Sage’s serious talent

Sage Tapner, centre, seems destined for great things in his AFL journey. 169979 Picture: RUSSELL BENNETT

By Russell Bennett

If there’s one local footy player with the potential to pick up leather poisoning, it’s Bunyip’s Sage Tapner.
To say the 15-year-old Warragul prodigy lives and breathes footy is one hell of an understatement.
He’s played 19 games already this season in the West Gippsland Football Netball Competition across both the Under 16s and Under 18s, and he’s already booted 44 goals.
He started playing footy seven years ago, and he’s barely stopped since. He estimates he plays “at least 20 hours a week” across game days, training nights, and simply just running around and having a kick after school.
Sage has become used to playing plenty of bottom-age footy too and has been named captain and won a host of best and fairest awards in his stints so far at the Warragul Colts, Bunyip, interleague, and Gippsland Power level.
While it wasn’t always possible for him to stay at Bunyip – given a lack of junior numbers in some sides – he’d always find his way back due to his family ties in the red, white, and blue. His brother-in-law is heart and soul big man Robbie Hughes – a true champion of the club.
It was at the Colts in Warragul that Sage started to learn from the likes of Caleb Serong – another local footy superstar in the making.
Tapner looks up to Serong, who he considers a mentor, and was “shattered” for him recently when he broke his collarbone – staying up late texting him to make sure he was okay.
That’s the type of person is – a natural leader who cares for his peers. And it hasn’t gone unnoticed through his time at Bunyip, the Colts, or even the Gippsland Power junior ranks.
Through the Power, Sage – who has a part indigenous background – was given the opportunity to try out for one of the state’s junior indigenous teams.
After winning selection through a camp at Halls Gap, he got the opportunity to play for Victoria in the AFL National Male Diversity Championships held in Blacktown in Sydney.
“I ended up playing well up there – I showed some good leadership skills, and I learnt a lot of that from Bunyip and the Colts,” he said.
“Even if you’re not the captain you can still make an impact on the team and use your voice.”
From there came selection for the Australian Boomerangs. After hearing his name read out by former Geelong premiership star Mathew Stokes, Sage became one of nine Victorian players of an indigenous or multicultural background to be selected to compete at the 2017 NAB AFL Under 16 Championships on the Gold Coast in July.
In fact, Sage is the only AFL Gippsland player selected for either the Flying Boomerangs (indigenous) or World Team (multicultural).
His father’s side of the family, from Grafton in New South Wales, has the chance to head up and watch him play at Metricon Stadium – the home of the AFL’s Gold Coast Suns.
After coming back to Bunyip for the latest chapter in his junior career, Sage was adamant on earning his way. He knows nothing is given – especially for elite athletes.
And he hasn’t had to look far for motivation there – with young Sydney Swan Tom Papley and GWS ruckman Shane Mumford former Bunyip players.
“Ever since I was a kid I’ve always looked up to the greats like Luke Hodge and how courageous he is, but I’ll admit I’m not a courageous player,” Sage said about his own game.
“I like to stand outside sometimes but if it comes down to it I’ll win my own ball too. “I’ve always probably been a silky player – I step up in big moments – but I make sure I bring my team mates into the game as well.”
Sage is blessed to have the unending support of his family and everyone at the Bunyip footy club spurring him on to achieve his goals.
And he’s always working on improving his game, which he’ll have to continue to do if he’s to reach his goal of one day playing in the AFL.
“Obviously everyone wants to be a strong leader so I’ve been working on that a bit – not dropping my head in crucial parts of games,” he said.
And although the Bunyip senior side has had its struggles so far this season, Sage is surrounded by role models in that side who stick together as one through thick and thin.
Bunyip club president Alan Wright praised Sage’s already obvious leadership qualities, telling the Gazette: “Since he’s come to the club, I’ve umpired a few games and he’ll inspire the guys – not only from our team but the opposition too.
“When we played Killy Bass they had 10 players and we gave them four or five – it was the first game we actually had a full contingent of players.
“Sage was playing on this one boy who he just kept encouraging. We kicked a lot of points that day and I’ll never forget what he said to him – he said “the pressure you’re putting on us is making us kick all these points”. It’s just really inspiring to see how he goes about trying to make other players better – not just from our club, but also the opposition.”