Retiring Glenelg veteran Ben Mules reflects on 11-year SANFL career

RETIRING Glenelg veteran Ben Mules says he may never have played for the Tigers if not for winning a senior flag in his southeast hometown.

Southeast flag inspired Bays champion

RETIRING Glenelg veteran Ben Mules says he may never have played for the Tigers if not for winning a senior flag in his southeast hometown.

At just 18, Mules captained Kalangadoo to its first premiership in two decades in 2001. It came after two years of resisting overtures from Glenelg despite playing two under-19 games for the club. When mates Ty Allen, Luke Panozzo and Matt Duldig decided to move to Adelaide from the southeast and join the Tigers at the end of 2001, the hard-nosed defender caved in. "I never had any aspirations to play AFL or SANFL, it was just the way it panned out," Mules says. "If I hadn't won the flag that year I'd probably still be chasing it. "I thought 'if I don't go this year I'll be 30 years old and still playing football at Kalangadoo'." Mules, 31, knew before round one that this year would be his last at the Bay. Yet the former captain kept that a secret from everyone except his wife Lydia until after the Tigers' season-ending home loss to Port Adelaide on September 8 to ensure there was no distraction to the squad. "I never really made it official because I really wanted the last month to be about Glenelg getting back to winning games," says Mules, who finishes on 212 league games. Mules, of Glengowrie, regards the bonds he forged with teammates and helping lift the club from a wooden-spooner to the grand final in the late-2000s as the highlights of his time in black and gold. His biggest disappointment remains the club not being able to capitalise on its minor round success from 2008-10 with a premiership. "We're still a close group of mates but there's not that one consolidating moment that is going to really bind us together. "But I'm happy with the fact that we left no stone unturned to achieve that, it was just the way the cards fell." Mules and his wife are expecting their first child in January and he is yet to decide whether he will play in amateur or country ranks next year.