WHERE ARE THEY NOW
Ronnie Pilgrim is one of the greatest Tigers of all time. He played a club record 319 games, won three premierships and is named on a half-forward flank in Bannockburn’s team of the century.
RR: Ronnie, a little half volley to start us off. What are you up to now?
RP: I work for QEST Environments in North Geelong. I’ve been there for five years and really enjoy it. I get around a bit (to local footy), I get to Bannockburn most weeks and also sneak out to Bell Park as well.
Obviously you’re a Bannockburn person now, but how did it all start?
I played a bit of junior footy at North Ballarat before I moved to Geelong. But I played under-16s at Bannockburn and went from there. I had just turned 16 when I played my first senior game. I sort of played seniors from then on.
What can you remember from your first game? Bet you it was tough.
It was pretty tough. I played Modewarre out at Modewarre and kicked five in my first game. I played about half the game, but we had some good players in that team. It was pretty easy to get a kick. I played most of the year, we went through undefeated, but we lost both finals.
You cemented your spot in the team after that and played in the club’s 1990 premiership?
We were by no means the red-hot favourites. We were 10 goals down half way through the second quarter against Thomson and we got up and won by nine goals. It was almost a 20-goal turnaround. I kicked three goals. We gave away a lot of silly free kicks early, myself included. We were a bit young and over anxious. We just knuckled down and started playing footy and we worked our way back.
Did you spend some time away from the club?
I spent some time at Geelong under-19s in 1986. Then I had one year in the GFL in 1992 with Ron Watt at Geelong West-St Peters. I went back to Bannockburn in 1993. Ronny had tried to get me across for a couple of years. It was his persistence that got me there and it was good fun. It was a massive difference between the GFL and GDFL, a lot better footy. I loved the competitive side of playing.
So you came back to Bannockburn and played in a number of grand finals from 1994 to 2001, winning the 1997 and 1998 GDFL premierships.
Stormy Winter came across in 1995 to coach. We made the preliminary final. In 1996 we lost the grand final and then 1997 and 1998 were great memories. I kicked four goals in both of those games, including three in a quarter in 1997. We had such a good side.
So there are seven grand finals appearances for two wins. Should Banno have won more?
I think we let one slip in 1996 (to Thomson). It rained all week, but that was no excuse we just didn’t perform. And 1999, I thought that was the one we could have won going in on the back of those two premierships. We also had one in 2000 where we had a really good side. I think that’s another we probably let go. It would have been nice to have won a couple of more and been 5-2.
You missed out on the 2003 win?
I actually retired. I played my 300th game and kicked four or five but I knew my body was starting to let me down. We had a pretty good side and it was getting to the end of my footy. I could have played, but I thought I’d rather a young kid have a go. I’d already been there and done it.
Your footy CV is seriously impressive, but I’d imagine getting named in Bannockburn’s team of the century would be the icing on the cake?
It’s something you never think of. It’s the pinnacle as an individual to make a team like that. My brother made it as well, which is even more special.
And to finish off your time at the club you ended up coaching for a year in 2007 with Dan Gibbs and two years with Ross Dillon in 2010 and 2011?
The club was heading towards a playing coach (at the end of 2007) and that was no dramas by me. Then Rosco rang me out of the blue. It went well, we thought we were a bit stiff not to win a flag in that era, but it wasn’t meant to be.