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How ‘Big Boy’ nickname has stuck with ex-Saint and Hawk in retirement
SEN • May 4th, 2025 5:56 pm
Throughout the 2010s, there probably wasn’t an AFL nickname more recognisable than ‘Big Boy’ Ben McEvoy.
The moniker was given to the towering ruckman by commentator Brian Taylor, who first called McEvoy ‘Big Boy’ during his time at St Kilda from 2008 to 2013, and it grew even bigger once he moved to Hawthorn from 2014 to 2022.
With the nickname both rhyming and clearly suiting the player himself, who was very well built and stood at 200cm, McEvoy admits that the label almost replaced his name entirely.
He discussed the famous nickname with Sam Edmund on This is Your Journey – thanks to Tobin Brothers, with McEvoy even revealing that he still gets called it to this day despite being retired for three seasons.
Edmund; “The ‘Big Boy’ McEvoy stuff just rolled off the tongue.
“Certainly outside your club, it almost replaced your name at one stage there. Do you still get it in retirement?”
McEvoy: “Oh, yeah, absolutely. It’s very, very commonplace.
“It was something that never really took off until I got to Hawthorn, I'm not sure why.
“Even certainly within the four walls as well it was very commonplace.
“I had a delivery driver turn up from my farm here the other day, he gets out and goes, ‘Oh, Big Boy!’.”
Edmund; “Is it true it got so big for a time that even the coaches were using it?
McEvoy: “Yeah, absolutely, my coaches, teammates and staff all used it, that was very funny.”
McEvoy discussed his career and much more on this week’s episode, check it out here.
Listen to McEvoy’s full chat with Sam Edmund below.
