He’s the son of a Collingwood gun.
And not too long ago, Ned McKeown used to brush shoulders and turn heads with Magpies aristocracy during his time in the VFL.
Fast-forward a decade and he is still twisting necks, albeit in different colours and in different surroundings.
McKeown has quickly become one of the recruiting coups of the Picola District Football League, booting Sherrins through country posts at a rate of knots for Tungamah.
One hundred goals later McKeown has become the first senior player across the local landscape to notch triple figures this year.
The bruising Bear ended the home and away season agonisingly close to the ton on 98.
But in Tungamah’s elimination final bout with Picola United, McKeown crossed the threshold and helped his side to a semi-final berth in the process.
That’s not the interesting bit.
As Tungamah co-coach Sam Ferguson pointed out, when McKeown was recruited from Swan Hill, he was far from the fully-fledged Bear in the square he is now.
“When we recruited him at the start of the year, he’d played the majority of his footy as a defender — but he had gone forward at times,” Ferguson said.
“We played him back in the early part of the year and once we realised how dangerous he was forward, we sort of left him there.
“He’s kicked 100, so it’s worked out really well.”
The discovery was less tactical adjustment than alchemy.
McKeown booted six goals in his first three games before collecting bags of eight, 14 and 11 in the three after that.
Now Tungamah’s leading man, it was never doubted that McKeown, a footballer raised in the Northern Knights pathway before going on to be a fixture in the highly-touted Northern and Ovens and Murray leagues, could crack the ton.
And yet, the goals are only half the story.
Ferguson sees McKeown’s impact in the younger players who straighten their spines when they run beside him, serving as a leader to the young Bears at the club.
“He’s had a massive impact,” Ferguson said.
“Obviously having played a really good standard of footy throughout his career, he’s been able to bring that to the country Picola level, and really help the younger players around walk a bit taller I guess.”
Tungamah is walking taller, all right.
The Bears are strolling into a semi-final in a year that threatened to be more painful than picnic-like after losing Tom Lidgerwood, Sean Johns and Brett Smith to season-ending injuries.
But with teeth gritted, heels dug in and a 100-goal forward capable of unleashing bottled lightning, there’s no telling how far Tungamah can go.
“Overall, it’s pretty positive; it’s an exciting time of year,” Ferguson said.
“We’ve had to go through a fair bit of adversity this year in terms of injuries; we’ve had five or six guys who’ve had their seasons brought to an end with longer-term injury, so that’s been a bit challenging to deal with.
“But we’re just making the most of what we’ve got available.
“I think we’re really galvanised as a group — so hopefully we can keep that winning momentum going and see how far we can go.”
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