ON BOARD TO CHASE NEW DREAM
KNEE injuries ruined his AFL dream, but a former Suns academy player whose dad is an Olympic medallist now has designs on dominating the surf.
Competing for North Bondi, Jackson Collins on Saturday won the under-19 ski race at the Australian surf lifesaving titles.
The 19-year-old was with the Suns for about six years before moving to Sydney last year in a bid to kickstart his AFL career at the Swans.
Armed with the powerful DNA that led his father, Daniel, to Olympic kayaking bronze in 1996 and silver in 2000, as well as a place on the 1988 Australian schoolboys league side along with Brad Fittler, Jackson is quickly turning his “hobby” into serious business after a series of knee injuries.
“My older brother and Dad both paddled skis, so it was something that I was always going to do but it was just a bit of a fun thing on the weekends,” he said.
“It’s a bit more serious now. I had to stop playing footy due to knee injuries but I started taking surf seriously about a month ago.”
Collins grew up on the Gold Coast but moved to Sydney in November.
“I couldn’t play (footy) anymore because I had knee injuries after surgery and lots of complications,” he said.
“It was (shattering). You could do something amazing and get paid a lot of money but all of a sudden your future and dreams are gone.
“I had reccurring patella dislocations. My knee caps have popped out six times on my left and four times on my right, so they said if it happened again after the surgery I had, that was it. And that happened again.”
After two golds earlier at the meet, Collins was the overwhelming favourite for the under-19 title but had to work hard to catch Manly’s Ethan Neville.
A TWO-decade elite career in swimming and surf lifesaving has come to an end for Rebecca Creedy, who has decided to hang up her togs after almost pulling off a stunning ironwoman win at the Australian titles.
Creedy put herself in contention for a third Australian ironwoman crown – something that would have put her in rare company, with Karla Gilbert the only other woman to have achieved the feat.
But a slight error on the final board leg gave Noosa’s Lana Rogers the edge she needed to get through a challenging shore break at Perth’s Scarborough Beach and the young gun raced away to win a maiden title.
Creedy’s silver medal continued an outstanding podium run at the Aussies though, with the 35-year-old – the ironwoman winner in 2012 and 2016 – a consistent performer on the sport’s biggest stage.
“I knew by December that my Nutri-Grain series I wanted to have this year wasn’t going to happen, so from then I decided to focus on Aussies and really finish off the season on a good note and not leave on the negative foot that I was putting forward this season,” Creedy said.
“It was exciting to get that close but Lana did an amazing race. I knew I really had to punch hard through that wave on the way out on the (final leg of the) board and I didn’t execute it as I wanted to and one little mistake was what hurt me.
“But kudos to Lana, she really put together a solid race and held all her skills perfectly – and in tough conditions.”
The Noosa young gun, daughter of two-time swimming Olympian Greg Rogers, had an outstanding Aussies, winning the ironwoman before joining clubmates Jordan Mercer
I DECIDED TO FOCUS ON AUSSIES AND REALLY FINISH OFF THE SEASON ON A GOOD NOTE REBECCA CREEDY
and Electra Outram to win the taplin relay.
“Lana and I probably have a very similar sort of background, came into the sport late from a swimming background and have similar strengths, so she was definitely someone I knew was going to be tough to beat,” Creedy said.
The Kurrawa clubbie took to Instagram after the ironwoman final to confirm this Australian titles would be her last – at least as a professional racer.
“I’m looking forward to actually going out and getting myself a real job,” said Creedy.