Veteran Morphett Vale defender Michael Zaluski set to break another club record after coming out of retirement

Michael Zaluski came out of retirement this year to help out the Morphett Vale Emus in ex-teammate Braden Bayly’s first season as coach. Now Zaluski, 37, is set to break another Emus record.

Morphett Vale veteran Michael Zaluski this week breaks the club record for most A-grade games. Picture: Stephen Laffer

Whether it is celebrating premierships, kicking back on footy trips, attending soccer World Cups or running with the bulls in Spain, Michael Zaluski has always been able to count on his Morphett Vale Emus mates to help him make amazing memories.

So when Zaluski’s former teammate Braden Bayly took over as Morphett Vale coach and asked him to come out of retirement this season to assist the Southern Football League club, the veteran fullback did not hesitate.

It was the second time Zaluski had returned to the Emus after a stint away – he lived in London with clubmates and they travelled through Europe in 2006-07, missing two premierships, before returning in 2008.

Michael Zaluski in his first year back at Morphett Vale in 2008. Picture: Peter Worden

Zaluski already holds Morphett Vale’s all-time games record and this Saturday he will break the A-grade mark – Shane Fishlock has played 303 matches – at home to Noarlunga.

“The club’s always been there for me and it automatically gives you 30 new mates playing footy,” says Zaluski, 37, an Emus A-grade premiership player in 2005 and ‘09.

“When I moved overseas, I moved with guys from the footy club, jumped out of planes and did bungee jumping off bridges with guys from the footy club and ran with the bulls (in Pamplona) with guys from the footy club, and I went to World Cups with some of these lads.

“I came back out (this year) to have a kick in the twos with a couple of other older mates but Braden had a bit of a word to see if I wanted to play in the A grade again because we’re a short team, especially in defence, where I play.

“I played a lot of footy with Shane Fishlock – he’s one of the better players I’ve ever played with – and I didn’t think that record would ever get broken.

“It’s a bit of an honour to break it but the club record is the big one.”

A former Wirreanda High student, Zaluski followed mates to the club and made his A-grade debut at 17.

Shane Fishlock, pictured ahead of his 300th game in 2009, holds Morphett Vale’s record for most A-grade matches.

Morphett Vale was one of the league’s strugglers in those early days, not unlike these past two years.

The Emus finished second-bottom last season with a 1-15 record and slumped to a 1-3 mark after a 130-point loss to reigning premier Flagstaff Hill on Saturday.

“When I came out (originally), we were in some pretty dark times,” he says.

“We were getting belted by 20 or 30 goals and it didn’t look like there was any end in sight to that but we got a good coach, Trevor Potts, come in and a pretty good juniors crop, and some good senior blokes, and that all blended at the same time.

“Once it turned, it turned quickly and those times were amazing.

“It felt like we were winning flags every year and partying all the time, and we thought it was going to last forever – and it did for a while.

“If I can help Braden get the club back in the right direction, it’d be great.”

Now a father of two daughters, Ava, 5, and Violet, 2, Zaluski is likely to stop playing in the A grade at the end of the season but has not ruled out continuing to have a kick in the Bs.

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