Veteran Leigh Harding plays 450th match for Adelaide Footy League club Gepps Cross
He breaks the games record every time he runs out for Gepps Cross Football Club and on Saturday Leigh Harding did it for the 450th time in a Rams guernsey.
Leigh Harding says the main thing he has learned as a games record holder with Gepps Cross Football Club is “to be as nice as possible to the umpires’’.
“Back in the day I would have a few things to say to the umpires,” Harding says.
“But as I have got older and wiser I have changed my ways to be nicer which means I get a few more free kicks.”
The 39-year-old defender chalked up his 450th senior game for the Rams in their clash against Golden Grove at home last Saturday.
It adds to roughly 130 junior matches with the club.
Harding says his body is holding up well and hopes to notch 500 senior games.
“At this stage I can’t see why I can’t make 500,’’ Harding says.
“But the real aim is for team success.
“My only winning grand final was in 2002 when I captained the B grade to a flag against Henley.
“I would love to have that feeling again although we are not going as well this year.’’
Playing at fullback has its challenges with some classy forwards to keep in check.
He also has received plenty of advice from opposition supporters.
But Harding says playing the last line of defence also has its upsides.
“A couple of weeks ago I could smell a barbecue firing up behind me.
“I got so hungry that at half-time I pulled $2.50 out of my pocket and lined up in my footy gear to buy a snag at the canteen.
“(I) had to eat.”
Rams’ A grade coach Adam Vitler says Harding is a special club man.
“To play nearly 600 club games in juniors and seniors shows what a person he is,’’ Vitler says.
“You don’t get to that number without an extreme commitment and love of the club.
“He plays fullback and is rarely beaten.
“He has that knack of getting his man under the ball.’’
Harding, a North Adelaide supporter and an avid Andrew Jarman admirer, wears number 17 – the same number as the great Jars wore at the Roosters.