AFLW Draft: Former Geelong player Ray O’Rourke on his daughter Bryde getting drafted and his career

Ray O’Rourke missed the moment his daughter Bryde got drafted — and he thought she was off to another club. Her father Ray reflects on that and his stint at the Cats.

Bryde O'Rourke became a Cat on Monday night. Picture: Kelly Defina/AFL Photos

When your daughter gets drafted to the team you once played for, it is generally a moment you cherish for the rest of your life.

For Ray O’Rourke, it was filled with confusion.

Having missed the moment his daughter Bryde had received a father-daughter bid from Melbourne that was quickly matched by Geelong, Bryde’s sister Ireland passed on some unlikely news.

“I was coming out of the toilet and my eldest daughter turns and she says, ‘Melbourne has picked up Bryde’,” Ray explained.

“And I said, ‘What?’ She said, ‘Melbourne has picked up Bryde’.”

Still trying to process that she may not be heading to Geelong after all, the next thing he saw left him dumbfounded.

“Go around to the function area where we were and there are the two Geelong girls, Georgie Prespakis and Amy McDonald. And I thought to myself, what is going on?” O’Rourke exclaimed.

Star midfielders Prespakis and McDonald had made the trip up to Bendigo to surprise Bryde, but it was Ray who got the biggest shock.

Bryde O'Rourke was surprised by Georgie Prespakis and Amy McDonald up in Bendigo. Picture: Geelong Cats

A quick explainer from his wife Margaret, a familiar name herself as a former mayor of Bendigo, and that bewilderment quickly turned to relief and beaming pride that Bryde would be heading down to Kardinia Park, where Ray, 75, played two matches for the club in 1969.

“It was absolutely unreal to be quite honest with you,” O’Rourke said.

“Just a relief to see those blue and white bloody hoops she had on last night with the two girls that presented to her, it was fantastic.

“I didn’t want her to go to any other club.

“Melbourne showed a lot of interest, there was three meetings. And to me, it was always going to be Geelong.”

While Bryde and Ray knew that she was eligible to join Geelong – the rule in the AFLW being that a father must have played at least one game for a club – there was definitely some confusion.

In fact, Geelong themselves only reached out to the O’Rourke family midway through the year.

Bryde O'Rourke with her friends and family after being picked up. Picture: Supplied

Bryde had been told by one club that she wasn’t able to join the Cats because they assumed Ray’s two games were in the VFL state league competition.

But Ray, played his two games in the hoops in the VFL era, with the age gap between Bryde and her father Ray being 57 years.

However, the Cats had been watching her closely for the Bendigo Pioneers in the Coates Talent League and it didn’t take them long decide to nominate her as a father-daughter prospect – even with VFLW league best-and-fairest Charlotte Simpson also on offer.

“She had flown under the radar. It was as simple as that,” O’Rourke said.

“Let me say this, (the Cats) soon made up for it with the way they looked after our two trips down there, the way they went about it, very professional.

“The way they handled her was amazing. To our way of thinking this is the club we want our daughter to go to.”

Dreams coming true 🫶 💭 Watch the moment our two new draftees found out they were heading to Geelong! #SheIsFootballpic.twitter.com/6tWdNtIKiV

— Geelong Cats Womens (@catswomens) December 19, 2023

RAY’S RUN

Ray was playing under-19 football down in Hobart when none other than Cats legend Polly Farmer showed up.

Hearing good things from John Watts, a former Cats premiership player who was coaching Hobart at the time before becoming a TV personality and broadcaster, Farmer invited O’Rourke to join the Cats.

“Polly Farmer wanted me to come across but my dad wouldn’t allow it because I was on an apprenticeship,” O’Rourke said.

Luckily, the Cats came back the following year and O’Rourke headed to the mainland with them – and with his printing indentures transferred to a local firm in Geelong West, his father was satisfied.

O’Rourke ended up making his debut in round one of 1969, but the next week would be his last senior game.

Ray O'Rourke, Margaret, Bryde and Ireland. Picture: Supplied

“It was a hard road, pace of the game was totally different to what I’d been used to and the second league game that I had was when I did my knee. I had a cartilage operation and then there was a problem with the ACL,” O’Rourke said.

“That more or less put paid to senior football down there, I played quite a few reserves games but the point at where we were training I was finding it difficult, the knee wouldn’t hold out at training of a night.”

An attempt by the Cats to send him over to the WAFL to test his knee in the west was then turned down with O’Rourke opting to return to Hobart.

His career in the top flight was brief but O’Rourke thoroughly the time rubbing shoulders with the likes of Sam Newman, Dennis Marshall, Billy Goggin, who he still catches up with, and many more.

“My time at Geelong was rather limited as far as senior football was concerned due to the knee -cherished every moment of it. The friendships, and still have those friendships today,” O’Rourke said.

“As an 18-year-old kid coming across from Tassie, it was an eye-opener and a great experience.”

O’Rourke can’t wait to become more involved at the club and to see his daughter play down at the Cattery, a venue that has changed a lot since he played there.

“To go down to walk down into those rooms just recently and see the big change and what it’s all about, from the days that I was there when there were holes in the floorboards and goodness knows what,” O’Rourke chuckled.

“Great club, great club. It’s even greater now that I have a daughter playing there.”

Originally published as AFLW Draft: Former Geelong player Ray O’Rourke on his daughter Bryde getting drafted and his career