How three draftees from three different regions of Australia have formed a close bond at Geelong
Esava is the messy one, Quinton is the forgetful one and Brandan is the master chef. But they all just go together. And on Sunday, they will all run out together in Narkle’s designed indigenous jersey.
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Esava Ratugolea is the messy one, Quinton Narkle is the forgetful one and Brandan Parfitt is the master chef.
But like the secret ingredients in Parfitt’s memorable curries, the three of them just go together.
This is a story of friendship as much as football and of relationships as much as ruck rovers.
It’s about three young men drafted from three different regions of Australia to an AFL club.
Parfitt (pick No.26), Ratugolea (43) and Narkle (60) were taken within 34 picks of each other in the 2016 national draft, but the trio of 21-year-olds have grown even closer in the three years since pulling on a Cats jumper.
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Their sanctuary lies in Geelong West where pool tables, PlayStations and dart boards provide the typical share house moments.
“We’re always playing for something, whether it’s doing the dishes, being the designated driver or whatever,” Narkle says.
Parfitt continues: “Me and ‘Narks’ were here first and we were sorting out who gets the master bedroom and we flipped a coin.
“It was a best of three and Narks was up 2-0 and I came back and won 3-2 and got the master.”
When they had exhausted all the games at home, the trio turned to the iPhones to assign the chores.
“There’s this app and everyone puts their finger on the phone at the same time and this little thing spins around and it just chooses someone at random,” Narkle says.
INJURY BLOWS
Ratugolea recently moved out, but he arrives at his old house shortly before the Herald Sun with a tray of coffees.
“He was a bit of a loss. The big fella brings a lot to the table,” Parfitt says.
They all do, though, and the Parfitt, Ratugolea, Narkle friendship has been a blessing in what can be a daunting experience walking into a professional sporting organisation.
The trio were part of the Cats’ big draft haul of 2016, with 10 coming via the national and rookie drafts and most in touch via a dedicated Snapchat group.
“Yeah, it was a bit tough coming into an AFL environment and then on the off-days you’re not too sure what to do,” Parfitt says.
“But with these two blokes you just come up with something and do something and we were pretty big on board games and cards, we’ve got the pool table here and play darts and we do most things with each other and get all the other boys involved as well.”
They have rallied in the hard times as well, with the blow of Narkle’s knee reconstruction in 2017 and Ratugolea’s broken leg last year, softened by the support of familiar faces.
“That helped so much, really,” Ratugolea says.
“It was so important for us to be together at those times and I think that bonded us and brought us a lot closer as well.”
Those injuries go a long way to explaining why Ratugolea, Parfitt and Narkle only played together in the same Geelong senior side for the first time against North Melbourne in Round 21.
“Finally, after three years we got there,” Narkle says.
Ratugolea said the three had “a few quiet wines” to celebrate and took a photo to commemorate the occasion.
KELLY GANG
The conversation turns to teammate Tim Kelly, who along with his young family faces a difficult decision in deciding where to play next year.
“He’s a good, genuine bloke and a good player so if we can keep him it will be great for us,” Narkle says.
Parfitt says: “We’ve got good relationships with Tim and Caitlin and the family and we head over to his house a fair bit for dinner and those things.
“It always helps having a lot of friends at a club and people you can connect with. I think, for Tim, it’s probably a different scenario with his family situation, but for us we’re enjoying it here.”
Do you babysit? “We help out, but not a lot. We probably should do more,” Parfitt says.
“If he needs us we’re always here to help,” Narkle says. “But I don’t think anyone would trust me with their kids.”
They trust Narkle with the artwork though. His creations lie around the house, while he also designed the indigenous guernsey Geelong will wear on Saturday against Carlton in a tribute to the late Polly Farmer.
“Quinton is a really good artist. A lot of the time we’ll be chilling in the lounge room watching TV and he’ll be drawing his little pieces that wouldn’t take him a lot of time, but they would be amazing,” Ratugolea says.
“I don’t take it too seriously, but I enjoy it,” Narkle says.
“I always do it before games or whenever I’m feeling a bit stressed.
“I designed it (indigenous jumper) and I’ve barely worn it. I wore it for a quarter and did my hamstring so it will be good to get out there and chuck it on.”
FINAL CHARGE
Geelong sat 11-1 at the bye, but the Cats haven’t won consecutive games since Round 12.
But the boys are unfazed.
“We’re happy with our season,” Ratugolea says.
“We had a really good start and at the moment we’re probably missing a few players we’d like to have in the team.
“But in the games we’ve lost … there’s little things we have to fix, but nothing major that makes us stress about finals. We will back our game in finals footy.”
The Brisbane Lions last week inflicted a one-point loss after former Cat — and Parfitt’s original host in Geelong, Lincoln McCarthy — took a hanger to kick the go-ahead goal.
“We probably felt like we had it under control for most of the day, but we weren’t able to execute in the last 10 minutes,” Parfitt says.
“It’s sort of good to come into finals without being the red-hot favourite.”
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