Jarryn Geary’s special bond with late grandfather and the inspiration behind his rise to St Kilda captaincy
JARRYN Geary’s rise to the St Kilda captaincy is a tale of persistence. The Saints skipper on his special family connection, leading his own way, Paddy McCartin and Joel Selwood’s bid to recruit him.
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IT’S the ritual St Kilda captain Jarryn Geary enacts every time he heads home to Bendigo.
He is always armed with a handful of Minties and a treasure trove of memories of the man who helped shape his destiny.
Geary leaves the Minties on his grandfather’s grave in the White Cliffs cemetery, one of the first stops whenever he returns, as he did this week on an AFL Victoria regional visit.
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The lollies are part of the connection he had with his late grandfather, Brian Geary, who died in 2010.
The gesture is also a signal to his grandmother, Tess, that he has visited the cemetery, which is nestled between the rough-and-tumble of Eaglehawk, where he grew up, and White Hills, where his grandmother still lives.
As a kid, Geary spent every Saturday afternoon — football in the winter and cricket in the summer — travelling to matches with Brian.
There was always a Mintie in the console of the car.
“I had a great relationship with him,” Geary told the Sunday Herald Sun. “He did so many things for the community. He was a teacher for a while and then he taught teachers at the teachers’ college.
“But he had a great connection to the local sporting clubs — the YCW football club and Sedgwick cricket club.
“I would play sport every Saturday morning and he would be there at the finish. I would jump in the car with him and we’d be off to the local games.
“That would be the same every Saturday for as long as I could remember.”
Few days go by without Geary, 29, thinking about the impact Brian made on the impressionable future St Kilda captain, and the connection with his exceptionally large family and its place in the Bendigo community.
To get a sense of what truly makes Geary tick, this backstory is paramount.
He has rarely spoken about it, but family is at the forefront of his mind.
Jarryn Geary is the fourth child in a family of six — five boys, one girl — who grew up in Eaglehawk and whose backyard games were every bit as rugged and devoid of rules as games in the Selwood family, who grew up not far away.
“Sport was everything for us,” Geary recalled. “You didn’t have to go too far for entertainment.”
His parents drove the six kids — Jarryn’s sister Caley and brothers Daniel, Shannon, Cal and Eli — around in a Mitsubishi van to their sporting pursuits.
It was known as “The Green Bus”, which used to embarrass Geary, but as a new father he now looks back with pride on the sacrifices his parents made.
His family tree is more akin to a forest, given the reach of the Geary and Driscoll families, united in the marriage of his father, Damien, and his mother, Antoinette.
Damien Geary was one of 10 children. Antoinette Driscoll came from a family of 15, whose mother, Molly, had to bring them up on her own after her husband died at an early age.
Damien and Antoinette now have 11 grandchildren — including seven-week-old Harriett, the daughter of Jarryn and his fiancee Emma.
That means Geary has more than 90 first cousins.
Can he name them all?
“No, I would get a fair way along, but I wouldn’t be able to finish it — there are too many names,” he said with a smile.
Add to that the 100 or more foster children Brian and Tess Geary helped to bring up, or looked after, along with their own tribe of 10.
“They used to take in kids from broken families and with problems,” Geary said of his grandparents’ fostering.
“Some stayed for years. He (Brian) had a saying: ‘It’s kids what count.’”
That saying is etched on Brian’s headstone, and Jarryn’s brother, Daniel, got a tattoo with the same message when their grandfather passed away in his sleep in 2010.
“He was an inspiration to us all,” Geary said. “He loved people and loved being involved in sport. He didn’t miss anything that anyone in the family did.
“He had three heart attacks and had a stroke which paralysed him down one side. But he ended up teaching himself to use his hand again, and he also taught himself to drive again.”
Geary, overlooked in the 2006 national draft but picked as a rookie by St Kilda the same year, chose his grandfather as his invited guest for the 2009 Rising Star function.
“He was a real footy-head and loved it,” he said. “He was old-school and used to write me letters. Going through his stuff after he passed away, he was in the middle of writing me another letter when he died.
“The week before I had played against Collingwood and played OK, even though we had lost. I got dropped on the Thursday and that was the night he died.
“Whenever I have gone through a rough patch or through any difficulties with my footy, he’s always been the person I have thought about.”
The Sunday Herald Sun tagged along with Geary this week as he visited two schools as part of an AFL Victoria regional visit.
