Yes, I was pretty lucky. I played junior footy with Koroit. We were runners-up in the under 13s in 1992 before being premiers and champions in 1994.

We backed those efforts up with a premiership win with Koroit’s under 16 side in 1997.

Koroit had some great junior footballers in that era.

Blokes like Andrew Paton, David Holscher and Ged Brody to name a couple, but there were plenty of others that have gone on to be good footballers.

I can still remember we defeated Port Fairy to win one of the junior flags.

Our arch-rival back in that era was South Warrnambool. We had some great tussles with them.

I started my career as a nine-year-old playing Auskick with Koroit.

Jason, after you finished your junior career with Koroit, did you play in the seniors?

I played in the under 16s and 18s at Koroit.

Former top full-forward Tony Russell was the coach there in my first year of the under 18s.

We missed the finals in my first year of under 18 footy with Koroit.

My career took a turn for the worse in my second year of under 18s with the Saints.

I injured my right knee in the first game of the season.

I was to be out for three months, but I came back for finals.

We lost the elimination final that year. 

I decided to leave Koroit at the end of the under 18s.

Where did you go after Koroit?

I decided to go to Old Collegians.

There was a group of Koroit players who put in for clearances to Old Collegians at that stage, including Connor Murphy and Ben Evans.

We went over to Collegians because some of our mates were there.

The late Jack Kelson was senior coach at Old Collegians at that time. Jack was an excellent coach.

My knee was still not good, but I just wanted to play footy with my mates.

I played the season in the reserves until the last home and away game, when they selected me to play in the seniors against Panmure. 

Personally, the decision to select me in the seniors cost me the reserves best and fairest award for the club.

I was 14 votes in front in the reserves best and fairest before the last game.

The maximum amount of votes you could poll in one game was 15 and, guess what, Matty Wright got the 15 votes.

How many games have you played at Old Collegians?

I played about 20 senior games and more than 220 in the reserves.

Still playing, I hope we may break our premiership drought in the reserves this season.

We got beat by Nirranda on Saturday.

It was a wake up call to our chances this season to win the flag.

It was our first loss for the season and will not do us any harm.

Jason, how long has the premiership drought been in the reserves?

We last won the flag in the reserves in 2005, but I never played as I was working in Melbourne.

The drought in the seniors has been longer.

It's 25 years ago that the seniors won the flag.

Old Collegians was in the doldrums a few years ago. However, the club is now one of the powerhouse sides in the Warrnambool and District Football Netball League. How did that major turnaround take place?

The senior side at Old Collegians never won a game in 2013.

A group of people which included Denis Finn, Simon Dawson and Darren Williams organised a meeting to put a plan in place to reshape the club for the future.

They put a few pillars in place which comprised around recruiting, fundraising and player retention.

The under 17s won the flag in 2013. 

But the club knew that it had to put a new structure in place to ensure the future would be viable.

The club put a board in place which was headed by Clinton Baulch.

A strategy was put in place and, after a lot of hard work, the results are now coming through.

I think the depth and the strength of Old Collegians can be seen when you have a look – four of our last senior coaches still play at the club.

Jason, away from Old Collegians, you now wear another hat as the operations co-ordinator for the AFL Western District hub. I take it that in that newly created role you don't have much to do with Old Collegians?

That's correct. I stood down from the board at Old Collegians after I got the new job earlier this year.

I can still play in the reserves at Old Collegians, but I can't coach or be on the board. I'm comfortable with that.

I'm really loving my job as the Western District operations co-ordinator.

We oversee four leagues – the Hampden, Warrnambool, South-West and Mininera. 

I play in the reserves at Old Collegians and then I go off and watch another game. It may be in one of the other leagues.

We are there to offer support in administration for the clubs and the leagues, whether that be in netball or football.

We've also been heavily involved with the Deakin University Female Football League.

There's been a lot of work going on behind the scenes setting up that league.

They have a round-robin series of games at Hamilton this Sunday.

I'm sure the women's league will grow.

Within in a few years, it will play a major role in footy in the south-west.