TWO weeks ago Essendon footballer Martin Gleeson played in front of 78,000 people in an AFL final at the MCG.
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Yesterday he was home in Koroit playing kick-to-kick with St Patrick’s Primary School pupils.
Gleeson, 20, received a letter from the kids asking him to unveil their new goal posts and was only too happy oblige.
“It is great to come back here. I haven’t been back here for years actually,” the 2006 graduate said.
“The school hasn’t changed too much, there are still a few familiar faces in the teachers.”
Gleeson was mobbed by pupils eager to get the Bomber utility’s autograph — some decked out in Essendon guernseys, others wearing Koroit colours in support of the town’s Hampden league grand final-bound team.
“It still feels very surreal,” he said.
“I don’t see myself as a big deal but it’s awesome to come back and see them and I see them at the footy.”
Gleeson, who watched Koroit win its preliminary final on Saturday, will fly to Hong Kong on Wednesday for a five-day football trip.
But he will spend the bulk of his off-season in the gym, eager to strengthen his 74-kilogram frame before Essendon’s pre-season starts on November 5.
“I will have a month off running but I was back in the gym straight away — I need to do that,” he joked.
“I put a bit of weight on and then I get sick and lose it but I am getting there.
“I just need to get stronger and get a bigger body so I can get through a full season.”
Injuries marred what was otherwise a memorable second AFL season for Gleeson.
The defender-wingman played nine games after bursting on to the scene in round one with a performance that belied his inexperience.
Quad and groin injuries dogged Gleeson in the middle and latter stages of the year before three games in the VFL paved the way for a final round call-up against Carlton — the club he grew up barracking for.
The former North Ballarat Rebel held his spot for the Bombers’ elimination final loss to North Melbourne.
“We knew our game style would stand up in finals footy, which it did in the first half,” he said.
“We were playing good footy but then we went away from what we were doing and let them back in the game and it cost us,” Gleeson said.
Gleeson, who had shoulder surgery in his debut season, said he was rapt with his progress under Bombers’ interim coach Mark Thompson.
“I wanted to play senior footy this year which I got to do,” he said.
“I played nine games in the end and I was hoping to play about five and I felt like when I was playing that I contributed and that I wasn’t just out there for the sake of it.
“I think the club and coaches like their players to play every position, so I played forward in my first year and played back and wing this year.
“So hopefully next year I might play everywhere.
“I don’t want to get locked down to one position.”
Gleeson said he was thrilled last week to sign a new two-year deal with Essendon — the club that took a punt on him with pick 53 in the 2012 national draft.
“I was very excited, obviously I didn’t want to go anywhere,” he said.
“I love the club, love all the players and the coaches so I am very happy with two more years and I’ll see what happens after that.”