St Kilda forward Tim Membrey reveals his biggest spray and tells why he’ll always be a father figure to his nephew
What happens when you come last in a 3km time trial? Tim Membrey found out the hard way when he was at Sydney. But what happened next changed the star forward’s career.
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There’s a special little fella in my life and his name is Foxx.
He’s my nephew, he’s just turned one and he’s the life of the party.
He’s brought so much joy to our family, which followed an awful period.
My sister Sherryn, who I’m super close with, was six months pregnant when her partner, Jordy, passed away 16 months ago.
Foxx arrived a few months later.
When he did, the life just came back into my sister and it was wonderful to witness.
It’s incredible to see just how strong she is and how well she’s doing now.
Our family is still really close with Jordy’s family and that won’t change.
It was tragic for both families, but Foxx brings so much joy to all of us and I’m just so proud of Sherryn. She’s been through the wringer but she’s just so strong.
Foxx is someone I will always be very close with growing up and I’ll try to be a type of father figure for him.
I’m already spoiling him rotten, so I’ve got that part down pat, and I don’t see that changing any time soon.
EARLY DAYS IN TRARALGON
I’ll never forget my first game of footy.
I was six and playing for a junior club called TEDAS in Traralgon, which is where I grew up.
I was playing on the wing and I didn’t know you could actually leave the line of the centre square.
I thought my job was to run up and down that line and stay there, which I did for a whole quarter.
It wasn’t until quarter-time that the coach said: “Mate, you’re allowed to leave the line and go and chase the footy, you know?”
That certainly helped.
I supported Essendon growing up as my dad was a big Bombers fan and roped me in.
Being a forward, I was a massive Matthew Lloyd fan. I loved “Lloydy” and had all the No. 18 jumpers growing up.
When I was 14 I was invited to join the under-16s in the Gippsland league and then representative footy came after that.
I played with the Gippsland Power in the TAC Cup and managed to one day snag eight goals against Sandringham at Visy Park in a preliminary final.
Before I knew it, the draft was upon me.
BECOMING A SWAN
By the time the 2012 national draft came around, I had no clue where I was going.
At the draft camp about 12 or 13 clubs interviewed me and they appeared to all show some interest, but none stood out more than others.
You hear and read things that you’re a chance to go here or there, but when the time comes all you can do is wait and see.
On the night of the draft, my family and I went to my good mate Nick Graham’s house.
We played all our junior footy together and then TAC Cup, and he was also in the frame to be drafted. The wait began and the nerves grew.
The top 10 was read out, then the top 20. Soon we were in the 30s and neither of us had found a new footy home.
“Shit, maybe this is not going to happen,” I thought.
Then it got to pick 46 and the Sydney Swans read out my name.
Mum and dad came over and hugged me, but I hadn’t jumped out of my chair yet because Nick was still in limbo.
Then Carlton selected him and the whole place just erupted.
It was an amazing feeling and I still get goosebumps thinking about it. I didn’t care about leaving Victoria.
We lived in the country so we did a lot of travelling for footy anyway. My parents and family loved it because they had a good excuse to come up for a holiday every year and get some sun.
THE SPRAY I’LL NEVER FORGET
To this day, my former Sydney teammates love to bring up this story to hang shit on me and have a laugh.
It was day one for pre-season at the start of my second season at the Swans.
Every AFL player knows exactly what that means — the dreaded 3km time-trial.
During the off-season I was back in the country for eight weeks, catching up with my mates.
I was still training — although probably not as much as I usually would — and I thought I’d done enough to be OK.
I was wrong.
I did a terrible time, ran dead last and was absolutely gassed when I crossed the line.
That afternoon we had a team meeting and coach John Longmire singled me out in front of the group and gave me an almighty bath.
To be honest I’ll never forget it because I promised to myself to never let that happen again.
I didn’t want to ever again be singled out as someone who didn’t work hard.
That stuck with me and I actually thanked “Horse” for the spray years later.
