James Magner had missed one game of football through injury in 10 years before hurting his right wrist tendon while playing for Port Melbourne in Round 3 of the Peter Jackson VFL season.
As Round 10 rolls around, the ex-Melbourne AFL player is now set for another 10-12 weeks on the sidelines after recently undergoing surgery on the wrist (which wasn’t healing naturally) and is hating seeing his teammates take the field without him.
But he may not have always felt that way.
Following his delisting from the Demons at the end of the 2013 season, the 27-year-old Magner found himself feeling slightly bitter about the way his time at the top level ended.
It affected the start to his fourth life as a VFL player at North Port Oval in 2014, after stints with Frankston (2007-09), Sandringham (2010-11) and Casey (during his time with Melbourne in 2012-13).
“I lacked a little bit of motivation initially,” Magner said of his drop back to the VFL.
He was still physically capable of playing the tough in-and-under brand of footy he has become renowned for over 121 VFL games, but mentally, Magner needed a freshen-up.
Of all people, it was his grandma who provided it in late June last year.
“I went to Ireland for my grandma’s 80th birthday and it sort of refreshed me mentally,” Magner said.
“I didn’t really think about football during the trip because I spent a lot of time with family and I hadn’t seen them in so long, so I essentially forgot about football for two or three weeks.
“Coming back, I realised how much I did miss football and how much I enjoyed it.”
Magner truly hit his straps upon his return to Australia, being named in Port Melbourne’s best players in seven of the Borough’s last nine home-and-away games and playing an instrumental part in the club’s top-placed finish and run to a preliminary final.
But after last season’s high of falling back in love with footy, for now Magner has to watch as seventh-placed Port Melbourne (5-3) attempts to make it into yet another finals series.
It means he has time to participate in the VicHealth H30 Challenge, a campaign encouraging Victorians to replace every sugary drink they would normally have with water for 30 days.
Magner is an H30 Challenge ambassador and said that due to his focus on healthy living, he’d so far found it pretty easy to avoid sugary drinks just a few days into his challenge.
“That’s my lifestyle anyway; I’m dead-against soft drinks and sugary drinks,” Magner said.
“I started cutting them out coming into playing in the TAC Cup when there was more of a focus on getting fit and healthy to play good footy and to try to get drafted.”
Magner’s injury means he’ll also have the time to try to convert his teammates to drinking water.
“There’s a few who enjoy their energy drinks at Port Melbourne, so I’ll try to get them on board.”
James Magner has been selected as an Ambassador to support VicHealth’s H30 Challenge - the official hydration partner for the 2015 Peter Jackson VFL season - encouraging fellow Victorian footballers and club supporters to switch sugary drinks for water.
The AFL Victoria H30 Challenge Ambassadors are documenting their challenge across social media, using the #h30challege hashtag.
Clubs have the chance to win a club care pack consisting of: a H30 Challenge 4 x 4 Marquee, water bottles and Sherrin training footballs. Rally your club to sign up to the H30 Challenge - the club with the most participants taking the Challenge by July 30 will win.
Sign up at www.h30challenge.com.au
Last Modified on 03/07/2015 09:20
