THE HEAD TURNERS AT THE TIGERS
MEET the power couple of Townsville Aussie rules football.
Ellen Turner and her husband Mckye, both 27, have swapped the bitter winters of Albury-wodonga on the Victoria-nsw border for a tropical seachange in North Queensland.
The footy-mad Victorians thought they would give Townsville a year to see how they went but, after linking with the Hermit Park Tigers club, are ready to extend their stay.
Now the husband and wife duo are gunning for their first senior premierships at the club which has rolled out the red carpet for them.
“This year would be my 13th season of senior footy and I’ve never even played in the finals,” Mckye Turner said.
“We’ll definitely play finals this year but a grand final would be amazing – that’s what we’re both chasing.”
The pair have led their teams from the front, rocketing up the Townsville goalkicking charts despite specialising as defenders at former clubs.
Mckye made a stunning entrance to the local scene with 17 goals in his first four games since recovering from ACL reconstruction surgery.
He has leapfrogged the competition into seventh on the Townsville
goals leaderboard, having transitioned from a star centre half-back for Wodonga in Victoria’s elite country league to a centre half-forward at Hermit Park.
Ellen, whose football experience back home consisted of backyard tussles with her triplet siblings and three senior club matches, leads the women’s league with 14 goals in her first full season of football.
She has kicked four hat-tricks, two more than any other player.
Aussie rules has been at the centre of their love story.
“We definitely grew together with our love of footy,” Ellen said.
“We’re always down here (at Hermit Park) kicking the footy, always talking about footy.
“We never thought we’d leave Wodonga and then Covid hit and it was an absolute nightmare.
“We thought, do we settle down and have kids or do we go out and make the most of our lives?
“There was a full-time position available in Townsville so we thought we’d bite the bullet.
“I never really had the opportunity to play footy (in Victoria) but then we came up here and women’s was such a big influence on the Townsville league. I was like, ‘yeah, now I can finally make my mark’.”