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 🔥
