From fence posts to stolen generation: Tassie footy icons share their story

Hosted by Alister Nicholson, The Heart of It: A distinctly Tasmanian conversation explores the stories behind current and former icons of the sport, discussing their journeys from Tasmania to the mainland.

One of the episodes is with Collingwood premiership player Jeremy Howe, who opened up about the loss of his mother, Kim.

"I used to find talking about my mum really challenging since her passing, and that was seven years ago now," Howe told Nicholson.

"The way that they work together and brought us up ... we always felt valued and loved, which is all you ever want as a kid.

"I owe everything to both of them and it's one of those ones, it's a shame that my mum passed on because I knew that they would be together forever.

"It's been a really hard time. If I was talking about mum, even probably two years ago, I'd be a mess and it'd be all over the shop. I can definitely still fall into that space at times."

The 240-game forward-turned-defender revealed he contemplated retirement from the AFL following a broken arm against Geelong last year and he gave an insight into his Dodges Ferry upbringing which shaped his unique playing style.

"We'd have a telegraph pole we'd use as one post and then literally would just jam a fence post in next to it," he said.

"But it never used to be any further than maybe two meters wide, so me and my brother would just live out there and have endless shots with goals that were probably one fifth the size (of standard-sized goals).

"I still managed to miss plenty don't get me wrong, but I think probably as a kid growing up I have never been in a more highly-competitive environment and that was like the family, everyone loved doing everything full tilt."

North Melbourne's Mia King has already made a name for herself as a bullocking inside midfielder in just four AFLW seasons.

But the Launceston product, whose next game will be her 50^th at the highest level, reflected on her journey of identity after finding out she was an Indigenous Australian.

"In year nine [her mother] told me and (sister) Molly about our Indigenous ancestry from my father's side," King said.

"It was pretty hard because ... my grandmother was part of the stolen generation, so she was forcibly removed as a young girl from her family home in Mataranka and then dad was forcibly removed again from her, she was unable to keep him.

"There's been two generations of that dislocation, so I think that was definitely a lot to come to terms with and I think that it was hard to figure out what to do from there."

King revealed that due to her grandmother's sickness when she found out and because her parents had separated at a young age, it was difficult to learn about her family's history.

"We didn't know much about our cultural heritage, but we knew that we had this amazing, beautiful story behind us, so I think it has been this unraveling and learning about this side and our journey."

While she initially reported her Indigenous background to those around her, doubts from those who looked at her skin complexion and red hair resulted in a loss of confidence.

"I almost felt myself refrain in some situations of talking about it and telling people about it," she said.

"It probably wasn't until year 12 or after that I started to go back down that path and really visit it and bring it up and start to learn more about it and talk more about it."

While for Richmond legend Royce Hart, who won four VFL premierships despite not owning his first football until the age of eight, barn ceilings were his goal-posts growing up.

Having to hitchhike to improve his craft, word of Hart's ability soon spread and a scout from Victoria was sent down to watch him play one Saturday.

Except Hart was playing on Sunday.

Perhaps embarrassed, the scout signed off on having watched the Whitefoord-born Clarence product and he was shipped off to play VFL.

Hart also recalled the lack of gear that juniors had to work with.

"My first pair of football boots were the boots I wore to school," Hart said.

"We used to put leather stops with nails in and I put stops in for the game on the Saturday and take them out on the Sunday when we had school.

"If you didn't get it right with the nails ... you'd play with blood coming out of your foot!"

The Heart of It releases its first three episodes on Monday, May 13, at 10am.