The first was his old primary school, St Liborius, in Eaglehawk, where he chatted to wide-eyed kids.
He pointed to where the old portable classrooms used to be near the school oval, where he and his brothers used to hide a footy on the roof late on Friday afternoon. When he and his siblings would be dropped off on Sunday afternoons for the obligatory 5.30pm Mass, they would walk into the adjacent church until “The Green Bus” disappeared into the distance, then walk out just as quickly, climb the roof and play with the ball until their parents returned.
The other school he visited this week was Kennington Primary School.
It was on that oval he and his good mate Joel Selwood — on opposing teams — each kicked seven goals in an under-13 game.
Geary, the heartbeat of St Kilda’s defence for much of his 10 senior AFL seasons, reckons he was stiff not to kick an eighth, but it was disallowed for kicking in danger.
“It was a tiny oval,” he said. “I played forward and only had about 10 touches, while Joel was legitimately taking the ball out of the ruck, kicking the ball to the boundary and running in and kicking goals.”
Family means the world to Geary, and so, too, does the football club that gave him the shot at the AFL that three of his brothers — all very good players — missed out on.
That has only magnified now as he enters his second season as St Kilda captain, the first without the presence of club great Nick Riewoldt.
“I probably won’t be any different externally (as captain this year), but internally things might be a bit different,” Geary said.
“The fact is ‘Rooey’ (Riewoldt) was such a big figure within the club, which was great because the information he was passing on to the group was so strong. He had plenty to say, and at times I was sitting back.
“It was great to have him there and I was never going to try to compete with him.
“The thing about the captaincy is that I don’t love it for the great prestige. I just love the fact my teammates like me to be in that position.”
Geary knows there is plenty of work ahead for him and the Saints to break a seven-year finals drought, but with two more seasons on his contract, and with the desire to play longer, he is desperate for success — and to make his family, and Saints fans, proud.
“The reason I play footy is the people around me,” he said. “There are so many people watching me each week and you don’t want to let them down.
“I don’t feel the pressure of that. I just take it as a privilege and an honour to be out the representing my family, because they have been so supportive.”
He knows his grandfather would be as proud as Punch if he was around now, just as his two grandmothers are when they watch him with pride.
THE SKIPPER SPEAKS ABOUT ...
Suggestions from Gerald Healy and Leigh Matthews that Paddy McCartin would have been a better player in another era:
“He probably could have been a superstar back then (1980-90s), but there is no reason why he can’t be now. I am really confident about Paddy. He has done a mountain of work and is starting to work out what he can do as an athlete.”
Whether McCartin, Tim Membrey and Josh Bruce can play in the same team:
“I think so. We have to get the structure right and, if we can do that, then I am sure it will be a big benefit to the team.”
Nathan Freeman’s latest injury:
“He has been so impressive with his attitude. He hasn’t really had a taste (of AFL). All he has ever known is getting injured. He got to a really strong level last year and played some really good (VFL) footy. It’s another hiccup.”
His own head-knock during the week against Carlton after being concussed in Round 23 last year:
“I’m not sure if it was the daze from the (Ikon Park) lights or my own vision, probably a bit of both (laughs). They were both pretty mild incidents and I’ll be fine.”
St Kilda’s return to Moorabbin in a fortnight:
“My first five years were at Moorabbin. I loved it. It was a real community where you could walk down the shops and everyone was a part of the club. It will great to get back there and have a real community hub for your family to come in as well.”
Good Friday football:
“The club hasn’t played in too many big games over the past few years, so hopefully we can turn Good Friday (against North Melbourne) into something special. As players, we have gone into the hospital to visit the kids. There are some really sad stories there but also many great stories that come out. You see the families who spend so much time there. Now, being a father, I can’t imagine what they are going through. So to be a part of the day, and to hopefully help out some more, we are really looking forward to it.”
How former Bendigo Pioneers teammate Joel Selwood tried to get him to Geelong:
“I don’t think it was ever going to happen. Joel was keen for a while. I was injured when it happened. I had done my elbow. I was in contract talks with the club at the time and that always stalls when you are injured. In a way, that might have helped me out, as I re-signed not long after.”
His only final, the 2011 elimination final loss to Sydney:
“It does seem like an eternity ago. It was a bit of a nothing year for me. I broke my leg and played the last eight games.”
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