Sydney has the Richards brothers, Essendon the Merretts and Melbourne the McDonalds. But there are no siblings in the AFL quite like the Beams brothers at Brisbane.
Sporting distinctive tattoos, Claye and Dayne have become just the third pair of brothers to represent Brisbane since they merged with Fitzroy in 1996.
Following the Voss brothers and the fearless Scott brothers, Claye and Dayne took the field against Dayne’s old side Collingwood in Round 1 with both players engaging in some push-and-shove with the elder brother’s former teammates.
Speaking to the Channel Seven team as part of the #Discovered series, Dayne says he doesn’t know how he’ll react when the opposition get stuck into his younger brother.
“I’ve got the protective instinct and I’m pretty protective of the people I care about. It’d be funny if people go after him, we’ll see how I react,” Dayne says.
“It’s an instinctive thing; you can’t really predict what you’re going to do.”
Born 19 months apart, the Beams boys have had different paths into the AFL circle.
Dayne, 25, was drafted by the Pies in 2008 as a second-round draft choice and immediately found a place in the senior side, playing 18 games in his debut season.
On the other hand, Claye, 23, was a rookie selection, and has fought his way to 31 AFL matches since making his debut in 2011 – with injuries taking their toll in his first four years at the club.
“I’m pretty protective of the people I care about. It’d be funny if people go after him, we’ll see how I react” – Dayne Beams
With Dayne’s successes, it’s little wonder Claye believes he is the favourite member of the family.
“Mum calls him ‘Dayney boy’ and he’s the favourite son/child,” Claye says.
“He’s very caring, very family orientated, and he’d do anything for his family. It’s probably his biggest trait; he’s got a massive heart.”
After six years at Collingwood, Dayne decided he wanted to return to his home in Queensland to be closer to his ailing father, requesting a trade to join his brother at the Lions.
But, as he points out, there was another reason he wanted to continue his AFL career in his home state.
“Part of my decision to come to Brisbane was to be closer to my family and probably, in particular, to be closer to mum. She doesn’t get as much credit these days because we naturally like to talk about dad.”
And Claye agrees, saying their parents always had them at the forefront of their life.
Claye says, “Playing rep footy we had to travel and mum never earned much. So she was working two or three jobs baking cakes and doing whatever she could to make sure we never missed out.”
“As parents, the one thing they made sure of is never letting us miss out on anything.”