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I nominated for the 2009 AFL national draft but I had zero expectations as I’d had a really ordinary championships. I didn’t get picked and the next year was talked into leaving my local club Dodges Ferry and joining the Hobart Tigers in the state league.
As it happened, one day then-Melbourne recruiter Barry Prendergast was there watching a kid called Jaye Bowden, who was a star on the opposing side. We ended up flogging them that day and I played probably one of my best games for the year.
That day I also took a hanger and someone sent the video in to Channel 9. I’m pretty sure it got runner-up for the year.
The bloke who sent it in was lucky because had it won the prize I was coming for a piece of the pie. From that point the Dees kept looking in. That’s how I got on their radar.
FOOTY ALMOST DIDN’T HAPPEN
I GREW up around football in Tassie.
My dad played senior footy at Claremont and I’d help run the water during matches.
I played under-17s at Dodges when I was 15 and then would also act as a boundary umpire for the ressies and the seniors as well sometimes.
You’d do it for a can of Coke and a pie or maybe a $5 note if you were really lucky. Looking back now I think I got a bit stinged, but I loved to do it.
I was a mad Collingwood supporter growing up after my dad, who brainwashed me from birth. I loved Nathan Buckley, Scotty Burns and big Anthony Rocca.
I reckon I got more nervous when big “Pebbles” was having a set shot within 30m than he probably did.
As much as I loved footy, I also played tennis quite seriously and was offered a scholarship by tennis brand Alinta when I was 14. Potentially, I could have gone somewhere with it. But I lacked the motivation to continually rock up and train on my own.
I missed my mates so I turned it down, put down the racquet and went back to footy.
CELEBRATING THE DRAFT
I FOUND out I’d been drafted after being tackled off a bar stool.
My family and some mates decided to watch the 2010 national draft at the Wrest Point Casino in Hobart.
It got to the second round and we were having a few beers and not paying much attention.
The next thing I know I’m on my back, having been tackled off my stool by one of my mates.
“What the hell are you doing?” I said.
“Mate, you’re going to Melbourne! Pick 33, they picked you,” he yelled back.
I couldn’t believe it. We certainly enjoyed the night and rolled out of there at about 2am.
I got back home and needed to get mum to drive me to the boss’s house for work the next day.
“Congratulations mate, but I’m going to work you for the next two weeks before I let you go,” the boss said.
“Look mate, I’ll give you the best eight hours of my life, but then I’m out of here,” I replied.
Thankfully there wasn’t much on, so we had a barbecue and a few beers and finished off my days as an apprentice electrician the right way.
A day or two later, I was on the plane to Melbourne.
DEBUT WITH BIG MAX
EVEN in the very early days, big Maxy Gawn was influential at Melbourne just in the way he carried himself. Everyone would follow him.
In his early days he was a bit of a clown by his own admission, but I’ve also never seen a bloke work as hard as him.
He would train hard and work his backside off, but then he would provide so much entertainment outside of training hours.
We didn’t win too many games in my time, so there were some flat times. But he was so good for morale.
He’d have probably more of a balance now being skipper of the Dees, but at the time you needed those guys.
We made our debuts together against Essendon at night at the MCG in 2011.
The week before we were playing Williamstown in the VFL and we both got dragged at three-quarter-time. I remember thinking: “S***, I thought we were actually going OK.”
The Essendon game was a Friday night so the short turnaround meant we didn’t play the final term.
We won by 33 points and it was such a great feeling to share the moment with a fellow debutant. Because we debuted together, Gawny and I always keep an eye on each other’s games tally and joke about it.
When I got to my 150th game, Gawny was on about 85.
“Don’t worry, the knees will get ya,” he likes to tell me.
I hope he’s wrong, but in any event I think he’ll surpass me by the end of it quite easily.
MOVE TO THE MAGPIES
MY parents noticed the red flags probably before I did.
