Collingwood youngster Isaac Quaynor affirms his standing as the ‘mane man’ as he eyes return to football

He played just four games after his season was cut short by injury, but Isaac Quaynor was turning heads at Collingwood training this week. From hip injuries to haircuts, the young defender opens up on his second pre-season.

Isaac Quaynor has made an eye catching start to his pre-season. Picture: AAP Images

Collingwood doesn’t need to “reinvent the wheel” in 2020, according to emerging defender Isaac Quaynor, who says the Magpies’ consecutive heartbreaks could be the turning point.

The Magpies have harnessed how close they have come to glory over the past two seasons – making the Grand Final and a preliminary final respectively – in the opening weeks of this pre-season in an effort to “fine tune” what it needs to achieve a highly-sought premiership.

And Quaynor said the signs that the team has what is required are all there.

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“One of the themes in one of our initial meetings was the fact that we’re so close,” he said.

“We’re heading in the right direction, we’re doing everything right. We’ve got the winning formula – we just need to fine tune a few different things to make sure that we can achieve that final goal, which is winning a granny.

“That was the main goal and the main message that I got … that we’re right on track and we don’t have to reinvent the wheel to go to the next step.

“Realistically, we’ve just got to back ourselves in and just keep doing what we’re doing – obviously tweaking a couple of things, but I think it is frustrating (to fall short) and it definitely motivates you, so for this season it could be a good thing that we were so close but not quite there.

Quaynor’s new haircut took some work, he said, after some unlikely inspiration. Picture: Getty Images

“That could be the added motivation we need to go a couple of steps better than we did this year.”

Quaynor, 19, re-signed this week for another two years in a deal he admitted had taken longer to be finalised than he had expected, but he is pleased to be locked in at the Holden Centre for the near future.

A foot stress injury and then hip surgery – an arthroscope, just before a “pretty tame” trip to Bali with teammates – at the end of the season meant his pre-season has been hampered, but the defender is back running and is hoping to be in full training after Christmas after what has been his first lengthy stint on the sidelines.

“Last year I fractured my thumb and my rib in the same game, but it was a really weird fracture of the rib so you could play through it a little bit after a few weeks, taking a few painkillers and stuff like that,” he said.

“The foot and the hip are really the two biggest injuries I’ve ever had. I’ve never missed more than two weeks of football. That was an experience in itself, not being able to play and having to sit on the sidelines and watch the boys play for seven weeks.

“In reality, a lot of players have to go through it at some point in their career, so hopefully my sidelines time is done and dusted, but you never really know do you?.”

Quaynor, 19, turned heads at Collingwood’s first session of the pre-season on Monday with a flashy new haircut.

Bulldogs speedster Jason Johannisen has previously been the mane man when it comes to eye-catching haircuts, but Quaynor may well wrestle the mantle from the Norm Smith medallist with the help of a Collingwood scissor specialist.

The 19-year-old played four games in 2019. Picture: Michael Klein

“I’ve got some pretty unique hair, so I think it’s cool for me to try a few different haircuts out,” he said.

“I’ve got a really good barber who really looks after me and a few of the boys – Moe at RazorSmiths in Collingwood – and I constantly shout him out on my Instagram.

“He’s unreal and I always put him to the test.”

Quaynor admits the do he’s “rocking at the moment” is an “intricate” number to complete given its symmetry challenges.

He draws inspiration from American music and sports, with the current version a take on a haircut he saw on basketball video game NBA 2K20.

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“Hats off to (Mo) – he’s done an absolutely awesome job and I’m pretty happy with it,” he said.

“A few of the older boys might not support it so much, but at the end of the day I don’t really care too much to be honest. I might try something else in the next few months, maybe, we’ll see how we go.

“It’s just another way of expressing myself and I think it’s cool. I like doing it and I got some good feedback from the people that are close to me, so that’s what really matters.

“Mo is top of the rung, definitely. He’s my go-to.”

Originally published as Collingwood youngster Isaac Quaynor affirms his standing as the ‘mane man’ as he eyes return to football