VFL: Kye Declase hits 100-game milestone in comeback season with Hawks

At age 28, Kye Declase is back in the VFL and the former Melbourne rookie is not yet prepared to give up on his dream of playing AFL, as Paul Amy finds out.

Box Hill Hawks recruit Kye Declase.

It was the mid-season mystery of the VFL last year.

Where was Kye Declase?

He played for Werribee in Round 10 against Gold Coast, then his name went missing from team sheets.

The grapevine, always sprawling in football, had him walking out on the Bees, but officials denied it and he remained on the list.

But when he started playing local football for Hurstbridge, it was clear the wingman who early last season played for the VFL representative team had indeed departed Chirnside Park.

Not that he was gone for long, but Declase is back in the VFL, as a player of his calibre should be, having signed with Box Hill Hawks.

Kye Declase boots Werribee forward against Geelong. Picture: Andy Brownbill

He started at his new club with 25 possessions in a narrow win over Carlton in Round 1.

This week, the right-footer plays his 100th VFL game, a worthy attainment at a time when state-league players come and go like trains at Tooronga station.

Declase says it was a surprise when club GM Pat Clancey called him this week to alert him to the milestone.

“I thought it was a few weeks away,’’ he says. “I thought, ‘Beautiful, far out, good to get there’. It’s a good achievement. It’s not easy to crack into the VFL system. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.’’

A ready-made talent + a good user by foot. 👌

Check out some of Kye Declase’s work. 👇#FiredUppic.twitter.com/uj8wzmyGgZ

— Melbourne Demons (@melbournefc) June 2, 2021

So, what happened at Werribee?

Declase says a few long-term teammates had left at the end of 2023 and “I wasn’t enjoying my football as much as I had been’’.

“I just wanted to go back and play with a few of my mates, guys I’d grown up playing with,’’ he says. “Just wanted to find my love of footy again a little bit, re-set my mind and figure out what I wanted to do. It was probably the best thing I’ve ever done.’’

Kye Declase was a much-decorated Werribee player. Photo: Kelly Defina/AFL Photos/via Getty Images

In 2023, Declase had finished fourth in Werribee’s best and fairest, was judged best finals player, was named in the VFL team-of-the-year squad and played in the grand final against Gold Coast, kicking the Bees into the decider with a classy goal against Brisbane in the preliminary final (and an even better celebration, putting two hands to the side of his head to say goodnight to the Lions).

Twelve months later, he watched his former teammates break a long premiership drought for the club.

“It was hard in the sense I wasn’t part of it,’’ he says. “But they’re a great bunch of blokes down there – I still have mates at Werribee – and I couldn’t have been happier for them.

“Beating Southport and keeping it (the flag) in Victoria was even better. It was a great achievement for Werribee.’’

Declase’s journey to 100 games has taken in four teams and one AFL stint.

Coming out of the Northern Knights, the South Morang and Montmorency junior joined the Northern Blues (now the Northern Bullants) and made a senior debut in 2016.

Two years later, wanting to play for a stand-alone club, he crossed to Werribee.

“I was looking for a bit more game time. A bit more consistency, I guess,’’ he says.

He became a senior regular and, under the coaching of Mark “Choco’’ Williams, flourished as a wingman of uncommon height (195cm) and strength.

When Williams joined Melbourne, he put in a word for Declase.

The Demons invited him to train with them ahead of the 2021 season, gave him a run in a practice match and took him in the mid-season draft.

His time as an AFL player was fleeting; he was delisted at the end of the season after playing only at Casey. But he enjoyed every bit of it.

“Unreal. Every kid wants to get drafted when they play footy. It was a long-time dream of mine and it came true,’’ Declase says.

“And Melbourne won the flag too. Unbelievable really. It was a hard side to crack into but I wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere else that year. The boys were great. It was phenomenal. In the end it was tight for list spots. That’s the nature of the industry we’re in. It’s pretty cutthroat. You can be in and out in a heartbeat. But I gave it everything.’’

Kye Declase playing for the Northern Knights. Picture: Josie Hayden

Going back to Werribee, which he says he often called his “second home’’, he was runner-up in the 2021 best and fairest and was selected in the VFL team of the year.

His Big V jumper last year was another honour and brought him into contact with Box Hill Hawks coach Zane Littlejohn, the coach of the VFL side.

Littlejohn had wondered the same as other people: where was Declase and what was he doing?

“He gave me a call and asked a few questions and said, ‘We’d love to have you down’,’’ Declase says. “And I was like, why not?’’

He wasn’t ready to go back to local football full-time.

“I felt I had a lot more to offer at the VFL level,’’ he says.

Does he still have AFL aspirations?

“You never know. David Mirra got drafted when he was 28. James Podsiadly was drafted pretty late. It all depends what a club is looking for, what its needs are at the time. All I can do is keep playing good footy and keep nurturing the younger boys coming into the system and hopefully win a flag at Box Hill. That would be amazing.’’

Kye Declase training ahead of last year’s state game against the SANFL. Photo: Daniel Pockett/AFL Photos/via Getty Images

Littlejohn knew all about Declase’s talent even before last year’s state game.

Declase had kicked three goals and had 20 touches for Werribee against the Hawks in the 2023 qualifying final.

Littlejohn calls him a “classy player who does things not everyone can do, lots of ‘Wow, that was good’ sort of moments’’.

“He can get forward and take a contested mark and he can also get behind the ball and defend strongly,’’ the coach says. “I’m glad he’s on our team now.’’

Declase will play his 100th game on Saturday, against North Melbourne at the Box Hill City Oval.

Originally published as VFL: Kye Declase hits 100-game milestone in comeback season with Hawks