Former AFL player turned farmer Ben McEvoy is excited about getting back onto the land full-time.
That's the main message he put across at his presentation at the Birchip Cropping Group's Main Field Day last week, focusing on how he plans to apply lessons learnt through his football career to a quieter time on his farm in Central Victoria.
In a wide-ranging presentation that focused on how a success-type mindset can play a role in future achievements on-farm, Mr McEvoy spoke to many farmers in the crowd about what he learned through the years.
The young days
The ability to go to someone for support and ideas to better oneself was a fundamental lesson Mr McEvoy learned at the beginning of his football career.
He believes it's easily transferable to a career in farming.
"No matter what we do in life, it's really important for people to call on at the right time," he said.
"The decision making [aspect of farming] is similar between football and farming, and I's one of those occupations where it is 24/7 and one of those things that don't stop."
Mr McEvoy grew up on a 320-acre property breeding beef cattle and grew up as one of four kids in the Kiewa Valley region of Dederang.
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Farming was "in his blood", and he spent every spare moment outside of school on the farm helping his dad, although, throughout his playing years, he said he found himself "mostly absent".
It was particularly trying throughout the early part of his memorable AFL career, and the need to get back to the farm meant some quick lessons learned when confronted with intense training life at St Kilda.
"I wasn't one of those kids who had a childhood dream to play AFL footy, but I certainly worked hard and looked forward to my first opportunity," he said.
"It got really tough, really quick, being a country boy having to move down to Melbourne and [a couple of weeks in] in my first pre-season," he said.
"I had a weekend off, I jumped in the ute, and went home for the weekend and came back into training on Monday and I did my hamstring."
Talking with the coaching staff about the injury, the discussion turned to what he did on the weekend.
When Mre McEvoy told them he visited his home town Dederang - an eight-hour journey round trip which would be normality for farmers - a crossroad moment came to him.
"Staying that long in a car, and then turning up to training, they told me to 'not do that again' and being an 18 year-old kid and being stuck in Melbourne meant I didn't have an outlet," he said.
"So I did really go through some really tough times at that stage."
Knowing your role
As the years progressed, more critical decisions were to be made as Mr McEvoy's AFL career progressed.
"We had a sort of trademark that governed our behaviour and the way we had expectations of each other, as to knowing what your job was and how you were supposed to go about things," he said.
During his St Kilda days, he credited Nick Riewoldt as one of the most unbelievable athletes, citing his ability to be driven throughout both games and training continuously.
But he pointed out that those ideals ran parallel with the farming life and drew on his experiences being in and out of the Hawthorn's 2014 premiership side with injury and being called up to play in the grand final in that year was an "emotional journey".
"That was really special, but one of the things I took away from that year was... I basically been taking it easy because you sometimes get so tired towards the end of the football season, and you try to bank in so many credits that you can to get yourself into the finals," he said.
"So when it comes to farming that is one of the things that tranfers - there is no time to rest on your laurels and taking the easy way out," he said.
"I've said it time and time again, and I have seen farmers do it before when they think 'should I or shouldn't I do an extra little bit... or put that extra bit of fly strike treatment on sheep', so they are not mucking around at harvest time.
"I find that I was constantly making those decisions about what is most important in a football sense and there was always those little decisions too about what you needed to eat or what time you should be going to bed."
Finding purpose
Mr McEvoy said in his speech that he decided to invest in a property in Joel South, 28 kilometres east of Stawell, and still tried to mix spending time there combined through his last years at Hawthorn.
He credited his sister and brother-in-law for helping keep the property in order in the last few years of his playing career, but he is very much ready to now "stand on his own two feet".
When asked about what lessons he has learned on-farm that he would like to pass on to younger AFL players, it was to make sure there was purpose outside of football.
"I get so many people reaching out and congratulating me on my career, saying that 'it must be so nice to put your feet up and spend time with your family,'" he said.
"But I have never been busier in my life, going back and forth with the farm, doing a bit of house renovations and still having some commitments in Melbourne,"
And with a fourth baby due in about four weeks, hay and harvest looming, Christmas, and the multiple challenges posed by farming, Mr McEvoy says it is daunting, but it all gives him something to look forward to.
"It is hectic, but at the opposite end of the spectrum to what I know many players are like who come out of the system, in terms of purpose... some come out and say 'what now?'" he said.
"And I realise it's sometimes not that easy, and not everyone grows up with something in their blood like I had with farming, but I also think too many don't try hard enough to find something else [once they finish their AFL career].
"And if they do want to be in football for life, they don't invest in something that's going to upskill them to stay in football if they want a job in the game, but it is a hard one, because not everyone is like me."
Moving back to the land
When purchasing his Joel South farm in 2013, he admitted that he was "just mucking around" and finding his way back to farming but along the way, he invested further into the property and that farming blood that flowed through him as a youngster came rushing back.
"Next minute it's ten years later, we have added to it, and we'll be moving there in a couple of weeks, and I'll be a farmer," he said.
"We bought five different blocks and put together about 2500 acres that I have been cropping half of it and in the last few years have also been building up some sheep," he said.
Mr McEvoy is well aware of the corner he is turning into, away from the large crowds in the stands and rigorous training schedule.
While the regular AFL seasons will no longer be a part of his life, he said he is ready to dedicate himself to contending and competing with mother nature and his new life on the land.
"I'm excited for what is ahead for me in my life... but in a way I'm also excited to get the hell out of Melbourne - it's been a long 15 years."