Ovens and King Grand Final Day – 14th September 2024
There’s a good crowd building here at the Findlay Oval as I arrive, just in time to catch the final quarter of the Reserves curtain-raiser……
Arch rivals Milawa and Greta are battling it out and the score-board indicates that the Demons are well on the way to an upset win over their Second Semi-Final conquerors.
I’m semi-detached from this game as I’m engrossed in a conversation about the prospects of Greta breaking a 25-year-old premiership drought in the Big One……But I can’t help but notice the running gait and kicking style of the old fellah wearing the Number 55 Milawa guernsey……..
It reminds me of…..No, it couldn’t be….Yeah, it definitely is…….It’s bloody Johnny Conroy……
***
Yes, John admits later, they talked him into filling in again when they were a trifle short this season……..He recently chalked up his 100th club game in Red and Blue ……23 years after he made his Senior debut.
In between was a lengthy stint with the Rovers, during which time he developed a reputation as a hard-at-it, unyielding defender and gregarious personality.
For more than a decade he made the 35km trek in from Bobinawarrah to the WJ Findlay Oval.
“Yeah, I was always last to training……and last to leave,” he says.
I can vouch for that……On Thursday nights, he’d head upstairs after training, have a meal with the players and ‘work the room’, chatting to anyone and everyone; then check in with the Bar Manager, the late Stuart McAliece, on how things were tracking at his Milawa farm…..
He’d pop out to the foyer to have a yarn with the fellahs doing the weekly Horse Sweep for an update on their activities……By the time he walked down the stairs, everyone was waiting to lock the place up….
And after home games he’d make a beeline for the manual scoreboard operators and their mates who were winding down with a few post-match drinks……just to thank them for their efforts.
“They used to dish out a bit of banter,” he recalls…..”You certainly aren’t privy to that from an electronic scoreboard.”
“Funny thing, they’re still doing it,” John says, “….. when I played in that Grand Final a fortnight ago, a couple of ‘em – Baz Clarke, ‘Scotty’ and Geoff Welch – poked their heads out of the scoreboard and offered me a few choice words of advice.”
***
The Conroy family was not blessed with favourable football genetics…..
“My grandfather, Jack, who died before I was born, probably preferred socialising at the Milawa Pub to playing footy. My dad and uncle Mick were farm-focused and weren’t too well-acquainted with the Sherrin…”
“I was always relatively fit as a kid…..Motorbikes were scarce and I’d often be running around the farm, either chasing cattle or just getting from point A to point B.…….
“And besides that, I had to ensure I was fit enough to beat my super-competitive older sister Rachael, in training for any distance running events coming up at school……..But it was my school-mates who drove me mad about footy….”
John inherited his uncle, Jeff Clarke’s, number 19 Milawa guernsey, and became hot property after he’d chalked up a hat-trick of Senior Best & Fairests in his first three years at the Club…..
“Wang and the Rovers showed plenty of interest…..I was always going to try my luck in town, but it was just a matter of when I could get my licence….So when I turned 18 I decided to commit to the Hawks…..”
He’d captained a star-studded Wangaratta High School side which took out the VSSA State Championship, and the Herald-Sun Shield in 2003.
Considering the calibre of that line-up it was little wonder……
Lads who went on to have outstanding careers included Michael (Juice) Newton, Jamie Allan, Ben Douthie, Anthony Tucci, Daine Porter, Scott and Blair Oliver, Jack Stamp, Michael Davidson and Ray Ussher.
“In the end I chose the Rovers because a lot of my mates were there playing Thirds: Marty Cook, Tucci, Carlile, Joel Witte, Benny Kneebone, Benny Spence, Bryce Porker, Jase Freeman and ‘Naishy,’….”
“I’ve always held camaraderie in very high esteem…..That’s the reason I played the game…..I enjoyed a good, strong bond with my mates….”
He started ‘on the pine’ in his first Senior game with the Rovers but became a fixture from then onwards, winning the Coach’s Award in his first season – 2004.
One veteran compared him to a Hawk star of the past, Ronnie Ferguson…..”He could turn up a few weeks into pre-season training, and lead ‘em all home in the running drills…..…He was farm-fit..…And he was just as adept off the field…..As good a clubman as you could find….”
***
His first football lesson came from the General of the Rovers backline (and a future coach), Matthew Allen, who gave him the lowdown on a defender’s role…..
“Matty said: ‘…..Look, these bloody midfielders run around getting 30 touches, but their opponents might be picking up 35 and kicking 2 goals…..They’re not manning ‘em up, Johnny……Us fellahs back here, we’ll be getting our 10-12 touches and keeping our man to 5 or 6……We’re the unsung heroes…….the blokes who save the game….”
