By Russell Bennett
It’s one thing to dream of winning premierships. That’s what every footy player does.
But to kick 1000 senior goals for your beloved club? That’s the stuff of fantasy.
The legend of Catani’s larger-than-life full forward, Owen Fitzpatrick, just continues to grow with each bag of goals he snares.
On Saturday against Neerim Neerim South, it was a bag of eight – to take his tally so far to 1001.
In doing so, he quite literally made history. Prior to the weekend, no one was thought to have reached the milestone in the Ellinbank and District Football League before – particularly with each of those goals coming at the one club.
It’s an astonishing achievement that ‘Big Owy’, the Blues’ three-time senior premiership-winning man mountain, has only been able to fully comprehend because of all the congratulations he’s since received from far and wide across the footy landscape.
But the most important reactions, for him, came from his family – his wife Cassie and sons Hamish and Lenny. They mean the world to him, and it meant the world to have his boys take the memory of Saturday with them moving forward.
After the final siren of his 300th game for the Blues recently, Fitzpatrick sat on 989 senior goals.
On Saturday, with just minutes remaining in the clash against the Cats, he still needed one more for the magical thousand.
He snared four in the first half, but admitted he “barely touched it” in the third.
That left another three in the final term to reach his milestone. He kicked the thousandth with just a few minutes remaining, and then added another for good measure.
“I never usually think about that sort of stuff (goals) during the day of a game, but I did on Saturday,” he admitted.
“I just kicked straight, which helped.”
Fitzpatrick said the team’s hunger to put four quarters of consistent footy together, and to snare an important win on Saturday, was perfect for his mindset. Though to many Saturday was about Fitzpatrick, for him it was really about the team.
“We had a really poor quarter in the third so there were things we needed to change to get back on track (in the last),” he said.
“Neerim could have easily kicked five or six in the third had they kicked straight and capitalised on their opportunities, so there were things at three-quarter time we had to work on to get our game going again.”
And they did, with the Blues running away with a comfortable win 17.8 (110) to 6.10 (46).
Looking back, there’s no doubt Fitzpatrick is proud of his milestone – particularly recording it in front of a parochial home crowd including some of his closest family and friends.
To him, that’s really what made it so special.
“I don’t like the limelight on me too much – I prefer to just go out there and play, and to try and get a win,” he said.
“But it was a good day on Saturday.”
Forever the master of the understatement, is Fitzpatrick.
Moving forward for the rest of the season, he knows that – no matter what – the focus will be all about the team first and foremost.
It’s still the case now as it was following his 300th game for the Blues – Fitzpatrick doesn’t sit comfortably with stories being written about him. For him, footy is about the team, the club, and the mates all bound together by the colours.
In paying tribute to his great mate following his 300th, Brad ‘Snags’ McDonald summed up the big fella’s mentality and what really makes him tick on the footy field.
“The number one thing about Owy – and you’d get this answer from everyone – is his loyalty,” McDonald said.
“He’s turned his back on some massive offers to stay a Blue, and he’d never talk about it, but we often do behind his back because that’s the sort of guy he is.
“He didn’t just take any offer from another club throwing cash at him – he stayed at Catani.”
Another of his great mates, Shane ‘Ralphy’ Warren, said at the time: “The thousand goals doesn’t really stress him too much.
“For him, everything about footy is playing with your mates. Everything.”
Click below to watch Owen Fitzpatrick slot his 1000th senior goal:
