Southern league: Heatherton’s Dave Velardo hits 300-game milestone

Seventeen years after making his debut at Noble Park, Dave Velardo is preparing for his 300th senior match.

Dave Velardo looks to the supporters as Oakleigh District closes in on the 2015 premiership.

The great Denis Knight couldn’t work it out.

Told that a player he had coached at Noble Park was still playing and in fact was on the verge of his 300th senior game, Knight was taken aback.

Afterall, he had stepped down from Noble at the end of 2004.

Then he began rolling some names through his head.

“Adam Quinn’s not still playing, is he?’’ Knight said.

No.

“I actually don’t know who it is,’’ he said finally.

Told it was Dave Velardo, Knight, now coaching Morwell, said: “Aww, really? Humphrey! He never said a word!’’

But, he quickly added, he could really play, remembering his “dynamite’’ left-foot.

Dave Velardo in the Noble Park jumper in 2008.

Velardo was 18 when he made his senior debut for Noble in 2004, finishing the season with a best-afield performance in the reserves premiership.

Seventeen years later he’s about to reach the 300-match milestone. It will come on Saturday, when he plays for Heatherton against Skye in Division 2 of the Southern league.

Velardo went on to be a fine senior man at Noble Park, playing under Knight, Shane Bergmann and Kris Barlow, a half forward who liked to wear colourful boots and boot a goal, often from difficult angles and situations.

He kicked 278 of them in 115 senior games, and played in the 2007 grand final against Vermont, which won the match in gripping circumstances.

Velardo left at the end of 2009; his timing was out, because the Bulls captured the next two premierships under “Mighty Mick’’ Fogarty.

He moved to Devon Meadows and then on Oakleigh District, where he was part of the 2015 team that took the Oaks to their first premiership in 57 years.

Velardo played a starring role.

Shedding the Humphrey tag, said he would always remember holding the premiership cup and the emotion of teammates and supporters.

“It was beautiful,’’ he said.

Dave Velardo was a prominent goalkicker for Noble Park.

Shayne Sheedy coached the Oakleigh District team and Velardo is now playing under him at Heatherton.

The experienced mentor puts his forward in the top five players he’s coached.

Sheedy noted Velardo’s “massive hands’’.

“Big, fat fingers … his hands are too big for him. He should be 6’9 or something,’’ he said with a laugh.

“That’s why he’s been so good overhead. And his kicking is pretty much sublime. You’d be lucky to find a better left-foot to lead up to in the Southern footy league.’’

Shayne Sheedy.

Velardo’s 299 games have brought him 655 goals – and he hasn’t always played as a forward, spending time at half back and on the ball.

Velardo said he was grateful to have played so much senior football.

“I’ve been lucky with injuries. I’ve had hamstrings and calves, but no major knees or shoulders or anything like that,’’ he said.

“I’ve been able to stay out there.’’

Velardo well remembers that first season at Noble Park as a young hopeful trying to break into a powerful team.

He said he couldn’t have had a better introduction to senior football, chuckling as he recalled a training session in which Knight spent time with him trying to eliminate his Buddy Franklin-like arc as he kicked the ball.

It didn’t work, but he appreciated Knight’s effort!

Dave Velardo on the run for the Oaks.

Velardo had come out of the North Dandenong juniors and joined Noble Park to play in the Under 19s.

He had one more year left in under-age football when the Bulls decided to put him in the senior squad.

At the end of that year the old Springvale Times reported that three young Bulls would likely try their luck in the VFL in 2005, naming James Gwilt, Shane Fraser and Velardo.

Gwilt, of course, was drafted by St Kilda.

Velardo went to Springvale and made the list, only to return early in the 2005 season when he wasn’t picked in the reserves.

He kicked seven goals in his first game back for the Bulls.

He was away. And 17 years later he’s a local-football mainstay.