The dogged Conroy determination made him a bugger to play on. Opponents would size up this wiry, sinewy fellah walking to ‘pick them up’ and think “I’ve got this bloke covered for sure”………
But he was as tough as old boots, and could get under their skin…….one of them became so disgruntled he dished out a whack behind play one day which shattered his jaw.
The player was dragged before the Tribunal and handed a sentence which was commensurate to the time Johnny spent out of the game……It turned out to be six weeks…..
That was just one of a spate of injuries which curtailed his career at the Rovers.
“I had some absolute stinkers…..There was a full knee ‘reco’, a damaged medial, a broken arm, an AC joint, Achilles tendonitis, Plantar Fasciitis……..”You name it, I had it,” he says…..”If only I’d discovered Pilates like ‘Gatto’ I mightn’t have been so injury-prone….”
An old team-mate recalled him having an innate ability to ‘read the temperature of the playing-group’, which underlined his leadership qualities:
“Added to that, he was an elite trip-away performer…….We went to Bali one year and he didn’t wear shoes for the entirety of the five days…..That might have been one of the reasons for those ankle and heel injuries! “
He was voted the Hawks’ Most Consistent Player in 2005, Most Determined in 2008, and ascended to the joint-captaincy in 2011.
Three years later, after 110 Senior games and being handed Life Membership to honour more than a decade of service to the Hawks, he returned home to Milawa – appointed as joint-coach alongside a good friend, Luke O’Keefe.
The Demons had just come off a flag in 2013 but had to play second fiddle to a resurgent Glenrowan who were just too good….They went down by 41 and 13 points in successive Grand Finals.
John was still getting a bit of the ball, he says, but another broken jaw halted his progress, as did a few head-knocks.
It was during his third year as co-coach that he began to have a real issue with concussion….
“I got knocked out really easily one day after an innocent bump…..I was in a pretty sorry state, and everyone was advising me to give it away. “
“The Club exercised its duty of care and banned me from playing..….I was still physically able but had to consider my young family…..and look after my head…..I just moved on, but have remained on the Committee……
”I wouldn’t call myself a vital link in the organisation, but I just help out as best I can with sponsorship and that sort of thing…..”
***
The Conroy’s have been on the land at Bobinawarrah since the early 1970s……
“Every family’s different,” John says. “I was always going to be a farmer…..it was in my blood, and nothing could drag me anywhere else…..”
Theirs is a big operation and they fatten upwards of 10,000 cattle a year, providing a valuable service to the infrastructure of the community……
And that’s where he has become somewhat of a (reluctant) public figure as he leads the fight against the Government’s proposal to construct a solar facility on premium agricultural land in the Meadow Creek vicinity.
I mention to John that seeing some of those protest photos in the media was the first time I’ve ever seen him without a smile on his face…..He looks like a real budding politician….
“Well, the photographer tells you not to smile when it’s a subject as serious as this….You’ve gotta look cross……” he says…..
“My wife Jess is doing a hell of a job…..She’s leading the charge….I happen to be the focal point for the media……We just want to preserve our great farmland for the next generation.”
“We’re opposed to a Government that’s making sure it’s got every avenue blocked when you’re wanting to combat what they’re trying to achieve……And we’re really up against it as a community….No-one thinks it’s an appropriate location for a monstrous industrial solar facility….”
“You just stand up for what you think is right, and approach the situation with a mindset to beat ‘em, I suppose….”
***
Now, there’s just one question I want to ask. I put it to this old cockie-cum-activist……How did you end up back pulling the boots back on?
“Well, one of the Milawa Reserves co-coaches was doing some work for us on the farm last year….They were a bit short, and he asked me to fill in.”
“I said: ‘I can’t, the footy club’s banned me,’…..He replied: ‘Don’t be such a weak prick….Just play….’ “
“Anyway, he got on my case and they gave me the all-clear…. I played 3-4 games last year and another half a dozen this year…….I just love playing, competing, and getting around the lads….My son Jack, who’s now involved in U12s with Tigers, is rapt watching his old man in action…..and I’ve finally shared in a flag for Milawa after all those years…..”
“At 39, I was about the fifth oldest player….we had a father-son combination in the team and six kids under 21…..And what’s more, that pushed me past the 100 Club games for Milawa….Couldn’t have worked out any better….”
John helps out at Tigers U12s and U17s training along with a Milawa ‘legend’, Steve ‘Bomber’ Williamson.
It’s probably no coincidence that Tigers clinched the WJFL U17 flag this year and that a strong alliance has developed. Several under-age kids have lined up with Milawa over the past two seasons.
The Demons presented him with a Life Membership last week for his services to the Club…..
“Was it an expansive speech, Johnny ?” I ask.
“Nah, one of the officials said a few words and I got the opportunity to defend the truth……”
Jess and John Conroy, with Will, Isla, Anna and Jack.
This story appeared first on KB Hill’s website On Reflection and is used here with permission.
All photos sourced from KB Hill’s resources unless otherwise acknowledged.
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