It’s HFLW finals time! Our Senior Women will take on Onkas in a Qualifying Final at Macclesfield on Sunday at 12.30pm – this time is still TBC, so please keep an eye on PlayHQ. Get out to Maccy on Sunday to support our ladies!
Meanwhile, it’s a split round for the HLF, and there are no Mt Lofty games this Saturday – enjoy the weekend off.
Other games this weekend are our U12 Mixed taking on Echunga at Echunga on Friday night, our C Grade taking on Milang at Milang on Sunday, our U12 Girls taking on Walkerville at home on Sunday, and our U14 Girls taking on Ingle Farm away on Sunday. Our U17 Girls have a bye – enjoy!
Check out all the action in the fixture below or on PlayHQ.
What a day we just witnessed! Tough, fit, honour, humble. Brad Burch! He just played 350 Senior Club matches for the Mt Lofty Districts Football Club (the first and only MLDFC player to achieve 300 A Grade Games) on top of this he has played A Grade matches for Tea Tree Gully (we cannot track matches) and Sturt Football Club Reserves (we cannot track matches) What a performance Burchy put on for us too.. As always! His football knowledge, calm demeanour, and mentoring attributes are astronautical. .
Respected by all in our club, Bradley is the most understated, humble and gentle human at Mt Lofty. We could not be more honoured to call him a Mt Lofty Devil. Shown by his refusal to be chaired off for match 350, or any socials posts (sorry – not sorry – Bradley!)
When Mt Lofty people think of Brad, they immediately search for the right words to describe the amazing achievements of an exceptional player who seems to be almost indestructible. A hard running mid fielder, who is one of the toughest inside players in the HFL and who has also taken some incredible marks in his time, Brad has worked extremely hard throughout his career and this was obvious when he first pulled on the red and white in 2000.
Interestingly, it was not one of the club’s recruiters who was responsible for Brad joining the Devils, but in his words “….I met a lovely young lady who persuaded me to play with her brothers….” “(She is now my wife!)”. That “lovely young lady” was Jenny, at the time Stapleton, and is not only Brad’s wife, but also mother of their 4 beautiful children.
Club and HFL achievements are amazing –
6 time Club Champion (A Grade B&F) – 2002, 2003, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2015. This is a shared club record with Sam Miles.
Premiership player in 2006, 2008 and 2014, winning the Alec Parker Medal in 2006 & 2008 as the Best on Ground in the Grand Final
Club Captain in 2002 and 2003 before 2 seasons at Sturt
HFL A Grade Interleague Rep in 2002 to 2004
Mt Lofty District Football Club Life Member in 2015
HFL Playing Life Member in 2017
HFL B Grade League B&F 2023
300 A Grade matches for Mt Lofty Districts Football Club (in 301 Senior matches)
350 Senior club matches Mt Lofty Districts Football Club
Brad’s early football days saw him playing for several different clubs, largely the result of family moves. Beginning at 7 years of age on the Eyre Peninsula at Wudinna, Brad went on to play for Mundulla, Bordertown, Hope Valley, Norwood Under 17’s Under 19’s and Reserves and Tea Tree Gully in 1999. Again, achievements during these years were impressive:
Best and Fairest for Hope Valley Under 15’s in 1993
Best and Fairest at Norwood in the Under 17’s in 1994
Premiership Player in Norwood Under 19’s
Best and Fairest for Tea Tree Gully A Grade in 1999
Playing at Norwood, saw Brad play at Under 17, Under 19 and Reserves between 1994 and 1995 and achieving success as shown above. Unfortunately, he suffered a serious facial injury in a training accident where he fractured his eye socket and sustained a depressed cheekbone.
It is incredible to think that, in 2025, Brad is still playing in the HFL, 25 years after his start in 2000 with Mt Lofty’s Devils. During the 2004 season he was recruited by Sturt and went on to be the runner up in the club’s Reserves B&F after playing only part of the season. In 2005, after being BOG in multiple Reserves matches, Brad was not able to break into the League side and sadly received a serious break to his jaw in 2 places. Club icon, the late Frank Clements, was in constant contact with Brad during his time at Sturt and finally convinced him to return to Mt Lofty in 2006.
His resumption was timely for the club and for Brad himself, as after returning to finals football in 2005, the A Grade went on to win three Premierships in a row in 2006, 2007, and 2008. As mentioned earlier, he won the Alec Parker Medal in the 2006 & 2008 Premiership as Best on Ground, but he missed the Grand Final in 2007, playing only 10 games due to a career move. Brad joined the South Australian Metropolitan Fire Service and was undertaking training which incorporated a large amount of practical work and could not afford to risk injury, therefore standing out of games in the latter half of the year and the finals series.
A second Division 1 Premiership for Brad followed in 2008 and in the same year he undertook coaching while still playing. He and team mate Rob O’Gorman coached the Senior Colts in 2008 and 2009 proving to be a very capable and popular combination.
A third Premiership came for Brad in 2014 in Country Division where the club played for just one season, winning Premierships in 4 grades. Success at A Grade level since returning to Division 1 has proven difficult, but Brad is encouraged by the development occurring at the moment with Club Coach Michael Bawden leading the Senior Squad with 14 players from the 2019 and 2020 Under 18 Premiership sides, 12 of whom have had experience in the A Grade side.
Still dedicated to performing at his best, Brad, has always paid a lot of attention to fitness and sets a great example to the young inexperienced players, guiding them from his position, now in the defensive six. In terms of fitness, at one stage he would run up to 5 kilometres in preparation for each match. Most players could not imagine such a pre-game preparation, but this did change somewhat on the arrival of Jen and Brad’s children. The Burch family now has four children with Jaida, Xavier, Zara, and Conor.
