Tsitas calls time on decorated career
REVERED Grovedale leader Barry Tsitas has announced he is set to pull stumps on his decorated career, with 2018-19 leaving the four-time premiership player one final shot at GCA glory.
“I’ll be 41 next summer and the body is not what it used to be, it’s getting a lot harder to recover after games,” Tsitas said of the decision.
“It catches up with you pretty quickly. Two years ago I felt all right, but by Christmas last year I wasn’t enjoying turning up to training and doing everything that was required to get up for the following game.
“In just 12 months I’ve noticed a significant difference in how my body is recovering from games.”
An East Belmont junior, Tsitas spent four years in Premier Cricket at Geelong, before spells at Manifold Heights and Newtown & Chilwell provided an entree to more than a decade at Grovedale.
“I’ve got some great memories from my time at Grovedale and the motivation is definitely still there leading into finals for this year, but just not to go around again,” Tsitas said. “But I’m doing everything I can to get the team up to win games.”
Despite boasting more than 500 wickets and being within sight of Greg Wells’ competition-leading tally of 574 GCA1 scalps, Tsitas feels comfortable with his decision to step away from the game.
“Being out in the field for 85 overs, you’re still feeling it for the next week,” Tsitas said.
“I think my performances show that I could still go around again, but I think it’s the perfect time to finish up.
“Whether we win the grand final or don’t make the finals, that’s quite irrelevant in this decision.”
While Tsitas was understandably glowing in his assessment of his Grovedale teammates, it was a former rival and eventual teammate in Glen Talarico that he identified as his toughest rival.
“I love going up against the best batsmen in the competition, I’ll certainly miss that, but nothing lasts forever,” Tsitas said.
“Tala (Talarico) was the best I played against, while Alf Clark was a good bat that I had the chance to have a few battles with.
“Travis Agg was certainly the best bowler I played against.”
Tsitas has been a key ingredient in each of Grovedale’s premiership successes over the past decade, whether through individual on-field performances or his creative leadership as captain and or coach.
“Being a part of finals has been an incredible achievement by the club,” he said. “The four flags will be something I’ll always remember, we’ve been fortunate to have some really tough teams.
“Sometimes we were considered third or fourth in line, but we’ve been able to manage to win the flag and at the same time there were other years where we were favourite and we were beaten.”
And given Tsitas’s inclination for a battle, how does he anticipate exercising the competitive juices in the wake of his decision?
“I’ll be trying to beat my son Wil at the Big Bash games that he has on the X-Box,” Tsitas mused. “That competitiveness is something that a person doesn’t lose, so Wil is going to find it harder to win games on the X-Box and in the backyard, I reckon.”