BRIEN Roberts hadn’t played a competitive game of football when he arrived in Warrnambool to study freshwater biology in 2010.
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The boy from Whitfield, in Victoria’s north-east, didn’t pull on a Deakin University jumper until mid-2011 — and even that was by chance.
“I only ended up there by accident,” he said yesterday, recalling the unlikely circumstances surrounding his debut.
“I rocked up with a mate to watch a game and the ressies ended up being short, so I pulled on a jumper,” he said.
“They were so desperate they said ‘get out there and have a kick’.”
He again played reserves the following week. But a late withdrawal in the seniors meant he doubled up, taking a role on the bench.
Fast forward almost four years and Roberts, 24, will captain the Sharks in their 2015 Warrnambool and District league campaign.
Coach David “Lefty” Atkinson this week offered him the role, which he had little hesitation accepting. His unlikely debut has spawned a love for the club.
“It came as a surprise, really, it’s really exciting, I can’t wait,” he said.
“He asked me on Tuesday if I’d be happy to do it and I agreed to. It’s just the love of the club. I know it’s a cliche but there’s no other place like it.”
Roberts, who will be one of the most experienced players taking on Kolora-Noorat in round one today, said the club was a “uni pastime”.
“It’s not your normal footy club, it’s fairly unique in that sense,” he said.
“It’s the people you’re always with (that keep you there). They’re your mates you’re always hanging out with. The footy club is the extension of that.”
The defender finished high school in Wangaratta in 2008 and had a gap year before shifting to Warrnambool for university in 2010.
He has remained in the area since graduating in 2013, working on an abalone farm at Port Fairy.
Roberts said he had much respect for Atkinson, who has put a core group of Sharks through a rigorous pre-season.
“Lefty is only there because he loves the club ... he’s there in his own time and that’s the kind of culture he’s trying to build,” he said.
As for the Sharks’ expectations, he said the season would be about making The Pond a place where people wanted to play football.
“In previous years, we were focused a bit too much on winning, that was our gauge of success. This year we’re going more of a different way,” he said.
“The measure of success will be creating a club everyone wants to be at, maintain that social side of things, that level of involvement.”
