Pay it forward: What’s driving West Coast Eagles great Jeremy McGovern in retirement

It took a simple gesture to drive the reality home to Jeremy McGovern. He was no longer an AFL player. West Coast’s defensive great arrived at Crown Casino for West Coast’s John Worsfold Medal count in early September - as he has every year for 12 seasons - sat down at his table and looked down at his place card. “It said former West Coast player,” he said. “I thought ‘C’mon, it was only a couple of weeks ago I retired’.” There it was. In black and white, blue and gold. The sudden-death finals, goals after the siren, the gruelling pre-seasons, the injuries, the stress of preparing for a big-game opponent, 197 games. All rolled up in that neat package of “former”. “It is bit surreal to think it’s done. It’s been such a big part of your life. I’m very excited about the other side of life, but you just know you’re not getting it back,” he said. “Footy is such a love and passion of my life. It’s very, very hard to think I’m not going to be able to do it anymore. “Which is fine, it is what it is, but at the same time, it’s got a piece of your heart for ever.” The 2018 premiership player was forced into retirement by an AFL concussion panel after showing slow progress in the mandatory recovery period from a head knock suffered against Melbourne in round eight. After coming to terms with the end of his playing days, McGovern said it was time to repay those closest to him who had made sacrifices to help make his AFL career happen, notably his partner Madi, their children Hudson, Marlee and Lewie - and his mates. “It’ll be different, for sure. But also, there’s such this other side of life that I’ve been craving a little bit to just be a bit more normal,” McGovern said. “Spend a bit more time with friends and family. “It’s such a selfish sport. Since I was drafted, everything had to revolve around me. I’m just really looking forward to putting all of them first now. “Putting them first on the priority list of life, where I’ve been the one that everyone’s fussing over all the time.” He will also be able to spend more time on his passion project, the McGovern Foundation’s Wanderer Program, fresh from confirming a new three-year partnership extension with Mineral Resources that began in 2021. The program helps to break down the barriers faced by many West Australians in obtaining their driver’s licence, pairing participants with qualified mentors who provide expert guidance and resources and help them to achieve the required 50 hours of supervised driving. Since its inception, the McGovern Foundation has helped 689 West Australians to obtain their P-plates. Another 404 are currently in the Wanderers Program, 320 on the waiting list and 430 who want to be notified once registrations re-open. Initially servicing metropolitan Perth, the program has since reached Katanning, Narrogin, Kalgoorlie and Albany and more than 80 per cent of graduates have secured employment. “The program’s not purely there just to get a driver’s licence. We’re in the car for 50 hours with them. It’s to help mentor as well, that’s why it’s called a driver-mentor program,” McGovern said. “It’s a vast range of ages. We’ve got 16 year olds, up to a 73 year olds in the metro area. “When we started it, the program was to help them get employment, which is definitely still a big goal of ours, but the actual social impact that we’ve seen has outweighed that. “A young lady who’s got three kids, they’ve never been able to play social sport, because she can’t get them to sport. “She has to go on the train every second day to get her shopping and she can only buy what she can carry. Now she can drive to the shops, back her car up, shop for the week for the kids and take them to social sport. “Or just being able to take their family members to medical appointments, take their brother or sister or cousin to school. “The things we all take for granted and we just didn’t realise how big an impact it was going to have.” McGovern said they had long-term plans to expand the program through WA and nationally. “The demand is overwhelming. We feel bad we’ve got so many people on our wait list and we can’t access them, and we want to help,” he said. McGovern, after all, knows what it feels like to be helped at a crossroads moment. In 2014, the then rookie was sent away from the team by coach Adam Simpson to train alone, improve his fitness and lose weight after he returned from a holiday in a below-average physical condition. He regards it as a pivotal moment in his career as he worked to regain fitness and earn the team’s trust. McGovern reckons he wouldn’t have survived had he been drafted today. “I did have to fight for it and I’m pretty grateful, because I took a lot of work and a lot of people stuck their neck out and backed me in,” he said. “There was a fair period of time there that I p....d that up the wall, and I was bit disrespectful, until I was sent away. “I guess I had a penny drop moment that I had to really have a good, hard look at myself individually. And try and get something out of this opportunity. “The thing is I didn’t want to play AFL. I wasn’t running around saying ‘I’m going to play AFL when I was older’. “I played it because I liked it and I felt I was pretty good at it and for me, it was just play the game and see what happens. “From that moment, I had to change my mindset and ... then once I played, I got a taste for it and loved it. And then from there, it was just consistently trying to get better every year. “If you could, you’d go back and do it earlier. But at the same time, everyone’s got a different path and journey in football. And mine was a little bit different, and I wouldn’t change it. “But if I did have advice for some young kids coming through it is try and change your mindset if you are in that mindset, because it’s a great opportunity. The game gives you so much and just don’t waste it and this day and age. “I’m just grateful that people stuck by me and I got the opportunity to do what I actually loved and that’s playing the game.”