Game 300 up for Pines star Adam Marriner

ADAM “Tassie” Marriner has had a great journey to 300 senior games with his beloved Pines Pythons.

Pines 300-gamer Adam Marriner in action. Picture: David Trend.

ADAM “Tassie” Marriner has all the hallmarks of a champion footballer: durability, courage and loyalty.

Quietly, the Pines player has gone about his business and on Saturday he was roundly applauded when he lined up for his 300th senior game for the Pythons.

Only a dozen or so others can claim membership of the MPNFL’s 300 Club and adding merit to Marriner’s milestone is the fact that he has played all his footy at Pines.

“I’ve never known anything else but Pines...I never thought about going anywhere else. It means a lot,” he said.

“It’s all I know. I started in under 12s...I grew up in the Pines, it’s just like another home, really.’’

Marriner says he has been lucky to, mostly, avoid injuries. Early in his career he broke ribs - and then he peeled off 170-odd games in a row.

Marriner started out as a half forward but in recent years, perhaps after losing a yard or so, he’s slotted in the backline. Pines players continually marvel at his run-back-with-the-flight chest marks.

“They love him, he’s done that consistently. He’s been really courageous,” Pines coach Paddy Swayn said.

“And he’s a really quiet bloke. I remember when Moorey (Brendon Moore) was coach, we said, gee, Tassie’s not getting much of the ball…why don’t we get someone to do his stats? We thought he was real quiet and he had something like 32 possessions. He’s really unassuming. He’s never sought the limelight.”

Pines champion Adam Marriner.

Marriner says a piece of advice from Moore has stuck in his memory.

“Moorey said, ‘just make the most of your time, it really does go quick’,” he said.

“It’s amazing. They all say it, you don’t think it at the time, but bloody hell I’m 35 now and I’m at the end. It’s just gone like that. So, yeah, you’ve just got to make the most of it while you can.

“It wasn’t long ago I was the youngest in the team and now I cop it for being the oldest.” Marriner has never played in a premiership but is optimistic about the Pythons’ chances this season.

Pushed to name the best he had played with, Marriner drew breath, and said: “I haven’t got a good memory for those sort of things.”

Eventually he nominated Paul Williams, Brendon Moore, Reegan Stubbs, Matty Mackay and Jimmy Messina. And Seaford pair Chris Fortnam and Chris Irving, Mornington’s Reece Singleton and Edithvale-Aspendale’s Claude Sampieri were marked as his best opponents.

As Pines legend Gordon Hendry said, Marriner is a beauty. “When you pick your side, you put Tassie’s magnet on the board first and then worry about the others.”