Murray Bridge’s Brandon Zerk-Thatcher has found his home at Port Adelaide and back in SA

After a thrilling win over Hawthorn, a key player to Port has his rural SA hometown inspired as he and the team head to Sydney for the Preliminary final against the Swans.

It’s only 100km or so from Murray Bridge to Alberton, but it’s been a much longer journey for Power key defender Brandon Zerk-Thatcher to find his football home.

The Murray Bridge High School alumni returned to South Australia this year after a six-year stint with Essendon, and his mum Karen and stepdad Shane couldn’t be happier to have him home.

The dust had barely settled on the 2023 season when Zerk-Thatcher, now 26, paid a visit to his family back in Murray Bridge to tell them the news he was coming back to SA to play for the Power.

The family of Port’s Brandon Zerk-Thatcher. Two year old niece Scarlett, along with from left, Shane Elphick (Stepfather), Shelby Elphick, (Sister and Scarlett’s mum), Jayden Elphick-Thatcher, brother), and Brandon’s mum, Karen Elphick. Picture: Dean Martin

“He was a bugger – he knew for a while but we didn’t find out till it was pretty much certain,” mum Karen Elphick recalls as we caught up on the banks of the River Murray on Tuesday.

“He told me at home in the kitchen – I just burst out crying.”

Karen, 45, Shane, 52, Brandon’s sister Shelby, 26, brother Jayden, 19, and niece Scarlett, 2, have met us on the lawns outside the Murray Bridge Club, and the pride in Brandon’s footballing achievements, and the young man he has grown into, is evident.

We’ve asked them to dress in all their Port Power paraphernalia and they look resplendent in the teal, black and white of the club they’ve only supported for a few months – but have come to love wholeheartedly.

It’s a far cry from a decade ago, when the entire family, including Brandon, were passionate Adelaide fans and his footballing heroes included Crows stars Patrick Dangerfield and Taylor Walker.

At Murray Bridge High, where Brandon Zerk Thatcher attended school, Power fans including Nathan Schulz, Carter Meyers, Mekaisha Meyers, Kitty Harradine, Brandan Pahl, Holly Temby, Ella Janes, Finn Schiller, Donald Lockyer. Picture: Dean Martin

Brandon played most of his junior football with Ramblers before switching to cross-town rival Imperials for 12 months and then making a mark in the under-18s at Sturt in the SANFL.

He nominated for the 2016 national draft but was not selected, went back to the Double Blues to work on his craft before being drafted by Essendon as then 66th pick in 2017.

He played 51 games in six years at the Bombers before requesting a trade back to SA, where he has become a key pillar in the defensive unit of a Port Adelaide team that finds itself just one win away from an AFL grand final.

It’s a far cry from kicking off the dew on icy winter mornings on the country grounds of the River Murray League, a competition that spreads from Mannum to Meningie to Pinnaroo.

Karen and Shane can’t speak highly enough of the family atmosphere coach Ken Hinkley has created at Port Adelaide, and say Brandon, a natural introvert, has blossomed since crossing back over the border.

The family of Port’s Brandon Zerk-Thatcher, flying the Power colours in Murray Bridge. Picture: Dean Martin

It’s unlikely they’ll make the trip to Sydney this weekend but will be there with bells on if Port makes it through to the grand final.

Karen pauses when asked to describe Brandon’s defining characteristics.

“He is just so honest and kind-hearted … and I don’t just say that,” she says. “He tries to put on a hard exterior but he’s really so soft on the inside.

“Watching him through his football, I used to think, you know … go a bit harder Brandon, just get that bit of grunt … a little bit harder. But now I sit back and I just love his softer side. I just, I really do, because that’s what makes him. He’s got such a beautiful, kind soul.

“And to see him succeed at his dreams. I couldn’t be more proud of him, really.”

It’s a pride shared down the road at Murray Bridge High School, where Brandon was a conscientious student and star ruckman of the school footy side that made the grand final of a statewide open boys school football competition when he was in Year 12.

Current senior years assistant principal Josh Coulter, who coached that team back in 2017, said the school was “bloody proud” of Brandon’s achievements.

“He was our best player by a mile but he was also a really good leader, a good, good lad,” Mr Poulter, also Brandon’s PE teacher, says.

“He got along with every different sort of type of person. It didn’t really matter if you were sporty or not sporty. He was just a very polite, good student. His character really stood out to me.

“The other thing, from my point of view, is that there’s kids here now that I teach, and I say, well, Brandon Zerk-Thatcher came to this school, he played at that football club that you play at, so that just makes that attainable.

“It’s nice to have someone the kids can look at and connect with, and it makes it visible.”