Q: Which was the first team you played for?
Arthurton FC which was part of the Yorke Valley Football League on Yorke Peninsula.

Q: How many A grade games did you play and who did you play for?
Most of them with Marble Range at just under 200, 120 with Arthurton and Maitland (don’t ask!!!), and 30 for the Riverton Hawks. 350 makes it close, no PlayerHQ back then.

Q: How many A Grade Premierships did you win with Marble Range?
6 Total: 1997/98, 2000, 2004, 2006/07.
Should also mention Arthurton 1998 and Maitland 1994.

Q: How many Mortlock Shields have you been involved in and in what capacity?
Fortunate to play the Mortlock carnival from 1995-98, then went cray fishing which meant I wasn’t on land for the next few years. Returned from overseas 2001, and while time shy with starting a couple of business, I still never refused a call up for the Districts family. Can be a tough gig getting through a Mortlock carnival, so I would always make sure I would do what I could for the coaches and group through the early 2000’s.

Then 2009-2011 I was the Marble Range FC Mortlock delegate/selector during a period when it was a combined Lincoln team. I was fortunate enough to be the runner for the group coach by Glyn Owen, and what an amazing ‘buy in’ by everyone involved. Every single football person involved was solely focused on being the best version of Port Lincoln Footy possible. It was, and still is a really special group to be involved with.

Q: Best player(s) you played with?
Geez, that’s a bit tough. Grahame Charlton when he had his tail feathers out was pretty good to watch. Megs Enright could do stuff that would make you shake your head but could also back it up after Mortlock/EP/State duties. Super resilient. Further back, David Underwood for Maitland and Billy Locan from Riverton. Not many teams you get to run around with a bloke that’s got 300 VFL/AFL games under their belt.

Q: Best player(s) you played against?
Jamie Thomas from Willaston FC was a monster and brought a whole different level of crazy to the oval. Richard Jones was a beast. Loved Matt Goodwins work ethic. For me he’s the great example for young footballers that results will come from effort.

Q: Who was the best and/or favourite coach(es) you ever had?
Probably my early coaches, Ian Westbrook at Arthurton and Billy Locan at Riverton. One a life farmer, the other a VFL legend, both a ‘line in the sand’ approach. Zooma Owen, while not having the playing resume of other coaches, had coached club juniors, rep juniors, reserves, seniors, Mortlock teams. A bloke that loves footy and has always given back 10-fold what he’s been given from the game.

Q: What advice would you give to the next generation of footballers?
Never forget the reason you play…. You love the game!!!!

Q: Are there any game rules you would like to see changed?
Not really. Would be more around celebrating the umpires of our game to make sure we have people wanting to be part of the programme. Without them, it doesn’t really matter what rules we have.

Q: What is your most memorable game(s) as a player?
1988 premiership for Arthurton as a 16-year-old will always be a special one. 1995 first Mortlock game against Far West was the hottest non-grand final games I’ve played in. The early premierships with Marble Range are with my closest mates. The 2006 premiership was pretty special. To be the captain, have Zooma as coach and Chad and Todd both play. Cool family moment. But how do you pick from the 8 premiership games, not to mention the
ANZAC Day games. Too hard.

Whilst living in Atlanta, USA the 2001 season was something very special. Being player /coach part a of inaugural season for Atlanta Kookaburra’s as part of SE American Football League made up of ourselves, two sides from Tennessee, one each from North Carolina and South Carolina.

Flying to games each fortnight made each game a challenge despite this everyone had amazing strong will for the competition to thrive and we succeeded in winning a premiership which I haven’t included above. That year culminated in the Annual North American AFL carnival held in Washington DC. This occurring only two months after September 11.

At a time when a city was directly impacted by those events it might have seemed
impossible to community-based sportspeople from around the country to gather but they did anyway. A successful carnival resulted the Atlanta Kookaburra’s played off against a New York side in the final which we came a competitive second – what I remember was after the game there was no disappointment in losing and there was no raucous celebration in winning by the New York side; most of these players directly impacted by Sept 11 – both sides and everyone there came together celebrating that we were playing football.

What a humbling and emotional experience that carnival was to be a part of.

Q: Are you still involved in football? If yes, in what capacity?
I’ve been assistant coach with Matthew Stokes up at Cummins Kapinnie FC for the last 2 seasons, as we as coaching the MRFC Senior women’s football for the last 4 seasons. 2020/21 during the composite league, 2022/23 with Marble Range FC. These players in this women’s competition have reminded me why the game is so special.
I cannot thank them enough.