It will be party time at Cygnet in SFL round seven as triple premiership captain hits major milestone
One of the SFL’s most respected players will hit the 400-game milestone in round seven with no signs of stopping just yet.
AFL
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POWERHOUSE Cygnet will have double the reason to celebrate if they account for Brighton in their SFL round seven match at Cygnet Oval today with triple premiership captain Julian Direen to play his 400th game for The Port.
“Jules” was captain for Cygnet’s premiership threepeat in 2002-03-04.
He will be feted at the ground where it all started for the 41-year-old father of five as an under-18 player in 1994.
“I am very proud of myself and I am pleased that I can share it with the club as well,” Direen said.
“I’ve been there a long, long time and its really pleasing that it’s something we can share together.
“The club is putting some stuff on for me. They haven’t told me much about it, but I know there’s a function.
“I’ve got five kids at home and they are all keen for the day.”
Direen plies his trade in the reserves these days.
“I was in the seniors pretty much after my first year in the under-18s, up until a few years ago,” he said.
“There were a couple of years when I didn’t play, for no particular reason.
“I’ve played most of my footy in the backline and a lot of it in the middle as well, either as a tagger or a bit of a grunt player trying to get the ball out tot running players.”
“Jules” has no idea has much longer his 400-game legs will let him keep going.
“I didn’t expect to still be playing now – it’s sort of crept up on me,” he said.
“I still feel like a can play and if they need me, I probably will keep playing. We’ll see what happens.”
The Port’s reserves are having a tough coronavirus-shortened season.
“We’ve only won one game and probably should have won a couple of others,” Direen said.
“We’ve got a couple of winnable ones coming up.
“We are good enough to play in the finals but we are probably just going to miss out.”
The pinnacle of Direen’s career was the triple premiership run.
“That’s definitely the highlight _ they were great times.”
In other games, Hobart is at home to Dodges Ferry, Claremont hosts Huonville Lions at Abbotsfield Park, and Lindisfarne takes on New Norfolk at Anzac Park.
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