Standing in front of the lockers of Stingrays past and present, are veteran trainers John Somers (left), Brian Hunt and Bob Burn. Picture: Jarrod Potter
By Jarrod Potter
TWENTY years after the Stingrays started in 1991, John Somers, Brian Hunt and Bob Burn can still be found working hard around Shepley Oval.
From a small start, as a group of four with region manager Steven Kennedy, the trainers have watched the club evolve into one of the best breeding grounds for AFL players.
In their 20th year running the boundaries, taping ankles and knees and helping Dandenong’s best boys strive towards the AFL, the three trainers still love their days with the Stingrays.
“It’s good to be here,” Burn said. “We wouldn’t be here if we weren’t still enjoying it.”
“We just keep coming back and coming back and I think the thing here is they don’t accept letters of resignation,” Somers said.
Being around a new set of players every couple of years, the trainers have a lot of good memories of the best Dandenong has drafted to the AFL.
“The amount of kids we’ve had drafted, that’s about 80 kids,” Burn said. “(Trent) Croad was great to watch, (Adam) Ramanauskas, Jeff White and Austinn Jones were pretty good, Justin Leppitsch too.”
“Tom Scully out of the latest kids,” Somers said. “We’ve had two kids who were drafted that are now captains; Matty Boyd at the Western Bulldogs and Chris Newman at the Tigers.”
With 15 of the 17 AFL clubs having at least one Stingray on their list (Brisbane and Adelaide the exceptions), the trainers check in regularly on how their old charges go about life in the top league.
One player who stands out is Sam Carpenter, the one-armed footballer who eventually played for the Frankston Dolphins in the VFL.
“Sammy Carpenter with the one arm was something to see,” Burn said. “He was good enough to play VFL football and he’s still playing in local footy.
“It’s great to see kids like that, who are really desperate for the football, a real one-arm bandit.”
“He lost part of his arm in a meat grinder as a young kid,” Somers said.
“But he could really tackle. With one good arm and half of the other arm, you knew you were tackled. But s… could he mark, too.”
With two decades under their belts, the trainers have accrued quite a long list of milestones and successes, but throughout all their time, there’s only one goal in mind that really matters.
“So many memories of so many boys over the years, on the 20-year journey. We’re all well over 300 games; we just go by the years now,” Somers said.
“Winning games is nice, winning premierships is even better, but seeing kids get drafted is the best.”
The Stingrays face the North Ballarat Rebels on Sunday at 2pm at Visy Park. Returning to the Stingrays side from Vic Country duties, will be Brett O’Hanlon and Alex Benbow.