I ran into him at the Brownlow two years ago and we caught up. I told him that story and he had a good laugh about it.
He was an unbelievable coach. I certainly learnt how to be a professional athlete and just how hard you have to work to make it.
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WHEN BUDDY CAME TO TOWN
The year I got drafted to Sydney, Adelaide forward Kurt Tippett had been traded there as well.
Being a forward trying to make a mark, I thought that’s probably not ideal.
Then during my first year at the club there were these rumours that Lance Franklin was going to move to Sydney and join the GWS Giants.
Half of it turned out to be right.
Out of the blue it came out he was joining the Swans and I just thought: “Far out, this is going to be challenging to get a game.”
There were some mixed feelings, but I tried to look at it positively and embrace the fact I’m going to be able to train, play with and learn from arguably the best forward to ever play the game.
At the same time I was disappointed that obviously I wasn’t going to be able to jump in front of him and play much senior footy anytime soon.
People often ask me about “Buddy” and what he was like.
You hear a lot of stories about him, but my memories of Buddy are all about his incredible work rate
He was just such a competitive beast and hated losing, but at the same time he was a bit of a character in the locker room. We got on well.
He never slacked off or skipped training or anything like that, which sometimes people ask me about him. Obviously he’s had his injuries, but when he was fit and healthy he was like a bull at a gate.
OUT: FRANKLIN, IN: MEMBREY
I was in bed having a bit of a lie in.
It was a Friday morning at about 8.30 and I was due to play in the Swans reserves that night, which was the curtain raiser to the Sydney and Essendon clash at the SCG.
I was just about to get up, have brekky and go out for a walk when the phone rang.
It was the coach.
“Look mate, Buddy doesn’t look like he’ll get up for tonight’s game,” Horse said.
“I would have loved to have told you in person, but you’re in for your debut. Congratulations.”
I was living with teammate Jake Lloyd at the time and he came out of his room to find me pacing around like a maniac.
I was freaking out and I told him: “I’m playing tonight.”
We had a high five and a bit of a hug.
Purely coincidentally and by luck, my family was already coming up for that weekend so they got to be there to see it.
I swore my family to secrecy in the hours prior, but I have a sneaking suspicion my dad may have let the news that I might be playing slip to half of Traralgon.
We had a win as well, so it was a great experience and a memory I’ll cherish.
GETTING TO THE SAINTS
By the end of 2014, I knew it was time for a change.
In my exit meeting for the season, the Swans told me I’d had a good year in the reserves and they believed I could play senior footy either with them or at another club.
They said they’d understand if I wanted to go somewhere to get a decent crack at it.
I was pretty keen to play senior footy, but at the same time I’d made some great friends at Sydney.
My manager Matt Bain said there was a bit of interest and the Saints were the keenest and wanted to catch up.
I flew down, caught up with them and I’d made my mind that was the right move for me.
I had to make the call to Horse when I was sitting at the airport waiting for a fight back to Sydney so I could pack up my things.
I would have rather done it face-to-face, but I told him I wanted to go back to Melbourne and that St Kilda was in to me.
He was happy for me and I remember him saying he thought I could be good enough to play senior footy.
I had a wonderful two years at Sydney and left on good terms, which I’m grateful for.
LIFE AT THE SAINTS AND THE FUTURE
I could tell straight away that they were a good bunch at the Saints.
I’m mates with all of them, but Jarryn Geary, Jimmy Webster, Jack Lonie, Seb Ross and Jack Billings are probably the ones I’ve been there the longest with now.
We’re still very close and at the moment and trying to stay all connected through this strange time.
We’re confident of success here at Moorabbin in the future.
We had a strong pre-season and we got through injury free, while adding the five new recruits in plus Max King was super exciting.
Everyone was ready to jump into the season when the rug was pulled out from underneath us.
We didn’t quite get a few things right in Round 1, but we know what we need to fix.
Hopefully we’ll get back out there soon
After all the hard work done and the connection we’ve built, we want to jump straight back in as soon as possible.