EASTER Monday previously meant a day off when Shaun Mannagh was the sports coordinator at Altona College.

Back then, he played on Good Friday for Werribee in the VFL. Before then, Easter Sunday fixtures were once a big deal when he played for Lavington in the Ovens and Murray League. 

But there is a difference between playing in front of a few thousand at Myrtleford, Yarrawonga or Point Gellibrand and kicking the winning goal on the MCG in front of 88,746 fans in the traditional Easter Monday blockbuster against Hawthorn. A seismic difference. 

With just under three minutes on the clock, that goal proved to be the final score in a pulsating finish. The clincher.

Twelve months after being the carryover emergency, Mannagh finished with 3.2 from 17 disposals, nine score involvements and seven tackles (five inside 50) to collect a perfect 10 coaches' votes from Chris Scott and Sam Mitchell. 

"I just had to make sure it bounced through. I didn't hit it that well. I was lucky it bounced through. Paddy [Dangerfield] and Tys [Stengle] work to actually get the ball out to me is what we should be looking at. I was just lucky to be on the end of it," Mannagh told AFL.com.au on Monday night.

"It really is a privilege to play in games like this. Last week to open Gather Round. I'm lucky to be at such a great club that gets these opportunities. You just have to make the most of them because then you get presented with more of them. We play on that mantra so to try and step up in these big games is nice as well."

After playing 12 games in his first season at Kardinia Park, Mannagh put his head down over the off-season and turned up for day one of the pre-season in the best shape of his life. A week later, Geelong discovered a stress fracture in the navicular bone of his foot.

Instead of building on a blistering finish to 2024, Mannagh spent Christmas in a moon boot and almost the entire pre-season away from the main group. He started the year in the VFL, played one practice match and two games for the Cats' reserves before returning against Melbourne in round four. 

"I missed every week bar one," Mannagh said. "I did the first week and then missed everything. I had a little niggle from late last year, so it's not ideal coming off no pre-season, but the strength and conditioning team, the physios and medical staff helped me do a lot of work off legs with cross training. 

"I had a little stress fracture in the navicular, so it's obviously one of those spots where if you don't get it right you can be in a bit of trouble. Lucky I'm in really good hands here so I did what they told me. Little bit of push back here and there but I'm back now and I have to make the most of it."

Mannagh made his debut against St Kilda as the sub in round one last year, then played a full game the following week against Adelaide before being sent back to the league he'd just been recruited from. He spent the next four months in the VFL working on the defensive side of his game to allow him to fit in a forward half system built around Tyson Stengle, Gryan Miers, Brad Close, Ollie Henry and Ollie Dempsey.

Scott recalled him in round 17 and hasn't stopped picking him after Mannagh laid 14 tackles against Hawthorn in his return game and became one of the best pressure players in the AFL across the final months of last season, culminating in a standout qualifying final performance against Port Adelaide, where he kicked three goals from 23 disposals at Adelaide Oval.

"You want to play well in big games," he said. "We were lucky that the whole team played well so individuals do shine. I think in the back half of the year, when I got back in, I found my feet and it really stemmed from there.

"I had a lot of confidence coming into this year that I could build on that and go to another level. I think I'm only three games into this year and only scratching the surface."

The other thing that changed during the long wait to get back into Geelong's 23 last winter was the birth of Shaun and Sarah Mannagh's first child. Marni arrived at the end of May and was waiting in the rooms on Monday night to embrace her dad after one of the biggest moments of his footy career.

"Playing out there is really special but sharing it with the family is really nice. She is only 10 months old and once she was born that's when I started playing again, so there might be something in that," he said while Marni patiently waited for her dad to finish this interview. 

"When she is at the footy we usually win and I go well, so she's just got to keep coming each week even though she's tired. My wife does an amazing job – she has to sit up in the stands and deal with her – but the greatest gift is having a little daughter. To share these moments with them is the coolest part."

Werribee has delivered a production line of mature-age talent from the VFL to the AFL since it ended its alignment with North Melbourne and became a standalone club again in 2017.

It was already one before then, to be fair. Michael Barlow, James Podsiadly and Dale Morris are all famous exports from Chirnside Park. But there is a fresh generation of 'Bees' in the AFL. Melbourne pair Aidan Johnson and Jack Henderson both played in the drought-breaking premiership last year alongside Sydney half-back Riley Bice. 

Mannagh had to wait almost a decade to be drafted after his time at the Murray Bushrangers finished at the end of 2015. He started with North Albury in the Ovens and Murray League, then had a stint with Richmond's VFL team around time with his home club, Lavington. But things changed for him at Werribee. 

"It has always been a bit of a destination club for people to get drafted and that was part of the reason for me going there originally across from Richmond," he said.

"It is just an amazing club with the right people in the right spots. They are setup for long on-field and off-field success. You will only keep seeing people getting drafted from there. It's incredible what the Bees are doing."

Days like Easter Monday are a time to reflect on how far Mannagh has come. For a long time, the AFL was just beyond his reach. Even in 2023, the Western Bulldogs showed interest before the Mid-Season Rookie Draft, but ultimately selected Caleb Poulter instead. He had to wait until that November when Geelong selected him with pick No.36.

Werribee captain Dom Brew has been on the cusp for years, but is still waiting for a chance that might never arrive. 

"Spot on. I went through the same thing in 2023. Mid-season draft I thought I was a really big chance with a club and it didn't go my way," he said.

"It's one of those things that you can either dig back in and prove that you still deserve an opportunity, which Dom is doing right now. He is playing some really good footy, hopefully he gets his opportunity because he certainly deserves it. If not, he has given it absolutely everything and he is a star of the VFL at bare minimum. Fingers crossed for him."

Nothing has come easy for Mannagh. But like the long list of mature-age recruits who played for Geelong on Easter Monday – Tom Stewart, Tom Atkins, Brad Close, Mark Blicavs and Lawson Humphries – nothing is ever taken for granted.