YOUNG HORNETS COME HOME TO HELENSVALE
THE plan was always to come home.
Forget false platitudes and overused footy tropes, Bailey Court’s family is the Helensvale Hornets – and he’s finally back where he belongs.
A Hornets junior from ages five to 17, Court’s world from March to October each year revolved around the fields at Robert Dalley Park.
But as the young hooker’s talent was borne out of runs to finals as a junior Hornet, it quickly became apparent he would need to spread his wings to chase his footy future.
With no A-grade presence at the club, Court departed in 2015 in search of competitive senior football.
Playing stints at Easts Tigers and Burleigh followed, where he impressed in the under-20s for both and trained with the Bears’ Intrust Super Cup squad.
Then came the news he and many others had been waiting for – the
Hornets would finally have an A-grade team in season 2021.
It was time to come home.
“I’d been at the club since I was five, right up until I was 17. Consecutive years,” Court said.
“Both of my parents are still heavily involved in the club.
“There was no other choice for me, personally. It’s home.
“The idea of an A-grade team, for the old man, he’s been saying it for years – every since I left in 2015.
“The plan was always to come home when we had the team.”
Now Court is readying to lead the line as an inaugural A-grade Helensvale Hornet. To say he feels great pride would be putting it lightly. “It means a lot,” he said. “When I was a young fella we only had reserve grade and masters over35s. Even then I looked up to those blokes. They were the coolest blokes out – my local heroes.
“Now we have an A-grade side.
Those young kids have a pathway now and I can only imagine what they’re thinking. They get to do what I couldn’t. Stay at the club and have a long-term future.”
Court, 22, is not the only junior Hornet returned to Helensvale for the club’s maiden A-grade campaign.
Brayden Young, who played a junior grade below Court at the Hornets, has also returned home.
Young joined Court at Easts for a season of under-20s together.
Young spent last season at Southport. In a team stacked with returning Intrust Super Cup talent he was “unlucky”, Court felt, not to have had a bigger role.
That role will be returned to Young at the Hornets this season.
“We were in the same boat. Once the opportunity to come back was there, neither of us could say no,” Court said of he and Young. “He’s a guy who just does a job for you. He’s great for those one-percenters.”
Then there’s old head Alan Johnson. The Hornets centre who could have sought A-grade opportunities elsewhere but stayed loyal to the club and its reserve grade squad for years.
His reward will come in Round 2, when the Hornets open their season away to Burleigh.
Bolstered by a glut of premiershipwinning under-20s Hornets from last season, Helensvale will take time to find its footing in A-grade, Court said.
But the platform has been set and the future is bright at Helensvale.
There was no other choice for me … it’s home BAILEY COURT