Jordan Mackenzie kept his promise to injured skipper

Jordan Mackenzie went from languishing in semi-final defeat to playing a crucial role in a Turf 1 premiership for Springvale South. Here’s the tale of his last fortnight.

Jordan Mackenzie aimed to finish what Ryan Quirk started.

Ryan Quirk made 509 runs for the Bloods this summer before injuring his foot in an innocuous footy training accident less than a fortnight ago.

With the Turf 1 top order firing on all cylinders and Mackenzie having just played in a losing Second XI semi-final, he thought his summer was complete.

But a text message in the early hours of the morning less than a fortnight ago flipped that perception on its head.

“My season was over two weeks ago,” Mackenzie said.

“I woke up to a text message from (Springvale South coach) Darren Arter at 20 past six on Tuesday morning saying: ‘call me when you can’.

“I had no idea what to expect so I called him and he said ‘mate, Quirky has broken his foot’.”

Mackenzie (left) and Ryan Quirk.

Arter instructed Mackenzie to get to training and put his best foot forward for a spot in a team that had just one blemish on its season to date.

The right-hander did just that and did so with one goal in mind – finishing the job.

“We saw how shattered he (Quirk) was and we were all shattered for him,” he said.

“That was the main incentive: make sure the job gets done.

“I knew if I went out there and failed, I would’ve been pretty disappointed for him, but to go out there and play my role, I was pretty happy to be able to do that for him.

“It was great to contribute for Quirky but for the other boys as well.”

Mackenzie’s desire to get the job done was on show on Saturday, top-scoring in the Bloods’ successful pursuit of Buckley Ridges’ 147.

Mackenzie finished with 41 runs from 44 deliveries including seven crunching blows to the Arch Brown Reserve picket fences.

Despite donning a premiership medallion, Mackenzie still feels “shattered” for Quirk after his run laden Turf 1 summer.

“To get the call, while the opportunity is there, it’s just shattering for Quirky, he is a really good friend of mine,” he said.

“It wasn’t even bittersweet, it was shattering, we went down to training on Tuesday night and we were really flat.

“To have that happen and go in like that is hard to put into words, bittersweet isn’t the word because it’s more disappointing, but it was an added incentive for me to go in there and do a role.”

Springvale South.

Cameron Forsyth (37 not out) and Damien Fleming Medallist Blade Baxter (3-26 off 10 and 18 not out) guided the Bloods to the six-wicket win in the 37th over.

SPRINGVALE SOUTH TURF 1 PREMIERSHIP XI: Mitch Forsyth, Jordan Mackenzie, Jordan Wyatt (captain), Cameron Forsyth, Jackson Sketcher, Blade Baxter (best afield), Yoshan Kumara, Paul Hill (wicketkeeper), Jarryd Straker, Matt Wetering, Josh Dowling