FOOTBALL

BY BLAKE METCALF-HOLT

 

IN his 38th season of open-age football, former Sydney Swan and Traralgon-boy Troy Luff reached the miraculous milestone, strapping up his boots for the 600th time at senior level.

Playing for his much beloved UNSW Eastern Suburbs Bulldogs, the 55-year-old and his side were rarely tested on the day against Sydney University in the AFL Sydney Division 5 competition, with Luff basking in the occasion with a bag of 10 goals in their 109-point victory (played May 10).

“To be honest, I was overwhelmed,” Luff told the Express.

“I was humbled by the day itself, the players that came to watch from the other divisions, some of the old boys from the Bulldogs were there, (and) friends were there.

“I was just so overwhelmed by the support and I guess the love shown by everybody.”

While Luff said it was an unbelievable thrill to snag the amount of goals he did on his special day, he also admitted that a few extra were forced down his throat by his teammates.

“It got to the last quarter and I was sitting on about eight goals and even though I wasn’t thinking ‘I’m going to kick 10’, but the players almost made me kick 10,” he said.

“They were getting me to lead to them when they were 25 metres out of goal… (so,) two of the goals were quite cheap.”

Luff grew up in Traralgon, playing for Cumberland Park Junior Football Club (since defunct) and played a season for the Maroons in Latrobe Valley Football League before moving to Nelson Bay in New South Wales for his final school years.

Kicking 70 goals in the Newcastle League in 1989, the next year Luff was picked up by Sydney, having now lived in the state long enough to be selected as a territorial AFL pick.

“Back then, all of New South Wales was the Swans’ recruiting zone, and after living in New South Wales for three years, I effectively became a New South Welshman, so they could just put me on the list and they did,” he said.

Luff debuted in Round 12, 1990 of the AFL season – a 45-point loss to Fitzroy at the SCG, managing six games for the year.

He would only manage 21 games in his first four seasons during a struggling period for the club.

“When I started, there were some legends of the game like Dennis Carroll (the last South Melbourne player to retire for Sydney), Merv Neagle, David Murphy, Bernard Toohey, David Bolton, Gerard Healy, just to name a few,” Luff said.

“They were all sort of getting towards the end of their careers and when I first started, we didn’t have a great year in 1990, and then slowly as those guys retired, the performance got worse.”

It wasn’t until the 1994 season that Luff began to break into the side consistently (albeit when Sydney were winning just five games over two years) – this was all during a time when the great Ron Barassi was at the helm.

Luff was delisted and redrafted twice all before the age of 26, but the best was yet to come.

Luff played 23 games in the 1996 season, as the Swans made the Grand Final, with all-time AFL leading goal-kicker Tony Lockett and coach Rodney Eade leading the way.

Despite facing just a two-point deficit at halftime of the decider, North Melbourne stormed past Sydney in the second half to win by 43 points.

Luff came alive during that finals series, which cumulated with 18 disposals and two goals in the big dance.

Retiring in 2001 after playing 155 games for the Swans, Luff has since split his time in the AFL Sydney league playing for UNSW and Balmain.

He’s kept himself in good shape and kicked along for an extra 23 years playing a game he absolutely loves.

“At the end of the day, footy’s just a game, and if the body allows you to, why not keep playing?” he said.

“I still feel as sore as I do today after a game as I did 10 years ago, so nothing much has changed.

“I might be a little bit slower or can’t kick as far, but I still get around the footy field okay.

“It’s no different than when you’re 15-years-old, when you’re 25-years-old – you love playing footy, even though I’m pretty old to do it.

“I just enjoy the game, the whole social aspect of it, playing the game, the end of season trips and mad Mondays, all that sort of stuff.”

Luff has also ventured overseas and taken the game aboard in an effort for the AFL to expand interest across the globe.

Playing for the Bali Geckos on and off for 20 years (and a life member), Luff has played in Phuket, for Indonesia in the Asian Championships, over in Kuala Lumpur, and other parts of Asia.

“It’s a great thrill to say that you’ve played footy in so many different parts of Asia, not to mention I’ve played in the USA as well. I took Balmain there many years ago and played against the American national team,” he said.

“It’s just a great concept playing football for other areas of the world, and playing for Bali has certainly broadened my footy horizons.”

Given he’s played at the top level and at amateur-level for more than 35 years, it’s hard to say he exactly needed that additional experience, but it just goes to show his love for the game.

More locally, a couple of Mid Gippsland players celebrated major milestones at the weekend – Pages 24-25