AN OLD JUNIOR FOOTY coach once gave 12-year-old Stephen Hill some words of advice, words that have stayed strong in the now 21-year-old’s mind.
Back yourself in. Take them on and run, he was told.
“I guess that’s what I still do now,” Hill says.
Good guess.
Hill has become one of the most explosive players in the competition, taking the game on like few have dared to imagine since his AFL debut in round 1, 2009.
Contrary to the crowd noise he generates on a footy field, with his breakneck speed and gifted left foot, Hill is quiet, unassuming and humble off it.
Good with a secret is how a former official at his old WAFL club West Perth once described him.
The twinkle in Hill’s eye that set the ball spinning towards future stardom first happened at Sunday League footy, where he used to go and watch his dad, also named Stephen Hill, play for Wanneroo.
“I wanted to be like him and play football,” Hill says.
Hill snr was a very good athlete, representing his state in football when he was 16 as well as being an accomplished boxer and high-jumper.
Young Hill would play football, starting out at Auskick level before joining the junior ranks at northern suburbs club Quinns District.
It’s here that one of Hill’s earliest football memories exists, on the grass of Anthony Waring Park.
“I remember playing my first under 9s game,” he says.
“I got put up a year from where I was meant to be so I was pretty nervous.”
His favourite memory from his days at Quinns happened a few years after that.
This time, a 12-year-old Hill, playing under 14s, won a grand final.
“That was a great feeling, playing against guys two years older than me and winning it,” he says.
“I remember kicking a goal in that game. I was pretty flattered.”
That was Hill’s first and only premiership in his footy career to date.
DRIVEN TO SUCCEED
If his junior footy coach was responsible for lighting the fuse that would scorch stadium after stadium today, it’s his mother, Stephanie Gray, who drove Hill to where he is today — literally.
“She would always take me down to training and to all my games,” Hill says.
“I’m very thankful to her for where I am today and I owe her a lot.”
Hill’s parents separated too long ago for him to remember it happening.
“I lived with mum and my brother and four sisters, so I was often away from my dad,” he says.
“We used to go and see him every couple of weekends though.
“He was still there for me and was always supportive, coming to my footy games and giving me tips.”
Gray says Hill has always been a kind-natured boy who cares deeply for his family and friends.
But she adds that he also has a competitive side to him that has driven him to succeed from a very early age.
“He would always be the first one down to footy training when he was young,” Gray says.
“And he never missed training. He always made sure he would go and he always listened to his coaches.”
Hill says he always couldn’t wait to get to training and get his hands on the footy before the session began.
PRIMED
“I never liked being late,” he says.
“I’m the type of person who always likes to be somewhere early and make sure I’m primed and ready to go.”
Hill’s talent led to an invitation to join West Perth’s development squad when he was 14.
A few years later at the 2008 AFL Draft, a rangy young kid from Clarkson trumped the expert’s predictions when he was selected by the Fremantle Dockers with pick three.
A dream that began all those years ago was realised and Stephen Hill set course for stardom.
Just keep backing yourself Stephen. Back yourself and run.
