The Illawarra Hawks may have won the NBL25 championship, but another local team has flown under the radar to win a prestigious AFL title…
Local Ben Shum saw an expression of interest for teams to register for an AFL Masters Carnival at Murrumbateman (50km north-west of Canberra) for the last week in March. He thought the comp might be a fantastic opportunity to get a few old Northern District Tigers back together.
Under the tutelage of fitness guru and current u17’s coach, Jason ‘Dream Crusher’ Ibrahim, former legends hit the track. Hamstrings and calves popped like champagne bottles at a wedding, but we had enough players to attend the carnival.
On the big day, the team left from Bulli Workers Club. The enthusiasm of a busload of over-40s blokes was like kids going to the Easter Show.
Just under three hours later, we arrived at the ground and knew we’d be the under dogs as other teams had marquees, proper trainers, and ice packs – the only ice we had was in the eskies for our after-match beers. Most of our blokes were just there for the bus trip!
Our first game was against Balmain, who have won Masters premierships and carnivals. Coach Mark McPhee started with Tigers ex-Best and Fairest winners Andrew ‘Ondi’ Craig and Dale Perrett in the centre. These two guns, who have not touched a football for almost a decade, started like a house on fire. We suffered a narrow loss but were buoyed by the fact we were extremely competitive.
The next game was a good win over McArthur. Highlights? Kev Pritchard banging in a goal on his left foot from 35m out, and Mark Perrett and ‘Gentleman’ Jeff Burton’s strong marking. Reserves Coach ‘Funky’ O’Rourke reminded everyone why he is one of the greatest players to don a Tigers jumper with some sensational play.
As temps passed 32°C, sunscreen was getting a good workout. There was a two-hour wait before the final game so old bones were creaking and muscles were pinging like kids at a nightclub.
Fatigue was a major player in the last game, which was pure poetry in slow motion. Highlights included Matt Hiscock’s towering mark, Jade Collier’s boundary-line snap, Captain Kenny tearing his groin, ‘Dream Crusher’ failing to handpass to the team’s oldest player, a 59-year-old with a grade two Achilles strain. The coup de grâce was Ben Shum’s magnificent 54m torpedo punt through the big sticks to secure victory.
We all headed to the Murrumbateman Hotel for the presentation. It was a great surprise that on aggregate the winners of the carnival were … the Northern District Tigers! Our rag-tag bunch of mates, who came out of retirement for a kick and a bit of fun, were taking the trophy to Wollongong!
