Premier Cricket 2018-19: Monash Tigers captain Daniel Sartori calls time on his career
Monash Tigers will be left with a leadership void next season after the announcement that captain Daniel Sartori has called time on his career.
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They were the words that changed the mood of the room and ultimately inspired Daniel Sartori his greatest high in Premier Cricket.
While the specifics of what were said will remain unspoken, it was the moment that helped lift Monash Tigers to the 2011-12 premiership.
The talent-laden Monash, which included a handful of first-class cricketers, had just suffered a final-round loss to lowly Northcote.
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Tigers batsman and ex-Test wicketkeeper Graham Manou had a few words to say, which ultimately put the side on course for grand final success three weeks later.
“We were sitting around pretty down on ourselves … we were a bit flat, it was pretty quiet in the rooms after the game and I just remember ‘Choco’ (Manou) saying, ‘look, we can either sit here and sook and worry about what’s just happened but the fact is it doesn’t matter, we’re going into a finals series’,” Sartori said.
“It was something I’ll never forget and that changed our whole mindset heading into that finals series. It led to the ultimate success at Premier level, but it’s just something that has always stuck around with me.
“Once we entered the finals series, we were pretty confident in our side. I wouldn’t say we were favourites going in but we all knew we had a good enough side if we were able to play well.”
Seven years after that grand final victory over Dandenong, captain Sartori has decided to call time on his career at Central Reserve.
His debut came in Round 9 of 2006-07 and he went on to play 195 First XI games and hit 5010 runs, including five centuries and 27 half-centuries.
His elimination final ton against St Kilda when he hit his highest score of 124 was viewed as good a knock as you’ll see in Premier Cricket.
Sartori’s career started at Punt Rd alongside the likes of Cameron White, Aiden Blizzard, Adam Crosthwaite and club greats Matt Mulcahy and Al Wise when the it was known as Richmond, before the move to Glen Waverley and the change of name to Monash.
“Being a Richmond supporter, I certainly loved playing at Punt Rd,” he said.
“Being a young fella and learning from all the old guys, I loved that time in my career.
“It was a real enjoyable time just getting to know those guys and watching them go about it and learning from what they did and taking parts of their game and putting it into my game.”
The 2011-12 premiership side included six state cricketers (Andy Delmont, Ryan Carters, Will Sheridan, Brenton McDonald, Manou and Wise), company Sartori felt privileged to have played alongside.
“Looking back at it now, we had a pretty good side and those sort of sides don’t come around very often,” he said.
“I walk away from the club with such great mates and having the honour of captaining the club for the last two seasons has been huge.
“It’s something I never took for granted — certainly had to work very hard at it. People always talk about leaving the club in a better place than when you found it and I’m pretty certain I can walk away now knowing the club is in a really good position.”
Sartori said family and travel commitments had brought him to his decision to retire.
“I guess there’s a few factors that come into it — I’ve obviously got a pretty young family and living over the other side of town, living over in Altona, it’s a fair hike to get to Central three times a week,” he said.
“I guess the time spent at cricket or travelling to cricket is time not spent with my family, so that certainly came into the equation.
“(Daughter) Isabel is growing up pretty fast and I want to be there as much as I can and see as much as I can of it.”
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