WHERE ARE THEY NOW

A FOUR-TIME premiership player and member of the Team of the Century, Geoff Boothroyd is a legend of North Shore. The tough-as-nails onballer also had a stint at Barwon and coached Corio. Boothroyd chats to Alex Oates in the next instalment of Where Are They Now?

AO: It’s a privilege to chat to another great of North Shore. Do you still get down and watch the boys?

GB: Yeah, I do. I’ve only got down there once this year, I just don’t always get time.

AO: What do you make of the footy? It’s a completely different era to what you were involved in.

GB: It would be good to play now . . . you don’t need eyes in the back of your head. Back in the early days in was pretty rough, but now’s it’s pretty fast and it has changed a lot.

AO: Where did you play all your junior footy?

GB: At North Shore, from under-9s all the way through. I grew up in Corio and there was nothing else to do. Everybody played footy.

AO: But you didn’t spend your whole career at North Shore, did you?

GB: I got a chance down at Geelong but I wasn’t good enough. You have to be pretty special to play league footy, even back then. I went down there in ’84 and I did two preseasons and it was “thanks, but no thanks”.

AO: Then you headed off to Barwon, is that right?

GB: Yeah, I had a couple of friends at Barwon, so I went there for a few years. I was a young fella and I had a baby, and I’d bought a house. The extra money came in handy.

AO: What do you recall of your days at Barwon? Did you have much success?

GB: We played in the finals a couple of times and ironically we got knocked out by North Shore both times.

AO: What was it like playing against North Shore?

GB: It was pretty tough. I always came out with a bit of blood on me . . . mainly mine.

AO: Did you win three best and fairests at Barwon?

GB: My wife checked it all out and it was two. I went out to Corio after that and had a go at coaching. I enjoyed it there, but coaching wasn’t my thing.

AO: I assume it was a no-brainer to go back to Windsor Park?

GB: It was a remuneration thing (at Corio). I said I wasn’t coaching them — I’d had enough, but I still liked playing — but then money wasn’t right, so I said, “I’m off”. That was in ’92 and Gordon Hynes was coaching.

AO: In North Shore’s golden era, how many flags were you part of?

GB: I played in four, the early ’80s and my last was in ’93.

AO: What do you recall of those days? Everyone, even to this day, talks about the North Shore era being the greatest of all. What was it like?

GB: Everyone walked on a cloud, really. It was just a great team. Everyone got on well. We played footy and then we went in the rooms and had a beer.

AO: There were so many good players, but who were the out and out superstars?

GB: Gordon Hynes, he was unbelievable. He was unbeatable. John Albon was incredible. Mick McManus was a great player. They were all great players.

AO: Of the premierships, do you have a favourite?

GB: Probably the last. I remember a lot of it and the rest of them were a long time ago. And you savour the last one.

AO: When did you decide to hang up the boots?

GB: In ’94. In 1993 we won the premiership, but I’d had enough by then. I had to stop because I had an accident, I got a hit to the head and that was the end.

AO: You won a swag of best and fairests. How many did you finish with?

GB: I won about four. Two at Barwon, one at North Shore and one at Corio. I was runner-up to Mark Stewart in the league best and fairest when I was at Corio. I’m in the Team of the Century, Team of the ’80s and Team of the ’90s at North Shore. I was only on the bench in the Team of the Century, but there were a lot of players to beat.