With Xaviar playing in the Under 16 boys and also for Sturt, Zara playing in the Under 12 girls and also in U14 Girls, and Conor playing in U10, the future looks very bright for the club, particularly with cousins and sons of Damian, Michael and Matthew Stapleton also very likely to be Mt Lofty players. (Jaida and Zara also play netball for Heathfield.) It is possible that the Burch and Stapleton dynasty could number up to 9 players in the future. Along the way, Dad or Uncle Brad, is very likely to be involved in coaching some of the children as he is very interested in resuming as a coach on retirement.
Over the year’s Brad has played with many wonderful Mt Lofty players registering now 300 A Grade games. Former Club Champions Leith Dawes (256 A Grade games for a total of 289 Senior matches) and Bruce Dawes (228 A Grade games for a total of 362 Senior matches) and is still playing along the likes of Premiership team mates, Club Champions, Mark Nielsen (233 A Grade games for a total of 241 Senior matches) and Alex Weeks (258 A Grade Games for a total of 285 Senior Games)
The first Mt Lofty player to achieve 300 A Grade matches sitting at 350 Senior matches that is very quickly closing down on the all time Senior games club record holder at 362 of Bruce Dawes, looks to be slowing down no time soon!
Respected by all in our club, Bradley is the most understated, humble and gentle human at Mt Lofty. We could not be more honoured to call him a Mt Lofty Devil.
On behalf of all Mt Lofty people, we congratulate and salute you Brad. Keep on giving ’em Hell mate 🔥
We would like to thank David Evans, who is did us the honour of tossing the commemorative Life Member coin for match against Blackwood on Saturday 26 July 2025, joined by Sons Luke and Todd.
David “Taffy” Evans was made a Mt Lofty District Football Club Life Member in 1992. His two sons and grandchildren call him “FOSL”. Affectionally, David thinks that maybe they are correct!
Way back when the oval was just scrub and some trees, there was one of many community working bees. The rocky base needed to be blasted out using explosives called gelignite. This was then levelled with large machines before the topsoil was added. As a young Heathfield Primary School lad, David remembers vividly that he and Kevin Hampton joined many rows of people lining up with garden rakes and wheelbarrows to clear the rock heaps. There was no council help at all, just the community getting it done.
David played Junior footy for Heathfield Aldgate United, colts footy and filled in with the B2 grade when his dad coached, before moving more permanently to the Bs and As.
Premierships with Heathfield Aldgate United totalled 6 and for Mt Lofty he played in the first 1981 SAFA A grade match which became Mt Lofty’s first A Grade Premiership, as well as the 1986 A grade and 1988 A2 Premiership’s. David also played League and Reserve years at Sturt as player number 797 and was lucky enough to be part of a Grand Final winning team.
He was involved in Auskick coaching and training, helped coach Mt Lofty Bs and was the main bar and security bloke in the club run Casper Discos. Today he is still doing things such as Chairman of the Sports Club and he says he remains a very proud life member of this great club.
Davids playing accolades include:
4 A Grade Premierships, 3 Other Senior Premierships, 2 Junior Premierships:
Thank you sincerely on behalf of everybody at Mt Lofty for all that you do for our club.
David with sons Todd and LukeDavid with Lofty Legends Convenor (and Head Trainer) Nikki Moore nee dee RoosDavid, in blue, and Kevin Hampton as young boys when volunteers commenced clearing for the Heathfield Oval around 1965. Both made Life Members of Mt Lofty District Football Club some decades later.David left with father Stan, still playing at 44, and brothers Iain and Andrew David 1st left in the back row in his second United A Grade Premiership in 1976. David 1st in the third row of the SAFA 1981 Mt Lofty District Football Club’s inaugural Premiership. David 2nd from the left in the front row of the 1986 A Grade Mt Lofty District Football Club Premiers in their first year in the HFL. David with John Coventry at the 2016 Reunion which celebrated the 1976 United Premiership and the 1986 Mt Lofty Premiership in which they were team mates. David with sisters Yvonne and Daphne and brothers Andrew and Iain at the unveiling of the Heathfield Oval Historic Sign by his parents Stan, HAU Life Member and Barb, Mt Lofty Life Members.David with sisters Yvonne and Daphne and brothers Andrew and Iain at the unveiling of the Heathfield Oval Historic sign for his parents Stan, HAU Life Member and Barb, Mt Lofty Life Members.
It was a wet and muddy weekend of football at Mt Lofty, but that didn’t stop the Devils. Our As and Bs both had good wins against Blackwood, as did our U17 Girls. Our Senior Women showed great resilience against a tough Blackwood team but couldn’t get the win in heavy rain on Friday night, in the last minor round of the HFLW season. Stay tuned for details about round 1 finals matches.
Moddies games were postponed due to the extreme weather. Coaches will be in touch with details of match games.
Well done to all our teams for their efforts! Check out all the results below or on PlayHQ.
It will be all action at Heathfield again this weekend, with games at home from Friday night to Sunday afternoon. Our Senior Women kick things off on Friday night in their last minor round game against Blackwood. Then our boys take on the Woods on Saturday, from 8.45am and finishing with our A Grade men at 2.30pm.
On Sunday, it’s a girls’ footy festival with our U12 Girls, U17 Girls and U14 Girls all playing at home. Matches start at 10.40am. Our C Grade men have a rest this weekend and our U12 Mixed are away at Echunga on Friday night.
