By Jonty Ralphsmith
He’s seen four senior premierships, his son’s entire footy career, the evolution of local footy and some crippling lows.
Bruce Couch estimates about 20 other trainers have been through the Hampton Park football club in his 2000 games as trainer.
Some are good, others are brief, the success stories are the ones that get better job offers doing the role elsewhere.
But Bruce, who turns 80 next year, has been at the club for 45 years.
The end will be via retirement, not seeking other opportunities.
He’s a Hampton Park person who has stuck through 200-point losses at the darkest times, and never given oxygen to the thought of leaving.
“It was always about how we could get better together,“ says big forward Nathan Carver who was there during the drubbings.
“He was happy to give us banter, but always found a way to boost us up as well.
“There is something about him which just makes him morale-boosting.“
Perhaps the conclusion will be next year – but if a premiership is around the corner, as the club is building towards, the temptation will be to stick around.
The family has posed the question but a love of the club always wins out, with Hayden Stanton and the new group rejuvenating his passion.
He is at training at 4pm, helping to set up, and on a good night might be home by 7.30, and arrives at games at 10am before being released at about 7pm.
That’s been the routine on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays since his son was in under-10s, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.
Like thousands of parents across the country, he just wanted to get involved in helping his son’s team – only once his son graduated to the seniors, then eventually retired, ’Couchy’ didn’t want to let go!
“They give me sh*t and I give it back to them,“ he said of the camaraderie he loves down at the Redbacks.
Across the time, he has seen the game become much silkier.
Back then, he was relied upon to treat many more knock injuries, whereas these days his work is largely put into soft tissue injuries.
The clear highlights, as for anyone associated with football clubs, are the four premierships he has been involved in – 1997, 1998, 2018, 2019.
To mark the occasion, Carver generously presented him with his 2019 premiership guernsey and a footy after last Saturday’s game against Caulfield.
“He put his arm around me at training during the week and said ’you better get me a slab of Scotch this weekend because it’s my 2000th game’,“ said Carver.
“I thought we could do better so everyone signed a footy and we presented it to him in front of the committee, reserves players who stuck around and seniors after the match at Caulfield.
“He’s like family to us – no matter life’s challenges, he’s always here.
“I tell him he’s old and he tells me I’m sh*t!
“He always straps my shoulder and my ankle – there’s no way I’d still be able to play if it wasn’t for him but he’s more than a trainer.“
Teammates and club-people note that Carver and Couch have a special relationship, in between some expected rifts about whether the big forward is fit to play.
“I was just doing my job to get the players able to play at the best of their ability,“ Couch said.
“It doesn’t really change whether it’s a grand final or normal game, I just needed to make sure they were doing their stretches.
“They were fun times and it was a great experience.“
President Craig Seers also paid tribute to the service he provided the club.
“He goes above and beyond and is always happy to speak his mind,“ Seers said.
“He’s a workhorse – as long as he has some Scotch, he’s happy!“
What ’Couchy’ says makes an ideal trainer:
– Assertive communication with the coach: “players always say they’re okay but you need to be willing to tell coaches the truth. You don’t want players to have issues later in life.“
– Gain rapport: “players need to trust that you have their best interests so they’ll be willing to do the right things by their body and be fit and ready to go.“
– Watch games the right way: “a good trainer always watches a kick behind the game to see if anyone goes down.“
– Spend time at the club: “you’ve got to love it, the good times and the bad.“
