WHEN Ty O’Keeffe lived in the Northern Territory, the closest thing he had to a team was him and his dog Omni.
But they were chasing around something more dangerous than a footy.
The aim of the game was catching feral pigs.
After O’Keeffe drove 15 minutes from his base of Maningrida, then came the hard work.
“Bloody oath it was hard,” O’Keeffe said.
“Sometimes the dog would run out a kilometre.
“They pick up a scent and then they’re off.
“The dog catches it, then you come in and kill it.
“(We would eat one) nearly every weekend.”
The activity wasn’t just fatal for the pig, it was potentially fatal for the dog because of the former’s hazardous tusks.
“I’ve seen mates’ dogs get killed,” O’Keeffe said.
“I stitched my dog up a few times but he’s still here.”
The Dennington footballer is hoping his Dogs are able to kill something on Saturday — Kolora-Noorat’s back-to-back hopes.
The last grand final O’Keeffe played in was 2006, when Merrivale thrashed Dennington by almost 10 goals.
Certain aspects of the season-decider sparked a change of heart for the electrician, who lost his passion for football.
It effectively prompted the move to Arnhem Land.
“I just wanted to get out and see Australia,” O’Keeffe said. “I loved it up there, just the remoteness.”
There are some things that the 27-year-old prefers in the south-west, such as being able to read this story today.
“If you wanted to do something like go to the shops, you would have to think a week ahead,” he said.
“Everything comes in on two barges a week.
“You would always get the paper two days after it actually came out.”
O’Keeffe returned to the south-west in April last year but decided not to play football as he was building his house. He was raring to go before this season, completing 13 weeks of training with Dennington.
“In the second practice match I tore my medial ligament,” he said.
“I was pretty much told that I might not recover to play this year or I might not play again.”
He refused to think negatively, instead setting himself the goal of running out in round 13 against Deakin University.
“I bought a push bike and rode that flat out to try and get back.”
O’Keeffe played in the reserves against the Sharks, earning best on ground. He lined up in the seniors for the remaining five home-and-away matches, with none of those games against the Power.
“
I watched when we played them (in round 12) but it was hard to see who was a better team because it was raining and there wasn’t a blade of grass around,” he said.
“I haven’t really listened to too much about what people have said about them.
“I’m fairly confident.”
Almost half of Dennington’s players — including
O’Keeffe — are products of the Dogs.
“I played juniors at Dennington but then they didn’t have enough under 15s one year,” he said.
“Darcy and Sam (Lewis) had gone to Warrnambool so I went there the next year. I had a three or four-year stint there and then went back to Dennington.”
The former under 16 Blues premiership captain has been playing in the forward pocket and as a rover this season.
O’Keeffe said work around the stoppages was a big focus for him.
“We’ve also got two big full-forwards so I’m always trying to get at their feet to see if I can get a couple of goals,” he said.
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