What are you up to these days?
I am the Regional Development Manager for YMCA youth services.
We run everything from youth justice programs for young offenders to things like youth parliament.
I’ve been with the ‘Y’ now for 11 years.
Do you still see with any of your former Fitzroy team-mates?
Yes, I still catch up with Michael Gale, David Strooper, Jamie Cooper, Ross Lyon, Jason Baldwin, Brett Stephens and a few others.
Ross is pretty busy these days with St Kilda, so we only really catch up with him when he’s available.
But otherwise, we do things like go out to dinner. A few of us have places down the beach, so sometimes we go down there and play a bit of golf, go surfing or hang-gliding.
What are your fondest memories from your playing days?
My first AFL game still sticks in my mind. It was against Essendon back in 1986.
In my first year (1986) the Club made the Finals, and we only just missed out in 1987 and 1989. Then we ended up losing a lot of good players because of the lack of finances at Fitzroy. We ended up giving away great players because we weren’t able to keep them ourselves. By 1991 and 1992, it got really hard.
But it was great to playing alongside some really fantastic players like Paul Roos, Gary Pert, Matt Rendell and Leon Harris.
What are your thoughts on the modern game?
I actually helped Ross Lyon out a bit during 2009 including the Grand Final - I was doing some running for him.
The game’s a bit quicker nowadays and the ball gets moved on a bit faster.
The biggest change that I’ve probably seen is that you now get put on the interchange bench as a reward - not a punishment. In our days, when you got dragged, that was it. It meant that you were playing terribly.
Now with the rotations, it is just amazing how they are able to keep players fresh and fit. Football has become smarter with player development.
The Brisbane Lions are currently in the process of updating their database of past players and coaches. If you played a senior match with Fitzroy, the Bears or the Brisbane Lions and haven’t remained in contact with the Club, please email your phone and address details to melbourne@lions.com.au so that we can keep you in touch with any future events with past players.
