Southern league: Darryl Thomas still going strong at 45
He was on the same 1992 TAC Cup list as AFL star Justin Leppitsch. Now, Doveton Eagles’ Darryl ‘Cuz’ Thomas is entering his fourth decade of senior football to help the club through a tough time. We take a look at his stellar career.
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Soon after Doveton Eagles won last year’s grand final, word came through that a few players would be retiring on the plateau of the Division 2 premiership.
Many assumed Darryl Thomas would be one of them.
After all, he turned 45 last season. He was still going well — he played 21 games under Clint Wilson — but he couldn’t go on forever.
But no. There was no mention of Thomas hanging up the boots.
And going into 2020, the Eagles are thankful the defender known as “Cuz’’ is continuing his senior football into a fourth decade.
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The club has had a rugged time since the Division 2 premiership win over Springvale Districts. An exodus of players followed the retirements, and rather than taking their place in Division 1 for the first time, the Eagles have asked to go into Division 3.
When things were looking wobbly before Christmas and players were asked to commit, Thomas quickly did so.
He’s had a few clubs since making his start in senior football with Doveton at the age of 16.
But two of his four premierships have been with the Eagles, and he’s always enjoyed his time at Power Rd.
Looking over the ground last Tuesday afternoon, he said the club had “good people, loyal’’ and it had been good to him.
“If people do me right, I’ll come back better for them,’’ he said.
“A lot of them have been here for decades. You have to respect that.’’
Thomas has had a remarkable career since starting with the Doveton midgets. Football took him to NSW, WA, SA and the NT, and he had a chance to play in Queensland too.
If you flick through the original lists for the TAC Cup in 1992, you’ll find his name in the Dandenong Stingrays squad alongside the likes of Justin Leppitsch and Shayne Smith (the club kicked off at Mordialloc under the coaching of Peter Russo).
Thomas had a stint with VFA club Dandenong.
Then he packed his boots and bag and hit the road, first going to Cootamundra, then to Darwin to play for Southern Districts in the Northern Territory league.
Returning to Victoria, he went out to Nar Nar Goon, where he led the goalkicking in 1994.
Thomas’s next move led him to his highest level of football, the SANFL.
He joined West Adelaide, debuting early in the 1995 season. Grant Fielke was his captain and another former Doveton junior, Scotty Simister, was a teammate.
Thomas made the switch to the WAFL in 1997, playing for Perth. The big grounds of the west suited his running ability.
But he said the standard of the SANFL was better. “That was really good footy,’’ he said. “I was just happy to get a few kicks against those guys.’’
Thomas moved back to Victoria in 1998, signing at Hampton Park. The Redbacks had won the flag in 1997 and they made it two on the hop under Mick Hill.
It was Hill who gave Thomas his nickname. He didn’t know many people when he went to the club and took to calling everyone “Cuz’’. Hill returned the favour by calling Thomas “Cuz’’. It stuck like mud to a ball.
“He was one of the most gifted players I’d seen,’’ Hill said last Friday.
“His ability to win the footy was just unbelievable. It was something you couldn’t put your finger on.’’
He can still remember the words of former Hampton Park chairman of selectors Peter “Boxhead’’ Kennedy as he watched Thomas for the first time.
“We were playing Pines at Pines, and about halfway through the second quarter ‘Boxhead’ turned around and said, ‘Who the @$%! is this bloke?’,’’ Hill said.
“He was blown away. He’s seen him for a quarter-and-a-half and couldn’t believe the bloke’s ability.
“Darryl could do anything. He was so silky.’’
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In the 21 years since that Hampton Park premiership Thomas has played at clubs including Kilcunda-Bass, Mt Waverley, Lyndale, Doveton, Nyora and Doveton Eagles.
How many senior games has he played?
Hundreds, but he’s unsure of the exact number. A couple of years ago he sat down and tried to work it out. “Then I got bored and started talking about something else,’’ he said with a laugh.
He said he’d been lucky with injuries — “I’ve never broken a bone or done a knee’’ — and maintained an enjoyment of the game.
“It gets you out of the house for three hours,’’ Thomas, a medical driver with the Dandenong Aboriginal Health Service, said.
“Keeps you fit too.’’
A few years ago Thomas put on weight, his body started playing up and he thought he might be coming to the end of the road. “I think it scared the shit out of my knees,’’ he said.
He lost a few kilos, the knees came good and he happily played on, coming off half back with skills and smarts that compensate for the inevitable slowing of his legs.
“It’s just a number now,’’ he said of his age.
“I don’t really think about it.’’
If he has thought about retiring in the past few years, he’s kept it to himself, not wanting to “do a John Farnham and have to go for a comeback’’.
Thomas believes he has a few more years in him, particularly when he eventually and inevitably takes up Superules.
He’s also got his daughter Harmony’s football to follow.
Like her father, she went through the Stingrays. Last year she made her VFL debut for Casey Demons, where she’s trying for the 2020 list.
“As long as she enjoys her footy, that’s the main thing,’’ he said.
Her old man certainly has, for a long time.
And he intends to this year for the Eagles, committed and keen and hoping others are too.
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