Golden Square legend Peter Moroni says he would love to still be playing today. "It's all run and bounce. It have suited me down to the ground," he said."They're not allowed to king hit you, whack you or anything like that.
"When I played against teams like Rochester they'd come at you hard. They were big blokes and only too willing to knock your head off. That's why I ran so fast!
"Footy is still hard and tough now, but you're pretty safe from the rough stuff."
Having played a club record 368 senior games, including the 1979 Grand Final when he kicked six goals off a wing, Moroni's love affair with football saw him continue as a Super Rules player at Swan Hill until he was 48. Now he's a bike rider, his son Jarrod following in his footsteps and as a teenager becoming Australia's Under 19 mountain bike champion.
Other than a couple of games with Geelong reserves at the start of the 1967 season, Moroni played all his football at "The Square", his speed, anticipation and ability to read the play a feature.
His longevity was also remarkable and in his first 300 senior games, he reckons he would have missed no more than a month's football.
"I loved it and was lucky enough to play in some champion sides, and with and against some champion players," he said.
"Even as a young man for example, (Sandhurst's) Geoff Southby was virtually impassable at full-back. Then there were boys like Greg Kennedy from Eaglehawk who also went to the big-time. Colin Rice came back from Geelong and was also a star (at South Bendigo), Tony Southcombe played at Carlton. There have been some terrific players from here."
Four premierships, nine Grand Finals, two best and fairests, a Victorian championship, 18 inter-league games and almost 500 club games are part of Moroni's proud CV.
He says one of the most-memorable of all his 25 years, however, came in 1981, a season in which some of the club's established stars including champion full forward Ron Best all left.
"There was a real exodus. The club had no money and only about two or three of us stayed, yet as a club we stood up. Peter Davey put his hand up to be coach and we all worked, filled the numbers in the seconds and only just missed the senior finals by something like half a percentage point. We had a 17-year-old kid in the centre by the name of Greg Williams. Even then he was a ball magnet. We won the best and fairest that year.
"As a team, it was a terrific effort and shows just how far you can go when you all have a common goal and put your head down and go for it. That was just about as satisfying a year as any of them."
In addition to his 368 games in the ones, Moroni estimates he played 50 games in the reserves and another 50 in the Under 18s.
He says he was glad to make Geelong's list as a young kid in 1966-67 but he far preferred living in the bush and doesn't regret leaving.
"I got seven letters from Melbourne clubs in all," he said. "I went to Hawthorn first and then Geelong. I preferred it there as Peter Pianto, a Bendigo boy was coach. It didn't work out, but that's life. I was able to play through until I was 41 and a half. I wouldn't change too much."
Golden Square stalwart Arthur Doye says Moroni, known as the "Fleet Footed Epsom Market Gardener" remains his all time greatest Golden Square player.
"His dashes down the wing are legendary," he said. "He had only two things in mind -- they're painted white, stand eight yards tall and seven yards apart. He loved kicked a goal and we loved to see him. He was a real star. No-one will ever forget his six-of-the-best in the '79 grannie. It was just marvellous."
By Ken Piesse
Article first published 22 July, 2009
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