Geelong’s Gryan Miers talks forgotten football boots, dog’s heads and Brian Taylor photos
He forgot his football boots last week, wore a dog’s head to Wacky Wednesday last year, has a haunting first football memory and got scared by a photo of Brian Taylor. Meet Gryan Miers, a different Cat.
Geelong
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Preparing for his third AFL game on his first interstate trip to Adelaide last week, Geelong’s Gryan Miers was sent into a spin.
He had his jumper, shorts and socks, but it suddenly hit him that his football boots had been left behind at home in Torquay.
“I forgot my boots,” Miers said.
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“I started asking around where the closest Rebel Sport was in Adelaide.
“But then they said there was another travel group and they brought my boots from last year.
“I thought I was going to slip over because they’d been worn in a lot but luckily they did the trick on the night.”
From his forgetfulness to his name and his dreadlocks to the team he grew up supporting, the first Gryan to ever play AFL/VFL football is certainly a different Cat.
The 20-year-old grew up in Torquay and worked his way through the Geelong Falcons talent pathway.
His father David was on Collingwood’s list during the 1980s, yet an impressionable young Miers found himself jumping on the Brisbane Lions bandwagon after they won three straight premierships from 2001-03.
“I hated the Cats,” Miers said.
“I was Gryan the Lion. I just liked Lions and they won premierships so I jumped on board and they never won premierships after I started going for them.
“The first game I remember was the 2004 Grand Final.”
It was hardly a fond first football memory.
The Lions lost that match to Port Adelaide by 40 points and have played finals just once since.
But the lack of success didn’t stifle Miers’ love of the game, which only grew as he worked his way through the Falcons’ program to the 2017 TAC Cup Grand Final.
During the warm up for that match at Docklands, Miers had more trouble with his boots — snapping one minutes before the first bounce, leading to a mad dash to the change rooms to find a spare pair.
He went on to kick seven goals in a best-on-ground performance that still gets spoken of to this day.
“I don’t think I’ve had a disposal yet this year without it being mentioned by the commentators,” Miers laughs.
“My mates always take the piss out of it. But it’s in the past now. I’d rather do it at AFL level.”
By his under-18 year, Miers had flowing dreadlocks and, as a small forward, was being compared to a young Luke Dahlhaus.
He now plays alongside the 2016 Western Bulldogs premiership player at the Cats, and the comparison has not been missed.
“Some of my teammates call me ‘Little Luke Dahlhaus’,” Miers said.
“I think it’s all in the hair. It’s not too much of the style of play but the first three weeks we’ve supported each other well and we complement each other well up the field.”
Miers says the dreadlocks will not be coming off anytime soon, although they are “gradually getting shorter and shorter”.
“I’ve got some gross things in my hair. It looks like I have spiders in there,” Miers said.
“But everyone loves dreadlocks.”
A recent image posted on social media spooked Miers, though.
It showed commentator Brian Taylor’s face merged with Miers’ body and hair, leaving the 20-year-old in no doubt the dreadlocks would have to come off one day.
“I’m definitely not hanging onto it forever after I saw that photo of me and Brian Taylor mixed together,” Miers said.
“I’m definitely not going to be an old person with dreadlocks.”
Selected at Pick 57 in the 2017 national draft, Miers played 20 games in the VFL last year for a return of 20 goals.
He knew he was not ready for an AFL berth in season one, but made the leap come Round 1 when he debuted against Collingwood at the MCG in front of an “electrifying” crowd that “scared” him.
After a three-goal game against Adelaide in the boots that have been “retired off” for a second time, Miers now has four majors for the season which have come with their benefits.
“Tom Hawkins is the only reason I want to kick goals, to get a big bear hug from him afterwards,” Miers said.
Geelong’s Wacky Wednesday celebrations last year saw Miers turn up wearing a mask of a German Shepherd’s head.
It was in honour of his NFL team, Philadelphia Eagles, which had worn the same masks during last year’s post-season to symbolise being underdogs on their charge to winning Super Bowl LII.
Geelong could similarly have been described as underdogs entering this season, but expectations are quickly rising around the Cats after their 3-0 start.
“We’ve still got some star players to come back that are going to push some players out that don’t deserve to be pushed out,” Miers said.
“I’ve got to be aware that if they come back and I’m not playing my role those weeks, I might have to go back to VFL. I’ve just got to keep pushing and we need everyone to be pushing each other along. You need about 35 guys to be able to win a premiership I reckon, and we’ve got that at the moment.”
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