Ballarat: Bacchus Marsh’s Tyson Shea becomes only second Cobras player to play 300 senior games

Bacchus Marsh premiership captain Tyson Shea will play his 300th senior game on Saturday, making him only the second Bacchus Marsh player to do so. This is his story.

Bacchus Marsh favourite son Tyson Shea’s early career was defined by hard yards.

Regular heavy defeats, wooden spoons and no finals action were the norm after making his debut as a 17-year-old in 2006 and being elevated to the captaincy the following year.

Individual honours of best and fairests and interleague selection for the Ballarat league tempered the on field pain for Shea, who will become only the second Bacchus Marsh player to reach the 300-match milestone on Saturday.

But unwavering loyalty was rewarded in 2016 when Shea captained Bacchus Marsh only flag won in the Ballarat league.

“I had never played a senior final before that year,” he said.

“The club hadn’t played finals since 1999, but we finished third on the ladder and went all the way.

“Momentum, form, no injuries, everything went to plan.

“It just felt like it was meant to be.

“I still get goosebumps still thinking about it.”

Bacchus Marsh captain Tyson Shea and coach Travis Hodgson lift the cup after winning the club’s first Ballarat flag in 2016. Picture: Aaron Cook

Shea played in the flag with two other Bacchus Marsh loyalists, the club’s games record-holder Daniel Velden and Simon La Franchi.

“They were the fabric of the club on and off the ground,” 2016 premiership coach Travis Hodgson said.

“On Thursday nights when you have a meal, read the teams out, and everyone went home, they were the ones stacking all the chairs, vacuuming the social club rooms.

“They would then would go into change rooms, and any tape, drink bottles lying about, they would clean them up as well without being asked.

“Those three led the culture of the club.”

Bacchus Marsh premiership captain Tyson Shea on the family’s small farm. Picture: Zoe Phillips

On the field, Shea also left a lasting impression on Hodgson, who coached the club for three seasons that included the flag and another grand final appearance the following season.

“Of all the players I’ve coached, I can honestly say I’ve never seen someone more consistently put their head over the footy,” Hodgson said.

“It was almost like a default setting.

“Sometimes players pick and choose when they stick their head in the hole.

“But Tyson has done it for the whole 300 games he’s played.”

Shea turns 37 on Wednesday and if not for the Covid interruptions of 2020 and 2021 he would already have played 300 matches.

He sensed the lean times at Bacchus Marsh were coming to an end under the coaching of Doug Hawkins and Cam Richardson in the lead-up to 2016 with a high number of premiership players blooded at senior level.

“I’d do it all again and not change a thing,” Shea said.

“Even the wooden spoons, the 20-goal losses.

“Premierships are not easy to win.

“We went to go back-to-back the next year and the opposite of 2016 was the case.

“We had injuries, we peaked a bit early, didn’t have the form at the right time.

“We made it to the grand final, but to be honest we limped in and got done by about 10 goals.”

Tyson Shea made his debut for Bacchus Marsh as a 17-year-old. Picture: Andy Brownbill

Up until last season when he broke his jaw and was out of action for six matches, Shea had only missed four matches in his career due to a work trip overseas.

Off the field, Shea is the general manager of Semex Australia based in Bacchus Marsh after joining the company immediately after completing year 12 at St Patrick’s College in Ballarat.

In addition to his work specialising in dairy and beef genetics and an expansion shortly into IVF, Shea and his dad Mark operate a small dairy farm near Bacchus Marsh.

Shea does the morning milking before his dad takes the afternoon shift.

Shea plans to continue his playing career beyond this season in the hope Bacchus Marsh can play finals again in a competition he has witnessed “go full circle a little bit”.

“When I first started playing there were a lot of older, mature guys playing,” he said.

“Now you’ve got a lot of younger players who are linked to VFL or are VFL-listed.

“The standard is as strong as it has ever been.”

He has won a club record nine best and fairests and been runner-up twice including last season when he broke his jaw.

As a midfielder, Shea said two of his toughest opponents were Jarrod Edwards and Brett Bewley, who between them have won six Henderson Medals.

“As an 18, 19-year-old coming up against (Edwards), who was 90kg, ripped and just a bull in the midfield, was pretty hard going,” Shea said.

Originally published as Ballarat: Bacchus Marsh’s Tyson Shea becomes only second Cobras player to play 300 senior games