Boolarra’s Kenneth Towt plays 400th match in win over Foster
Kenneth Towt likes a drink the night before a match. And he had a Jack Daniel’s after playing his 400th game on Saturday for the Demons of Mid Gippsland.
With his socks and shorts hitched high and long sleeves on his jumper, Kenneth Towt has the appearance of an old-style footballer.
He plays like one too.
On Saturday the veteran Boolarra defender stayed close to his opponent, marked when the opportunity came and spoiled when it didn’t, and used to his voice to support teammates.
His experience was evident too when, under pressure from a Foster player, he paddled the ball back for a teammate to run on to, stifling another attack.
Happily for the 39-year-old, Boolarra achieved a 20-point victory over the visitors and the right-footer could celebrate his 400th senior game in style.
Towt was carried from the ground, enjoyed the club song and sipped on a can of Jack Daniel’s as the Demons savoured their third win of the season in the Mid Gippsland league.
Mid Gippy resumed from a third Covid interruption on Saturday to play its second-last round.
But all Melbourne-based players were unavailable to clubs.
For Foster, it meant the absence of 10 senior regulars. And it was unable to field a reserves team.
But Boolarra coach Tony Giardina said he had some key players out too and there was much merit in his team’s performance.
Trailing 3.5 to 2.6 at halftime, the Demons pulled away from the Tigers with four goals to none in the third quarter, with forwards Aidyn Sheers and Vince Corbett suddenly roused and midfielder Brendan Mason continually winning the ball and thumping it forward.
At the three-quarter time huddle, Giardina chose to tout Towt.
“Bring it in … how many chances have we had in the past few years to beat a top-three side?’’ he said.
“Not many. So don’t think it will just happen or it will be easy. This last quarter, you’ve got to do it for this bloke. In your careers, it’s very rare you’ll play with a 400-gamer. And that’s 400 senior games. Not seniors and reserves put together, 400 senior games and a bloody legend! A great footballer! So you owe it to this bloke! He turns up week in, week out and puts his body on the line. You owe it to him!’’
Giardina, 54, sweated on every passage of play in the first few minutes of the final quarter, sometimes dropping to his knees and picking at the grass.
But he could relax a little after Glenn Richardson, wearing the No 95 jumper, knocked over a set-shot to extend the lead to 28 points.
“I’ll cry if we win,’’ a Boolarra player told a teammate on the bench.
Fifteen-year-old Zane Duursma kicked his second goal for Foster, but it was to be Booloora’s day, even if it hasn’t been its year.
Giardina has a long association with the club.
He started as coach in 2009 and the Demons failed to win a game. Two years later they spectacularly rose from ninth to win the premiership, with Towt spending the season as a forward and booting 68 goals.
Giardina retired at the end of 2015. With the club in some trouble, he was coaxed into returning in 2018.
“It’s been hard,’’ he said.
“We were starting from scratch. We’ve got no juniors – it’s a small town, 400 people – so you’ve got to recruit and recruit. What we’ve tried to do is get younger guys so they’ll stay here. My first year back, we didn’t win a game. In 2019 we won three. And now we’ve won three this year. We’re slowly building with the 23 to 26-year-olds. We’re not far off.’’
The stop-start season had been tough, he said.
“It was a battle to get the boys to play today, to get them motivated. They can’t play finals,’’ he said. “When we can train we’ve been getting 13, 14 along, because they don’t believe we’re going to come out of lockdown.’’
Towt said the season interruptions had him doubting he’d reach 400 games this year.
He started his senior career at Neerim South in 1998, played a lot football at Longwarry and then crossed to Boolarra.
“I was sitting on 399 for so long a few people I drink with were saying, ‘Just get a tattoo saying 399, you’re never going to get there’,’’ he said.
Giardina called Towt a “gun player and gun person’’, and noted that his pre-game routine hadn’t changed for many years.
“He likes a drink on a Friday night,’’ he said. “If he doesn’t drink he’s no good the next day!’’
Giardina, a farmer at Mirboo North, is locked in to coach Boolarra next season.
Duursma, who made his debut for Gippsland Power this season, was named in the best for Foster, which dragged former Northern Knights captain Todd Holman out of retirement to play in the senior side.
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