Paralympics: Former country footy players Beau Vernon and James McQuillan to represent Australia

Two former country footballers who suffered similar serious spinal injuries only two years apart are about to strut the global sporting stage at the Paralympics.

In any sporting contest, single moments can change everything.

Beau Vernon and James McQuillan had their lives forever altered by devastating accidents playing major league country footy.

In 2012, Vernon, then 23, suffered a C5-C6 quadriplegia injury playing for Leongatha.

Two years later, McQuillan, aged only 20, experienced a similar serious spinal injury when he fractured the C5 vertebrae in the season-opening match for Albury.

Both were thrust into a new reality of undergoing extensive rehabilitation at the Royal Talbot Centre in Kew following lengthy stints in hospital.

But through a combination of resilience and determination over more than a decade they are about to mark their mark on the global sporting stage.

Australian wheelchair rugby representatives, James McQuillan, left, and Beau Vernon, right, are off to the Paris Paralympics. Picture: Paralympics Australia

Vernon and McQuillan have been selected to compete in Australia’s wheelchair rugby team, the Steelers, at the Paralympics starting in Paris later this month.

Vernon was the first to explore wheelchair rugby, which has been described as “murderball” or organised chaos to the more casual observer.

But he instead chose to return to football to coach Leongatha from his wheelchair.

His first two seasons in 2015-16 ended in grand final defeats before beating Maffra by one point in the 2017 flag decider.

Leongatha’s premiership team included Vernon’s younger brother Zac, who had been on the ground on the fateful day five years earlier.

He then coached Phillip Island to back-to-back flags in 2018-19.

Beau Vernon coaching Leongatha in the 2016 Gippsland league grand final against Maffra. Picture Yuri Kouzmin

Last year Vernon and his family moved to Queensland and he plays wheelchair rugby for the University of Queensland Rugby Club.

In comparison, McQuillan was a latecomer to the sport, but there was nothing slow in the adaptation phase.

He was introduced to wheelchair rugby by Melbourne competition co-ordinator Jason Lees in 2021 and only 12 months later was part of the national team’s world championships win in Denmark.

Vernon was part of Australia’s World Cup win in France last year and last month the two former country footballers were picked for their Paralympics debuts.

“With the Olympics on right now the excitement levels are starting to get a bit more real,” Vernon said.

“There have been a million silver linings through the adversity my family and I have faced over the journey.

“My life is quite challenging day-to-day not being able to do things as easy as everyone else.

“But there have been so many great opportunities, learnings and growth from what happened a few years ago.”

James McQuillan playing for the Australian Steelers wheelchair rugby team. Picture: Paralympics Australia

McQuillan echoes similar pride in a new-found sporting pursuit.

“I never thought I’d be in the position I am now,” he said.

“But I have always loved team sport and to be able to get back into that at such a high level has been a really enjoyable experience.

“It’s a great group to be around.”

The pair share a love of the sport’s rough and tumble nature.

“In terms of physicality they hit as hard as they do in ice hockey or State-of-Origin rugby league,” McQuillan said.

“When friends and family come to watch for the first time the big hits are what they notice for sure.

“But it’s also as tactical as a game of chess.

“In terms of how the ball moves it’s a combination of handball and basketball.”

Vernon and McQuillan play a similar role in the team with every player rated on their disability and impairment level.

They both have a 0.5 classification with the highest rated players being 3.5 and the four players on the court at one time must not exceed eight points.

Australia's wheelchair rugby player Beau Vernon, right, will compete in the Paris Paralympics. Picture: Paralympics Australia

The exception is when a female player is on the court with the Steelers’ Paralympics team having three women, Emilie Miller, Shae Graham and Ella Sabljak.

“I don’t have as much muscle function as a high pointer,” Vernon said.

“The aim is to get the ball in their hands.

“My role is essentially to protect those players and make screens and paths for them.

“I probably struggled with it early days because I was a midfielder in footy and getting a heap of the ball to being very much a role player for the team.

“But since being a coach and the emphasis on playing your role for the group, has made it more enjoyable coming back to rugby.

“There is huge strategy, but you’ve obviously got your big hits and entertainment of people falling out of their chairs and crashing into each other.”

Vernon and McQuillan are among five Steelers squad members competing the Paralympics for the first time with the veterans of the team being Ryley Batt and Chris Bond, who were members of the gold medal-winning teams in 2012 and 2016 and have played a combined 594 matches in green and gold.

McQuillan has represented Australia 35 times and Vernon 16.

The Steelers won Paralympic gold in 2012 and 2016 before slumping to fourth in Tokyo in 2020.

But the subsequent world titles and World Cup wins means the Steelers will go into Paris in gold medal contention.

“There definitely is a level of expectation,” McQuillan said.

“But it’s good to be in that position of being in the mix.”

The Steelers’ Paralympics’ campaigns will coincide with the start of country footy finals with Leongatha and Phillip Island well placed for a shot at premiership glory and Albury fighting to be part of the September action.