Brad Norton reflects on his South Melbourne career, excited by Essendon Royals future

Brad Norton is a towering figure in South Melbourne’s storied history, he reflects on his time at Lakeside Stadium, and looks ahead to a new chapter at Essendon Royals.

Brad Norton is chaired off after his 300th game. Picture: Mark Avellino

Championships, premierships, famous win – Brad Norton recalls some of the best moments from his illustrious South Melbourne career.

He hopes to create more with new/old club Essendon Royals having signed at Cross Keys Reserve earlier this month.

Norton brought down the curtain on his time at Hellas after 301 games this season, just the fourth player in club history to reach the mark.

The star defender won two NPL Victoria championships, two premierships, a Dockerty Cup and claimed two club best-and-fairest awards.

He returns to the Royals after spending one season at the club as a 16-year-old under Gary Groenewald before embarking on a path that would take him to the A-League.

“It’s been an interesting couple of months,” Norton said.

“I was involved at South for 12-plus years so it was a tough decision to move on.

“I’ve got a little one now and I’m ticking over 33 years old, not that my body wasn’t holding up but I had a serious knee injury, I hit the 300-game mark so (the timing was right).”

Reflecting on his 12 years at Lakeside Stadium, Norton said he could take about his favourite moments and players for hours.

He said the likes of Leigh Minopoulos, Tim Mala, Kristian Konstantinidis, Zaim Zeneli and team manager Frank Piccione were still among his closest friends from the club.

The 2016 premiership was arguably his most treasured playing memory.

“There’s a core group I keep in contact with but any (teammate) I’m happy to sit down for a couple of hours speaking about stories and the funny changeroom moments,” he said.

“There’s so many moments that you create history with teammates, teams and the club but it’s hard to go past winning championships.

“The 2016 championship at home against Oakleigh Cannons, a 3-2 win in front of about 8000 people crammed into Lakeside Stadium, that was one of the better ones.

“We’d finished third (in the league) coming off winning it the year before but not winning the grand final … so to do that was pretty special and there were good celebrations in the rooms.

“Travelling with the boys and getting to play in FFA Cup games, South has had some success in that, so there’s some special memories there.”

His ties with Minopoulos and Konstantinidis, as well as Vitale and Michael Ferrante drew him to Essendon.

Norton recalls arriving at the Royals alongside another young prospect by the name of Mathew Leckie, who he would team up with again at Adelaide United.

After winning the State League 1 North-West title in 2022, the Royals stepped back into the NPL system this season and survived a tight relegation battle.

The club is looking to launch up the VPL2 ladder in 2024 with Norton coming on board as well as Melbourne City and Western United academy graduate Seb Lo Monaco.

While no longer in the top-flight, Norton still has high expectations of himself and high hopes for the club.

“It was a decision I made for family reasons but I still have high ambitions for my game,” he said.

NPL: SOUTH MELBOURNE STAR MAKES INDONESIAN MOVE

LEADER: GET YOUR LOCAL SPORT NEWS HERE

NPL: AVONDALE TEAMS UP WITH SPANISH GIANT

“I’m one of those people where the second you step out on the park, white line fever you’d call it, so I’ve got big expectations on myself and not just make up the numbers.

“I want to be winning things and that’s the mentality I got from the coaches.

“My expectations are it’s a promotion season, so that’s top-two, or at least fighting for the majority of the season for those positions.

“There’s some great players at the club, like Vinny Lia, Anthony Ramzy and Davey Van’t Schip and then you’ve got guys like Graham Kelly who’s already looks phenomenal after a couple of weeks of training.”