Trent Warren’s journey to a VFL debut has been anything but ordinary

Trent Warren’s path to a VFL debut with Coburg has been anything but ordinary, taking him from the northern suburbs to the USA and back.

Coburg VFL debutant Trent Warren. Picture: Damian Atamian

Trent Warren’s path to his VFL debut has been anything but ordinary.

The newly capped Coburg star’s sporting journey has taken him from the northern suburbs of Melbourne to the USA and back, mixing a dual love of footy and basketball.

Basketball took a lad from Research to Peninsula College, near Seattle, and California State University East Bay, near Oakland.

The 198cm shooting guard helped Peninsula reach the championship game of the North-West Athletic Conference and was named NWAC All-Academic in 2018 before moving south and making two California Collegiate Athletic Association tournament semi-finals with East Bay.

Yet Aussie Rules was always in the back of Warren’s mind.

Trent Warren in action for Coburg. Picture: Dan Foley

“I think I always knew my limit with basketball,” he said.

“I always took a footy with me over to America and I had a kick at least once a week.

“The bigger plan was always to come back and play footy long-term.”

While studying in the USA, Warren had Category B rookie trials with Western Bulldogs and Geelong, impressing but not getting the final nod.

After gaining his Bachelor of Science in Construction Management from Cal State he returned to Australia in the middle of a global pandemic.

He got in contact with Box Hill assistant coach Andy Collins and was invited down to train with the Hawks.

“Once I got back and nothing much was happening with the Category B opportunities I knew I had to bite the bullet and go to a VFL club,” he said.

“That’s where Box Hill came about, having the opportunity to go down there and learn from the likes of Andy Collins and Sam Mitchell showed me the VFL is an extremely good competition in its own right.”

Unfortunately, a stress fracture in his foot put an early end to Warren’s 2021 campaign.

Coburg reached out with an offer for 2022 and the rest as they say, is history.

Warren got the call from Lions coach Andrew Sturgess he’d been waiting for and on Sunday he played his first VFL game on the wind-swept fields of Cranbourne against league-leader Casey.

“There weren’t too many words said on that phone call (with Sturgess) to be honest, I didn’t know what to say,” Warren said.

“The realisation my time had come, I was very thankful and grateful for the opportunity and I definitely don’t want to waste it.

“It was a special moment.

“It was a great hit out playing against AFL-level guys, you learn a lot about what it takes to play at that level.

“Seb (Spagnuolo) and Sturg showed a lot of interest in me without knowing too much about my footy career or my ability.

“They got me on board just based on our discussions, which I’m very grateful for, and it’s led to making my debut on Sunday.”

If he holds his spot Warren will face his former club Box Hill on Sunday when Coburg hosts the Hawks at Piranha Park.

Progress has never come easy for the defender, injury hit when he was invited to train with the Northern Knights and he was forced to move from Eltham to Nunawading for more basketball opportunities.

However, that pales in comparison to getting an opportunity in the States.

“It’s very, very hard as an Australian basketballer that was never on a Vic team or Australian team to get recruited over there,” Warren said.

“A lot of time and effort went into personally emailing hundreds of schools with my highlights tapes and basketball CV.

“Through one of my coaches in Australia I got an opportunity to go to a junior college – which is a two-year school and helps you get some attention.

“It ended up being a great choice because I got to start pretty much every game of my college career purely for the fact I started at a smaller school.

“I had a couple of opportunities trialling as a Cat B (rookie) at a couple of AFL clubs but nothing really eventuated.”

It’s a case of all’s well that end’s well for Warren.

On his return to Australia, he signed for Eastern league power Blackburn, joining cousin Ryan Bathie – a Category B pioneer having spent two seasons on Geelong’s list.

However, a change of VFL club also came with a change in local club and a return to the Northern Football League with Macleod.

It was a chance to play alongside Box Hill Secondary School mates Haydon Manuel and Bailey Rodda.

He impressed in the Kangas Round 1 win over North Heidelberg and loss to Greensborough enough to earn his VFL chance.

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“There were a couple of different clubs asking about me and wanting to have a chat,” he said.

“I was speaking to the ex-coach (Christian Stagliano) at Macleod and then new coach Craig Hayes and both had strong values that aligned with what I was looking for.

“Having a couple of mates that I went to school with also made it a lot easier – when you’re training at Coburg a couple of nights a week and rocking up on Thursday to train it’s nice to have some familiar faces.”

If Warren is sent back to local level he will have a weekend off with Macleod on a bye.