Adrian Burgiel says he’d love to still be playing football in the Big Smoke, but then again four premierships in five years at Maffra has been a marvellous consolation.

“It could have been five flags in six years,” he said, “but I missed that one (when he was in Perth).

“It was a big one, too, as it broke a 50 year (premiership) drought.”

Now 28, the champion La Trobe Valley sportsman was a starry-eyed Richmond hopeful alongside the likes of Chris Newman, Kayne Pettifer and Chris Hyde and played two Ansett Cup pre-season games with the Tigers in 2001 before being badly injured in a car smash and missing the next 14 weeks.

“I played the last five or six games (in the reserves) and that was it,” he said.

“Guys like Chris and Kayne have gone on and played more than 100 games and Chris isn’t far off it. Good luck to them, too. I’d love to still be there with them, but it just wasn’t to be.”

Adrian and his older brother Haydn, who is Maffra’s playing coach, have been a cornerstone of the club’s success in recent times, Haydn, a two-time best and fairest playing as an on-baller and Adrian as a key forward.

Last year he kicked 90 goals to head the West Gippsland-Latrobe Football League’s goalkicking charts. Included was a haul of 17 goals against Drouin, but he says it was a drubbing and at one stage the bloke on the mark did a handstand in an attempt to put him off as he was taking a set shot for goal!

While only of medium height he is quick and a fine mark. He says having a brother as coach has its advantages, too, as he can occasionally miss training, a total “no-no” under the club’s previous no-nonsense premiership coach Wayne Butcher.

He says football even at country level is quick and demanding and come Sundays he is invariably sore.

“I play cricket too (with Maffra) and it isn’t as hard on your body. But with footy we’ve had all this success which has been great. “We made the cricket final this year only to fail miserably, being bowled out cheaply chasing 200-odd. It has been 20 years since we won a flag and we have been there or thereabouts. I’d love to win one of those too.” Burgiel is a star batsman and during the summer had one innings of 197, a new Sale-Maffra record for turf cricket. After leaving Tigerland he played with Vermont and also had a season with West Perth before returning home to Maffra and immediately becoming one of the standout players for the Eagles. He says the town has come to expect success and after an opening round loss to Sale, the side is gradually re-emerging as one of the teams to beat. “We have some pretty handy players, like on-baller Ben Coleman and our centre-half forward Daniel Stubbe. Justin Staley is back with us, too, after time at Yarram. He played in three of the premierships with us and is a real leader on the backline.

Asked the best bush player of his time he named Maffra’s own Nick Hider who had two games with Collingwood in the mid-‘90s.

“He’s 36 now and still a gun,” he said.

“He won the League best and fairest, our own best and fairest and was best afield in the (2007) Grand Final,” he said. “He’s a really important part of our side.”

By Ken Piesse

Article first appeared Herald Sun May 4th 2008

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