16/05/2026
Excited to call my first game of Southwest Football League and my first game for sports entertainment network SEN.
It's the Peter Butcher memorial Day. Butch was my old coach my favourite of all time right up there anyway, a beautiful soul taken way too early from cancer, it's an honour to call his match on today the day 30 years ago my dad passed away. I couldn't think of a better way to commemorate dad's passing by paying tribute to someone who played a father figure role in my life. Words cannot express how special he was, he used to call me a soft c"&k full forward until 2003 when he abruptly said to me after starting the season 0-2 with bad losses "leezy you're going to have to learn how to Play as a Backman, I'll teach ya." So he did and I played centre half back all season.
At the end of the year I won my only senior best and Fairest The Coveted Lloyd Medal. We slept in the club rooms that night on the floor stayed up all night listening to music and at one point butch looked at me and said leezy I was wrong about you I thought you were nothing but a soft forward but now youd be be one of the first I'd ring in any team I coach. I got emotional and we had a wicked hug that was the last night I got to spend with him and his words ill cherish. You didn't really get too many fairy floss positives from him you just knew you're in his good books or not. But it kept the players he coached ready for anything and much more resilient. He was a special soul.
I played many years ago for Harvey Brunswick Leschenault, my most memorable the year 2000 Elim final where we got knocked out after the final siren by South Bunbury in a heart stopper. Adam Matson tore our hearts out with a 60 m bomb on the siren to win the game and knock us out for good. It was a huge lesson for me It ain't over till it's over, seconds before Adam Matson won the game I thought I had done the same by slotting a hard set shot down the other end. We were up by four points with 20 seconds to go. South Bunbury cleared it straight to centre half forward where Matson took a pack mark. We were old teammates from Swan districts so I knew what he was capable of. He went straight back on the mark and kicked immediately as the ball was in flight the siren sounded and we lost the game. I never ever locked in a win until the final siren again. As a team we felt like if we Got over South Bunbury we could have gone the whole way. It was heart breaking at the time.
Thanks for indulging me on my trip down memory lane. Links below for the broadcast:
Check out this game and all it's details via the PlayAFL App!
https://www.playhq.com/app-link?url=playafl%3A%2F%2Fgame%2Fc427683d
To access this link - you will need PlayAFL please download via: https://www.playhq.com/au/apps/playafl
https://youtube.com/?si=RipsOcZMrt3bGH--
