Isaac Heeney was 12 years old, nursing a broken hand and sitting in a mostly empty grandstand with his mother Rochelle.
A junior football carnival was playing out in front of them that he was supposed to be captaining an under-12s team in, before suffering his injury in one of the early games.
Then up walked a man, seemingly unaware of how many seating options he had, to slide in next to the Heeneys.
“We were like, ‘Go and sit somewhere else; you don’t have to sit in our laps’,” Heeney, 26, recalled, laughing about the memory, which he said made him “feel old”.
“Then he introduced himself: ‘I’m Chris Smith from the Sydney Swans Academy. I’ve been watching you for a little while.’”
Heeney’s life changed forever in that moment. The Swans had found a future superstar, one who will play his 150th AFL game at the SCG on Sunday against Collingwood.
Rochelle, a dairy farmer, started working half-days on Thursdays to drive Heeney and his brother, Beau, two-and-a-half hours each way from the outskirts of Newcastle to Sydney for a 90-minute Academy training session.
Their dad, Adam, a butcher, would sometimes drive them as well but also spent countless hours with his sons kicking the Sherrin on their hobby farm.
“I had the best childhood in the world. It was a really simple way of living but it was epic,” Heeney said.
“My parents were so supportive and loving and it was simple and cheap. We never had much money… we’d come home, eat sausages for dinner and always be outdoors.
“Mum and dad, being sporty people themselves, loved being outside and having fun with us, too.”
Their home doubled as a field of sporting dreams and was the scene of all sorts of other “sketchy” adventures, from tree parachuting to propelling into a dam at full speed on a bike.
Heeney only half-jokingly reflects on how Beau almost killed himself a couple of times.
“We built a ramp that we would go down on this hill and it was sort of like a quarter pipe but shooting off into the dam,” he said.
“You’d probably be a good four or five meters in the air with a pushbike that had a couple of milk cartons on it, so it didn’t sink to the bottom and just launches into the dam.
“Dad, Beau and I would also set these star pickets as goals and we’d just kick the footy to each other every afternoon and pretend to take hangers on each other – just like kids do.”
But not every kid is as gifted as Heeney.
He once kicked a ridiculous 68 goals in 12 games of junior soccer, and averaged 216 with the bat while playing up an age group but still in the top division.
A friendship developed in those soccer days with a boy who lived down the road, plus a family decision to delay him playing either of the rugby codes for fear of head knocks were critical in setting Heeney on his AFL path.
That friend was Will Quade, the grand-nephew of Rick Quade, the inaugural coach of the rebranded Sydney Swans’ team in 1982.
Will’s cousin also just so happened to be Charlie Dixon, who has played 187 games and counting for Port Adelaide and Gold Coast.
In a further twist of fate, big brother Beau ended up marrying Rick Quade’s niece, Amanda. But it wasn’t all smooth sailing.
Will wanted to start playing Australian rules football and asked Heeney if he wanted to join him, so they headed down to sign up for Wallsend Swans.
The problem was there weren’t enough players to field a team – participation numbers have skyrocketed in Newcastle in recent years – meaning they instead ended up at Cardiff Hawks, which now has bragging rights as Heeney’s junior club.
“I loved it from the get-go, and credit to Cardiff Hawks. It was a really fun, family sort of vibe and I think that’s why mum and dad loved it, too,” he said.
“Everyone knew each other and was really welcoming and they were amazing for me.
“At the same time, I was the only kid in my primary school who played it, then at high school there was only a handful of us out of like 1000 kids.”
Heeney’s star rose quickly but his Academy invitation came at just the right time, as he started playing rugby league at school.
But not rugby league or any of the gentle teasing about him playing “aerial ping pong” dissuaded him from chasing his AFL dream.
Heeney became not only the standout Sydney junior but arguably in the entire country for his 2014 draft year, when the likes of Paddy McCartin, Christian Petracca, Angus Brayshaw and Darcy Moore were also selected.
He has lived up to the hype and inked a bumper new six-year deal worth about $900,000 per annum on season eve this year that adds up to his growing importance at the Swans, which goes well beyond the field.
In Heeney, Sydney has a homegrown, Academy-bred star with an overflowing highlight reel to win over the masses.
The Swans now have a series of Academy graduates on their list, from Heeney to Callum Mills, Nick Blakey, Errol Gulden, Braeden Campbell, James Bell, Sam Wicks and more.
But does Heeney himself realize how meaningful he has become in the club’s bigger picture?
“I know there’s some significance there, absolutely. But I just look at myself as another player and whenever I can give back, whether that’s to the club or the fans, I definitely will,” he said.
“I know that I’m a decent role model to a lot of kids out there and I understand there’s a fair significance I’ve got around the club. I don’t know how to word it but it’s humbling.”
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