I used to ring them all the time, but by 2015 it had gotten to the stage I was calling home less and less.
Maybe once every three to five weeks, so they knew I was unhappy.
A fresh start was something that felt appealing to me as I needed to find a way to get back to enjoying footy more.
Don’t get me wrong, I loved my time at Melbourne.
But the wins were few and far between and it had become mentally draining.
Collingwood was very appealing and not just because I grew up supporting them, but because I wouldn’t need to move far.
I literally just had to cross the street, given the club’s headquarters are about 200 metres apart.
I ended up still sharing the same car park and often you would go past an ex-teammate who’d jokingly flip you the odd bird and keep driving.
I went to the Magpies as a forward/wing, which lasted exactly three games.
GOING DOWN BACK
IT WAS just before Round 7 in my first year as a Magpie when “Bucks” approached me during training.
I’d been playing as a forward but during that time a spate of players had gone down and the backline was thin.
“Look, I know I’m going against everything I said because we wanted you as a wing that could go forward, but we need you to play back,” he said.
Four years on I’ve never stepped foot back into the forward line.
Did I think I would be spending the rest of my career at half-back? No.
In saying that, I’ve played probably the most consistent footy of my career the past four years.
Bucks might claim it as a masterstroke manoeuvre, but regardless of how it happened I’ve been enjoying my footy as much as I ever have.
BECOMING A LEADER
WHEN I first joined the Woods, I was drawn to Steele Sidebottom.
He is the most personable and friendly bloke you’ll ever meet and all the new players would attest to that.
I also became close straight away with Adam Treloar and James Aish as we arrived at the same time.
It’s a terrific group at the Pies.
“Pendles” always makes every new player feel so welcome and Brodie Grundy is unreal.
Then you’ve got your young riff raff in Brayden Maynard, Jordan De Goey and probably Benny Crocker, but sadly Benny’s not here anymore.
They’ll give you a pick-up anytime you need it.
The past few years I’ve been a part of the leadership group, which I’m very proud of.
Being able to hold a positive influence on a group and sharing the vice-captaincy with “Sidey” and Taylor Adams is something I don’t take lightly.
THE STEPHENSON INCIDENT
IT was after Round 9 last year at the MCG.
We had just beaten St Kilda and the usual banter was flying around the rooms.
Jaidyn Stephenson made a remark about gambling that pricked the ears up a bit.
I didn’t know if it was just a slip of the tongue or what so I sought him out later for a follow-up conversation about it.
He knew he’d done the wrong thing and it was more so trying to facilitate the best outcome for him and how it was going to play out.
To his credit he went directly to our football boss Geoff Walsh and the AFL.
It was a hard one where he knew he was in a tough situation and that he’d stuffed up.
For what it’s worth, he’s probably one of the most genuine, polite kids I’ve ever met.
For him to make an error like that was extremely out of character.
The only positive is that he’s come out better on the other side of it.
THE MARKS
My favourite mark would have to be the one on Tommy McDonald against Melbourne on the Queen’s Birthday in 2017.
Part of the reason is because I took it right in front of the Melbourne Cricket Club members.
The old mob in the green seats had been giving me their two cents worth all game. It went pretty quiet after that.
It was the second-best mark of the year, but we won’t go there.
Because I’ve taken a few over time, sometimes an opponent at the start of a game will say, “Don’t even think about it,” to which I’ll reply, “Well, don’t stand under the ball”.
Later in 2017 we played Melbourne again in the final round and I took one on top of Christian Petracca.
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Before I even hit the deck he was laughing, so we had a bit of a laugh about that one.
Early on I received a valuable tip from Paul Roos.
He was commentating in 2012 when I took the mark of the year against Sydney and decided to play on.
He later joined the Dees and told me: “Son, after one of those take a breath and make sure you dispose of the ball to a teammate and don’t turn it over.”
I’d always be trying to put the cherry on top by following up with a great kick or play, but I’ve since taken the advice.
