‘Something special’: Ruckman Robbie Ross set for rare air with 200th senior Vermont match
Vermont ruckman Robbie Ross enters rare company this weekend, joining a mere few in the powerhouse’s century-long history to play 200 senior games. It’s been some journey ...
Eastern
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A MEETING was called for the Tuesday night.
Then-Vermont senior coach David Banfield declared the 17-year-old ruckman was ‘in’ for the first time.
Some 19 years later, and Robbie Ross is set to become just the 10th player in the club’s 103-year history to play 200 senior matches when he runs out against Balwyn this weekend.
He’ll join the company of Aaron Nummy (251 games), Mark Cullen (250), Andrew Dwyer (248), Grant McCarthy (230), Ryan Mullett (229), Craig Gislingham (227), Lee Bidstrup (221), Craig Coghlan (218) and Todd Power (210).
It’s been some ride for the 36-year-old since his Round 15, 2004 debut, winning five premierships with the Eagles and a best and fairest to etch his name among the greats.
While elated to be selected at just 17, Ross recalls the “daunting” feeling of turning out alongside a galaxy of the established stars of the time.
“On a Tuesday night, they got Dad up to the club in the meeting room and said I’m in this week – that was against Donvale at Donvale,” Ross says.
“‘Banners’ (David Banfield) rang my parents first and I was actually playing all right footy in the under-18s and played a game for the EFL at the MCG and played pretty well in that.
“They (Vermont) said if you keep playing well, we’re going to pick you and you’ll just come out of the ‘18s.
“Brad Cullen was the captain and he was a massive influence on me, and our boys play footy together now in the (Vermont) under-10s.
“I remember him saying ‘There’s a reason why you’ve been picked, so back yourself’, but it was daunting, (playing alongside) blokes like Bernie Dinneen, Kris Barlow, Brad Cullen, Brad Hall ... I felt intimidated and out of my depth, but once you’re out there with them, you walk taller.”
But this Saturday’s milestone could have easily been a pipe dream, wiped football seasons of the pandemic aside.
A horrific leg injury in the form of a cracked tibia, fibula and snapped syndesmosis suffered against Rowville in June last year threatened to end Ross’ career, two matches shy of the 200-game mark.
Surgery followed with plates, screws and a synthetic rope for the syndesmosis, amid a head full of despair.
“As I walked off the ground at Rowville, I said to myself ‘That’s it, I’m not playing anymore’,” Ross recalls, who returned to the senior ranks last weekend after a spell in the reserves a fortnight ago.
“My wife actually came to the hospital the next day crying and saying, ‘You can’t finish like that’, so she was the one that actually pushed me to play again.”
Fellow 200-gamer and long-time club manager Lee Bidstrup has seen a cavalcade of champions don the purple and gold across almost six decades, but says Ross is “something special”.
He insists “most people would have retired” after the last year’s season-ending injury.
“His mental strength is fantastic and he’s so determined,” Bidstrup says of Ross.
“The use of his body is incredible against bigger opponents ... he is quite unique in what he can do, and if he’d played right through last year, we’d have won more games, easily.”
Success is synonymous with Vermont – the silverware stretching wall-to-wall in the club’s trophy room housing 23 senior cups, including a league-record 21 in the Eastern era dating back to 1962.
Five of the Eagles’ last six premierships – 2005, ‘06, ‘07, ’09 and 2019 – form part of Ross’ long list of achievements, the 2009 triumph the most notable.
The Eagles rattled home from a 2-5 start to the season, winning the next 10 to nab third spot before a 44-point trouncing of Croydon in the grand final.
Many players of the era hail it as one of the club’s finest moments, Ross no different in his sentiments.
“We’d lost in ’08, and we went out to Lilydale (in Round 8, 2009) and it was pretty much ‘lose today and we’re gone’,” Ross says.
“Croydon whacked us in the (semi-final) and then we came out in the grand final and gave them a nice hiding.”
The then-22-year-old took home the club champion award that season, edging league legend Ryan Mullett for the honour in a side featuring then-reigning Chandler medallist Kris Bardon and high-flying spearhead Matt Greig.
Vermont wouldn’t salute a flag again until 2018, in a season where Ross captained Wandin to the premiership in the AFL Yarra Ranges’ top-flight after heading up the mountain in 2013, also lifting a cup in ‘15.
