MY SECRET WEAPON

TASSIE GRAND FINAL HERO’S FAMILY CONNECTION

COLLINGWOOD’S high-flying defender Jeremy Howe has a star supporter in his ranks for today’s AFL Grand Final — a man also familiar with playing in front of big crowds at the MCG.

Howe is the cousin of former Australian cricketer Matthew Wade and gives the feisty wicketkeeper credit for helping him settle into Melbourne when he moved from Hobart to the big smoke at the start of his football career.

“We definitely bounced off each other and our relationship got really strong in Victoria,” Howe said, ahead of the biggest game of his career.

“Even now he has moved back [to Hobart], he’s a massive influence on me.”

IT’S the unusual impact of a feisty Test wicketkeeper on a laid-back high-flying Pie that has helped Jeremy Howe become an AFL star.

When Collingwood’s Howe takes to the MCG — and probably the heavens given his knack for taking spectacular marks — for today’s AFL grand final, his cousin and close mate Matthew Wade will be in the stands cheering him on.

When Howe was drafted out of then-TSL side Hobart by Melbourne with pick 33, his move from the tiny town of Dodges Ferry to Melbourne was made possible through Wade, who was then living in the big smoke as a Victorian cricketer.

Howe, 28, said that growing up he was the third wheel in the family group as Wade, 30, was the same age as his older brother Justin, but the now Tigers gloveman was instrumental in Howe settling and succeeding interstate.

“The relationship really got strong between me and Matt when Matt moved away to play for Victoria when he was 19 and I moved away when I was 20 a couple of years after him,” Howe told the Mercury.

“We had seven years here together, not that I saw him every day but we definitely bounced off each other and our relationship got really strong in Victoria. Even now he has moved back [to Hobart’, he’s a massive influence on me and made me feel comfortable moving over and our relationship is super.”

The one thing the duo doesn’t talk about is each other’s sport, despite having reached the pinnacle in both with Wade having represented Australia 142 times across the three formats and Howe having now played 161 games for the Demons and the Pies.

“He doesn’t give me footy advice, although he still thinks he’s the best footy player in the family,” he said.

“I don’t talk about cricket, he doesn’t talk about footy — it is just a bit of an unwritten rule, we don’t do that.

“If he wants to offer advice he’s more than happy to, but we just enjoy the time we have together, have fun and a bit of banter here and there, but that’s what makes the relationship so strong.”

It hasn’t always been speccies and success for Howe.

His first 100 games for Melbourne resulted in just 20 wins before switching clubs to the team he barracked for as a child, Collingwood, in 2015.

But it was the shock loss of his mother, Kim, to a heart attack just two years ago that really rocked the Howe family.

Her memory is never closer than during the big moments, such as qualifying for Howe’s first AFL grand final.

“It is just significant because it is a moment you want to share with the people you care the most about and the people who care the most about you,” Howe said.

“That’s what hits you dur- ing the week, especially after a win when you are in the changerooms with the people you care about.

“The obvious thing there is I miss my mum and everyone misses her. It is a pretty tough situation at times.

“But we are a strong family and been able to pull through the past two years and rely on each other to get through.”

Outwardly, even in all the hurly burly of preparing for a grand final with one of Australia’s biggest sporting clubs, Howe still remains the kid from Dodges Ferry who honed his high-marking skills on his brother during kick-to-kick after school with his dad, Andy.

He joked he’s “normally more concerned about who is going to host the grand final party”.

His journey to the big time was not a normal pathway.

A broken leg as an 18-yearold ruined his first year for the Tasmanian under-18s team, his second as an over-ager was “awful” by his own determination.

He left Dodges in the SFL and joined Hobart in the TSL, where his blond tips and high marking were spotted by the AFL Demons, despite the Tigers winning just five games for the year.

“I remember watching it [the AFL draft] at Wrest Point with friends and family and not having much confidence of getting picked up at all,” he said. “It was early in the second round and I wasn’t even watching and the next minute I was on my back getting tackled by three of my mates. “That was eight years ago. “Time flies when you think about it.

“It has been a bit of a whirlwind but to look back and think now I’m playing in a grand final is pretty special.

“Clearly you want the ultimate, you don’t want to come second.”

Asked if he had a hanger in him for the biggest day on the AFL calendar, Howe gave the response everyone would hope for: “It would be rude not to.”