By RUSSELL BENNETT
Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti’s story was already one of strength, determination and courage before Essendon picked him in the 2015 AFL Rookie Draft on Friday morning. We take a look back at the former Longwarry local and Gippsland Power star’s journey to date…
30 May, 2012:
A 16-YEAR-OLD boy sits in a sweltering top end schoolroom just watching his classmates. He sees them fooling around as they do in every lesson, having a good time but wasting it.
He wants more. He’s from a Tiwi Island community where unemployment levels are high and dreams aimed low. But he yearns for something different – an education and a life to call his own.
More than three years later, Anthony Tipungwuti answers the doorbell of his Longwarry home. It’s a freezing May afternoon and he opens the door barefoot and in a thin, v-neck t-shirt and shorts – just as he would up north.
Tipungwuti, now 19, is a prodigious footballing talent but his story goes far beyond the field – it’s one of sheer will and determination to succeed in everything he sets out to achieve, to hell with the odds.
He sits on the couch with professional sports coach Jane McDonald – his second mum.
The pair met when “Walla” – short for Wallaby, the nickname given to Tipungwuti as an infant by his father – was playing for the Tiwi Bombers. They were on the same plane to Darwin – Tipungwuti as a player, McDonald as a coach spending time at Tiwi College.
She had flown up with her daughter, a trained teacher, who was in the most northern part of Australia as a “house parent”.
The pair would regularly fly with the team to Darwin and help out on game days.
Tipungwuti was 14 when he made his debut in the Bombers’ senior side and by 16 he had cemented his place in the lineup.
27 March, 2013:
Whether it’s in the red dust of the Tiwi Islands, the green fields of west Gippsland, or now, amongst the grey monoliths of inner Melbourne – Anthony Tipungwuti’s home is wherever he can lay his hands on a footy.
‘Tippa’ was heartbroken to miss out on a spot on an AFL list following a 2012 season which saw him play a vital role in the Gippsland Power reaching the TAC Cup grand final. Some AFL and VFL talent scouts questioned his athletic capacity, others feared homesickness would take hold and he’d return to remote Northern Territory reaches if the pressure of big city footy became too much to bare.
What they failed to grasp was that Tippa’s home had fast become the Longwarry house he shared with his second mum, Jane, and that pressure was nothing if you had a relentless never-say-die attitude.
But Essendon’s VFL side saw the speedster’s potential. A Wonthaggi-based Bombers recruiter made the trip to Longwarry, gave the 19-year-old’s skills with the Sherrin a quick once-over, and soon saw what McDonald had said all along – this young man is special.
Tippa hasn’t made the AFL yet, and knows he may never realise that dream. But he won’t die wondering.
He hastily relocated with McDonald from Longwarry to Pascoe Vale – renting a flat just 10 minutes from Essendon’s hallowed Windy Hill base.
“Moving from Tiwi down to Victoria is probably the hardest thing I’ve done,” he said.
“But moving to the city doesn’t bother me.
“Once you drive around and get to know a few of the local places it gets easier as you go.
“I’ll just go along with it and keep learning.”
Tipungwuti met Josh Toy at one of his first visits to the club. The pair would often be the first to arrive at Bombers VFL training – Toy a Gold Coast discard hell-bent on a second crack at the big-time, and Tipungwuti a prodigiously talented youngster simply in search of a real chance to prove himself.
He was still spurred on from an AFL draft combine last year that he couldn’t fully participate in. He was unable to do the endurance running tests, carrying a serious chest infection into the showcase.
Tipungwuti’s doctor pleaded with him not to take part, but elite football is a cut-throat business – miss out on a chance to show what you’ve got, and you may not get another one.
Since the end of last season, Tipungwuti’s thirst for knowledge has seen him back in the school yard. He yearned to see a future beyond the fickle, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it world of footy. He returned to one of his former stomping grounds, Chairo Christian School, using his Certificate III in Sport and Recreation to work as a one-on-one mentor teaching sport and phys-ed to special needs students.
When Essendon’s VFL operations manager Matthew Little took a punt on Tipungwuti… Tipungwuti was wanting to test himself even further.
He’s now working two days per week with the club’s community department, involved with its youth and education programs.
But his teaching hasn’t stopped there – the now confident, outgoing youngster isn’t too shy to show the Essendon senior players a thing or two about goal sense at training.
And to think – Tipungwuti has achieved all of this after growing up a Carlton fan.
“I told them I was a Blues fan down at the club,” he said.
“They told me ‘You’re not anymore’.”