But a return to Terrara Rd beckoned, a luncheon during the 2018 season featuring 10-time Vermont premiership great Craig Coghlan and ex-junior and then-AFL Demon Sam Weideman helping sow the seed.
It became apparent the 200-club at the Eagles was no walk-in, its members few in numbers across an illustrious century-long history.
“I don’t like looking at personal things but I thought if I could get the 200 games, it’s more than a best and fairest and that sort of stuff – it’s something you’ve achieved at the club through loyal service,” Ross says.
“Sam talked about how he’s always drawn back to the club and ‘Coggo’ who’s obviously been there his whole life was talking about what it means to be part of the Vermont footy club.
“When they spoke, it hit home – I wanted my kids to see me play there and they’re obviously playing there now.
“I actually had a broken hand at the time and it was only Round 9 – from that day I said to myself ‘I want to go back’.
“I made contact with (then Vermont coach) Harmit Singh during the year and I did tell Wandin straight away, so they knew with five or six games to go that I wasn’t going to be there the next year.”
Joining Ross’ return was premiership teammate Mullett from East Malvern, with the pair winning a fifth flag together in 2019.
Ross says the triple Chandler medallist ranks among the best he’s shared the field with at Vermont, also citing Lachie Johns, Kris Barlow, Brad Cullen, Bernie Dinneen, Brad Hall, Matt Greig, Kris Bardon and Liam Buxton.
Former Noble Park captain-coach Shane Burgmann, East Burwood man-mountain Adam Slater, Balwyn’s Brad Smith and current South Croydon ruckman Max King rate as Ross’ toughest opponents.
“I don’t forget the good ones,” he quips.
He also hasn’t forgotten the line of coaches he’s played under at Vermont, from Banfield to Kris Barlow, and Harmit Singh to current mentor Adam Parker.
Ross says all have brought a positive point of difference – but one was significantly unlike any other.
“‘Banners’ (Banfield) is the one who got me as a kid and was my coach for eight years, so I’ll always say he was my best coach because he was my first, taught me everything and how to be a good person,” Ross says.
“First day of pre-season in 2008 I reckon, he brought in a gumtree, it would’ve been six metres long and a metre wide, he dragged it into the rooms and had an axe in there.
“He sat everyone down and said: ‘Whoever’s got an issue, start hitting … if we’ve got an axe to grind, I want to hear the issues now!’
“I was just looking at this piece of wood going ‘This is unbelievable’.
“He just knew how to get into your head for you to perform.”
Among the silverware and personal accolades, the Vermont star says one achievement stands head and shoulders above the rest – playing alongside brother James, 15 years his junior.
He “didn’t think it would happen” due to James captaining the Eastern Ranges at the time of his return from Wandin, before a short stop at VFL club Box Hill for the young defender.
“I originally thought I’d only play one more year at Vermont and I thought I was done,” Robbie says.
The on-field union came to fruition in 2021, keeping in theme with the tight-knit Ross family, the veteran lauding his parents’ countless hours invested.
Ross turns 37 later this year and the father of three cites wife Zia as one of the greatest influences of his career.
He’s recently started his own business – Next Level Fire Protection – aware the two-decade football career is coming to a close, but when it will be: “Who knows?”
“I think I’ll know when I’m not up to it … I’ve said every year’s going to be my last for the last five years,” Ross says.
What he is certain of, is the door at Vermont always remaining open to welcome back its stalwarts, whether they’ve played hundreds of games, some, or none.
It’s what makes Terrara Rd a special place, Ross says, who first joined the Eagles as a junior in 1994.
“Once you’re in the club, it’s very hard to leave and you’ve always got someone there you can speak to.
“You can always go back there and people always make you feel welcome – there’s no ‘someone’s better than anyone else’ and it’s all-in or none-in.”
Almost 19 years on from that Tuesday night chat with David Banfield, Robbie’s father and current Vermont president Danny Ross says he’s humbled as a parent to have watched the decorated career unfold – the meeting proving the making of a champion.
“He (Banfield) called me in and said we want to play your boy in the ruck … and three games later it was finals, and that was when he (Robbie) ran into Adam Slater,” Danny recalls.
“It was a rocky start to his career to be honest, coming up against those sorts of guys – every team had a pretty good ruckman in those days, it was colourful and a great era of footy.
“I said, ‘If you think he’s ready to go, you play him’ and he hasn’t looked back since.”
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