SFNL 2025: Hampton Park’s Nathan Dawes to play 389th match, break club games record

Hampton Park’s Nathan Dawes stuck with the Redbacks when few did, and now he will be honoured as its games record holder this weekend. Plus he opens up on his toughest opponents.

Nathan Dawes. Picture: Josie Hayden

When Nathan Dawes takes to the field on Saturday it will be the 389th time he has done so for Hampton Park, surpassing the club’s games record previously held by Frank Flynn.

It’s a special milestone Dawes never saw coming.

He stepped back from senior footy in 2017 and thought he had a year or two left in the tank.

Instead, he’s since won six of a possible seven reserves best-and-fairests.

“I was 32 and mentally and physically I was pretty much done,” reflected Dawes of his 2017 decision.

“I’d had enough and was just wanting to enjoy my footy again … I was expecting surely my body’s going to give out eventually.

“My goal was just to enjoy my last years of football and we’re still here, that’s due to the boys at the club and the club itself.”

Dawes has been at the Redbacks through thick and thin, from the lean years in 2012 and onwards when the club suffered a significant player exodus, to the seniors and reserves premiership double Division 3 of the Southern league in 2019.

Nathan Dawes with his daughter Emily at game 300. Picture: Josie Hayden

“It was always something I wanted to do and Hampton Park was where I grew up and went to school,” Dawes said.

“Over the years it’s ended up as something I love, I love being part of the club. The main thing too with Hampton Park is I love the rivalries and being the underdog team that we were.

“We did go through a tough period where we had a bit of a walkout and were a bit depleted … it was a really tough time for the club, we lost our core senior group and there was only me and a few other guys that hung around.

“At that time I never really thought I was leaving, I guess I’m a pretty loyal person.

“I think it’s just having that deep connection with the guys that are there and just sticking fat and knuckling down and trying to work through it.

“We didn’t think it was as bad as what it was going to be. By the end of that period I was pretty mentally depleted and wasn’t enjoying the footy as much as I should’ve been, but I don’t regret (staying) and never did.

“It was just about sticking fat with the club and your teammates and mates and just working through it. It’s great to see where the club is at now and the success that they’re having and I still get to be a part of that.”

This year, the Redbacks are flying in the Southern league’s Division 2. Dawes reserves side is on top of the ladder with a 12-1 record and percentage north of 330, while the seniors are 10-3 and are also on top.

Nathan Dawes in action.

“There’s still a few boys running around in the ones now that were quite young at the time (the club was struggling) and were straight into the seniors,” Dawes said.

“They had the same choice, they knew the position the club was at and they decided to come to the club and stick fat.

“It’s great to see them still at the club and having that success in the ones now.”

Playing in the 2019 reserves premiership was undoubtedly a career highlight for Dawes, and he said adding another in 2025 would be “pretty special”.

His nephew Callum Dawes has also been at the club the past two seasons, and is part of the reason Dawes has kept going.

Dawes is now 40 years old, and although the coveted 400-game milestone is within touching distance, he’s unsure whether it’s something he’ll pursue.

“I don’t know, back at 300 and 350 I was saying ‘no way’, so I’ve learned to just to go with it and not to say no, we’ll see what happens,” he said.

“I’m not one for the limelight, I like to fly under the radar a bit with these milestones.”

DAWES’ TOUGHEST SENIOR OPPONENTS

Chris and David George (Doveton): “I did a bit of tagging early on, really young I got to play on the George brothers from Doveton, they were unbelievable players”.

Michael Henry (Doveton): “We used to go head-to-head quite a bit”.

Michael Collins (Narre Warren): “He was that six-foot on-baller it was really hard to keep up with, he’d go forward and you just couldn’t go with him, he could just turn a game on its head when he wanted to”.

Beau Miller (Pakenham, Tooradin-Dalmore): “He was just a running machine, he was really hard to stay on”.