GIANTS Backline Coach Mark McVeigh has paid tribute to his brother Jarrad, who on Thursday announced he’d retire at season’s end.
Jarrad McVeigh is one of the Swans’ all-time greats having played 324 games and co-captaining their 2012 premiership team.
“I’m extremely proud of him, the thing that stands out for me is the way he’s done it,” Mark McVeigh said.
“He’s done it in the right manner in the way he’s played the game.
“He’s been very humble, and he’s gone about it quietly, and in a professional manner.
“He deserves all the plaudits.”
Mark McVeigh – who has been part of the GIANTS’ coaching staff since 2014 – said his brother has built a strong legacy across his 17 seasons in the AFL.
When the two brothers grew up playing for the Pennant Hills Demons in Sydney’s Northern Suburbs there weren’t many role models for young footballers in an NRL dominated state to look up to.
McVeigh believe the impact of his brother being a Swans captain born and raised in New South Wales helped inspire others.
“I don’t think it can be measured (Jarrad McVeigh’s impact on AFL in NSW),” Mark McVeigh said.
“That’s probably how significant it is. You probably can’t measure it because of the amount of kids he could have influenced or inspired that are from New South Wales who potentially thought ‘I’m no chance’ yet they saw the Swans captain from the Central Coast.
“He’s had a significant impact and he’s someone who wouldn’t really understand that himself.”
Since hanging up the boots after his own successful career with Essendon, Mark McVeigh has had the experience of coaching against his brother on a number of occasions.
“I was always weary of his ability when we played them and obviously when I played against him when I was at the Bombers as well,” he said.
“It was always a bit funny coming up against the Swans while I was playing.
“You’d have a coach talking about him and if they were going to aggressively attack him and you’d go ‘oh, okay that’s my brother’ but now having coached against him a number of times now I’ve had to target him and had to limit what he does on the field.
“It’s always weird and a funny feeling but in saying that there’s always been a tremendous respect there.”
With the GIANTS and the Swans facing off in Sydney Derby XVIII Mark McVeigh expects his brother’s announcement will help fire up the Swans ahead of the important clash at GIANTS Stadium on Saturday.
While Jarrard won’t play as he recovers from a calf injury Mark expects Thursday’s announcement will add to the already competitive nature of the game.
“It’ll be significant I would have thought, but they’ll want to go about it the right way,” he said.
“I dare say the last game will be the bigger one than this one because they know that’s it.
“There’ll be a significant impact on player’s mindsets for sure and we’ll have to be good enough to weather that storm.
“Their form stacks up at the moment, they only lost to Fremantle by a point over there and then they lose by 27 points to Geelong who are arguably the form team of the competition at the moment. We’re going to have to be sharp.”
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