What a day we are about to witness!
This Saturday’s home game match against Onkaparinga Valley will be a milestone in the Club’s 43 season history when our very popular club member and 6 times Club Champion, Brad Burch, becomes the first player to play 300 A Grade games for Mt Lofty.
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
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 2021, Brad is still playing at the top level of the HFL, 21 years after his start in 2000 with Mt Lofty’s A Grade. 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, now 41, 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 Jenny and Brad’s children. The Burch family now has four children with Jaida 13, Xavier 11, Zara 8 and Conor 6.
With Xaviar playing in the Under 12 boys and also in Under 14’s, Zara playing in the Under 11 girls and Conor participating in Auskick, the future looks very bright for the club, particularly with cousins and sons of Damian, Matthew and Michael 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.
With Brad closing in on his 300th A Grade match, he was really looking forward to the possibility of celebrating the achievement on the same day that his brother in law, Michael Stapleton, would play his 300th Senior Game, including 124 A Grade games for the club. This would have been particularly fitting as Michael was also judged Best on Ground for the 2006 B Grade Premiership side on the same day as Brad won the Alec Parker Medal in the A Grade Premiership. Unfortunately, injury has prevented a double celebration, but hopefully Michael will be able to return to the field soon.
Over the year’s Brad has played with many wonderful Mt Lofty players registering over 200 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) were both Premiership team mates, while earlier this year 2016 Club Champion, Mark Nielsen celebrated 200 A Grade games and Alex Weeks is also likely to achieve that milestone this season.
A recent chat on the eve of Brad’s 300th posed a few often asked questions of players and his responses appear below:
“In regards to who my toughest opponent would be I would have to say that I have had many tough battles on the field but 1 consistent battle would have been Scott Sutherland from Uraidla (ex Sturt and North Adelaide League player). I was always asked to tag or pay close attention to him every time we played Uraidla and we also met in Grand Finals.”
“Now to who shaped my career.
I would have to say first of all would be my Dad/parents. Without their support I wouldn’t have been given the opportunities I have in my career. Next would be the coaches that I have had throughout my career, each has influenced my career in some way whether it be the League coaches at Norwood (Peter Rhode) and Sturt (Brenton Phillips) to the Coaches I’ve had at Lofty. Each has taught me what is required to play at a higher level or get the most from my footy.
I believe that you are always learning in this great game. Either from players, coaches or from watching other teams/AFL.
I still enjoy playing and trying to improve myself and the people/players around me.”
The first Mt Lofty player to achieve 300 A Grade games is an incredible milestone and we wish Brad the very best for this Saturday’s amazing day.
On behalf of all Mt Lofty people, we congratulate and salute you Brad.
Give ’em Hell.
Written by Haydn Cutting of the Lofty Legends Group
