EFL 2018: Foundation Glen Waverley Hawks player Brad Riddle hoping for premiership success

FOUNDATION Glen Waverley Hawks player Brad Riddle is eyeing premiership success at the Division 4 club as his side enjoys a 12-game winning streak.

BRAD Riddle recalls sitting around the bar until all hours.

He had just arrived at Glen Waverley Hawks from Vermont with a group of mates, enjoying the wonders that come with turning 18.

BOWDEN TO DEPART AT SEASON’S END

SHARKS FIRM AS FLAG THREAT

That was 2005. Fast-forward 13 years and Riddle is the last remaining foundation player at Central Reserve, still chasing premiership success after a couple of near misses.

The 32-year-old joined the club with a group of mates, including brother Aaron and former captain Andrew Azzopardi, from Highvale Secondary College.

Brad Riddle on the go for Glen Waverley Hawks. Picture: Gavin Dore

“It was pretty hard to kick us out of the club and that was probably the best time I’ve had in football, even when we were getting smashed, they were still the best times,” Riddle said.

“We’d get kicked out the Thursday night about 3am from the club just playing cards, just talking sh*t and taking the p*ss.

“Times have definitely changed from what they were that’s for sure.”

But the ultimate success has avoided Riddle, playing in the 2011 and 2012 grand final losses before spending the past three years at Templestowe.

He returned to Glen Waverley this year with good mates Matthew Ferguson and Ben Sullivan.

Together the trio have helped lift the Hawks to premiership favouritism, recovering from a 0-2 start to be on a 12-game winning streak as the club chases its maiden flag.

“I was always wanting to go back, I played there for so long, previously I played close to 150-odd games at the club so I was always wanting to go back,” Riddle said.

“It just happens to be that those two (Sullivan and Ferguson) have pulled the boots on and it has just been absolutely amazing players for us.”

Glen Waverley football manager Steve Potts said Riddle was a respected figure around the club.

“A lot of the boys look up to him because of how long he has been around the place,” Potts said.

“He helped them get to where they did when they started making grand finals and his contribution this year, obviously he has come back and we’re back where we were when he was there last time.

“His contribution has been big on the playing side of it … to bring these guys down (Sullivan and Ferguson) with him this year, they’ve probably been the difference to where we are, him and his two mates.”

Brad Riddle looks to evade a would-be tackler. Picture: Gavin Dore

After accounting for fellow top four sides Whitehorse Pioneers, East Burwood and Forest Hill last month, Riddle said the Hawks had stamped themselves as the team to beat.

“The guys are pretty confident, I think now they believe, they know they can do it, that’s the scary thing,” he said.

“They actually believe they can win it, there was a bit of doubt, they weren’t sure.

“I think that’s the difference now, they know they can win the game so it makes a world of difference.”

If the Hawks can salute this year, you may see Riddle revisiting his teenage years, sitting around the bar until all hours.