Adrian Morgan’s Vic Country side did not come out on top in the recent 2022 AFL Masters National Carnival, but he’s back in Bairnsdale and determined to make the side for next year’s tournament.
And he met a few famous faces along the way.
Adrian, 57, a Koori Hospital Liaison Officer with the Aboriginal Health Unit at the Bairnsdale Regional Health Service, took his place in the team just 13 months after a near-fatal cardiac arrest in the Emergency Department at BRHS.
He said he played in the 50 to 55 age group with Vic Country in division one of the tournament, away from his usual position in the centre, and had a couple of injuries along the way.
“They just had better sides. We lost the first two games by a couple of goals, and we needed to win at least one of those to have a chance of getting into the finals,” he said.
“Then, in the third game, we had a lot of injuries. We had no bench.”
Western Australia won the division one grand final in the end.
Adrian found himself starting on the wing in the first two Vic Country matches and in the forward pocket in the third.
“But I was getting sore. I did my Achilles tendon and my knee was a bit dodgy. It’s a bit hard when you’ve got niggling injuries, but it was all fun. It was still good,” he smiled.
“And I’m looking forward to the Sunshine Coast next year.”
Adrian said he also filled in for a game in the NSW side in the 55 to 60 age group to cover for another player.
“They were short. They asked me to play. I seemed to play better. I felt better because they were my own age, but in the lower grade there was a bit more speed and a bit more skill in the 50s.”
The team camaraderie among the Vic Country side was second to none, Adrian said. “All the blokes stuck together. We’ll be friends for the next four or five years, that group. They’ll carry on. They have their own face book page and catch up every day on it. There was a lot of new first-year players in there,” he said.
“I reckon we’ll go better next year because there are more players in the 50s going up to 55s, so I’m looking forward to it. I’ve just got to get my knee sorted.”
There was also the odd brush with fame or two, Adrian said.
”I ran into a few AFL stars over there. Andrew McLeod (former All Australian Captain, twice premiers player and Norm Smith Medallist with the Adelaide Crows), Lachie Jones, the young star from Port Adelaide because his dad was playing with us, and Tyson Stengle, who kicked four goals in the grand final (with Geelong),” he said.
Adrian is pictured with Tyson Stengle in the main image above.
Adrian thanked BRHS, the Gippsland and East Gippsland Aboriginal Co-Operative, Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation, the Wellington Warriors and Simsy’s Tyres in Lindenow who also supported him in getting to the carnival.
