Ivan Maric was born in Melbourne but maintains strong ties to his Croatian heritage. In 2008 the Crows ruckman went to visit the birthplace of his parents and met his extended family for the very first time. "It was a pretty emotional trip for my parents and it was good to see the history behind their families and the villages where they grew up. They don't have a clue what AFL is over there. I took a football with me to show them, but I probably should have taken a DVD instead. They couldn't believe how hard and tough the ball was because they're all used to soccer. I showed them how we kick the ball and they were all pretty amazed."

Maric is a practising Roman Catholic and is a regular at church services. "Growing up I used to go to church every Sunday. I did my confirmation, my communion and all that sort of stuff. I don't go get to go to church as much as I should but I try and go every time I'm back in Victoria. I follow Catholic traditions and I'm also trying to learn how to cook some Croatian meals. Mum is teaching me as much as she can. I want to learn so I can pass on a little bit of it to my kids one day. I don't want the culture and tradition to get lost because it's really important to me."

Last week he also put his cooking skills to the test at a soup kitchen in Adelaide, as part of his work with the Ladder program for homeless youth. "Working at the soup kitchen was a real eye-opener. The picture I had in my head of what homeless people would look like was so off. They all seemed to be just normal people and it was really sad. I enjoy my work with the Ladder program. Eventually, I'd like to get involved in outdoor recreation too. I want to keep working with disengaged youths, but incorporate the outdoors as well and maybe form a partnership through my footy connections."

The 24-year-old is in a happy relationship with his girlfriend, but will have to deal with a break-up of sorts when he moves out of teammate Chris Knights' house. "Chris and I have been living together for over four years, but we're actually 'splitting up' which is going to be weird. We both bought places in Adelaide and mine's a bit closer to the club, so I thought I'd move in there with my girlfriend and save myself some time on the drive down. I think we'll be OK."

Maric is one of the most popular players at West Lakes. He's renowned for his dry sense of humour, but says there's nothing funny about people who get his name wrong. (It’s pronounced e-Vahn not i-Van). "Everyone probably gets it wrong the first time, which is understandable but I get a little bit annoyed when I introduce myself to someone and explain how I say my name and they still say it wrong. It happened at the club's family day last month. The compere on stage got my name wrong for the second year in a row. The guys always get stuck into me about it, but on that occasion someone went up and told him and he actually apologised, so that was funny."