By sports editor Russell Bennett
Phillip Island skipper Brendan Kimber has a gentle, disarming nature off the field with an infectious laugh that just draws people in.
But on the field, he’s a weapon armed for battle.
And it’s these contrasting characteristics that made him such a fascinating part of Saturday’s WGFNC senior grand final at Garfield – where his current side capped off its unbeaten 2019 campaign with a nail-biting victory over the very side he used to coach.
Saturday, incredibly, also marked the 100th game in the famous red, white and blue for Kimber – as adored as any player in the local area, but as feared as any opponent.
That comes purely down to the way in which he plays the game – always fair, yet always utterly unflinching.
He doesn’t even know, exactly, how many senior games he’s played – except to say “it’s 300 and something” – knowing he’s played 100 or more senior games at Narre Warren, Cora Lynn, and the Island.
Last year’s competition best and fairest winner, he’s not about personal milestones.
What’s always driven him – despite winning a number of different league best and fairest awards – is team glory.
But on Saturday that team glory came at the expense of a club he admits he originally departed for reasons “purely logistical” – with family and work taking him to Cowes.
“It was definitely bittersweet,” Kimber said of Saturday’s result.
“I left there on good terms, and I always kept contact with a lot of those boys.
“Quite often when you leave there’s an issue, but those boys have always been great to me. They understood I had family down this way.
“Even before we play games I’ll catch up with those guys – guys like (opposing skipper) Tim Payne – and have a chat with them.”
Payne’s presence in Phillip Island’s rooms after the game, despite his clear heartbreak at the result, said plenty.
“He came in and bought me a beer and shook my hand, so there’s real respect there,” Kimber said of his great mate.
“It is just bittersweet – that’s the best word to describe it.
“You’re happy, but you’re sorry that it had to be them losing a game like that.
“Obviously the guys at Phillip Island are my boys, but I’ve never had any animosity towards any of them (the people at Cora Lynn). You’ll never see anything like that out on the ground when I play them. I’ve got a lot of respect for them.”
For obvious reasons, Kimber said Saturday’s grand final was unlike any he’d ever experienced before.
“We were all over them, and then bang! They were all over us, and we had to hold on,” he acknowledged.
“We started well, and they just started to switch that ball better and use the opposite side. They’ve always been a really good big ground team where they can just run, and once they switch the ball they’re away and you’re chasing tail and you struggle to go with them.
“You’d love to play a lesser team in a grand final, but playing the second best side is exactly how it should be. That team isn’t just going to stop and roll over when you’re four goals up – they’re going to come back firing.”
Since Round 9, when the two sides drew, fans of the competition – and indeed those involved with both clubs – were salivating at the prospect of a rematch.
That came on the most important day of the season.
“Even in the other grand final wins I’ve been a part of, there’s never been that feeling of pure elation and relief after it,” Kimber said of his other premiership wins. “It was just that close.”
He praised the Cobras’ performance on Saturday – particularly the likes of big Billy Thomas in the ruck – but was also quick to highlight just how strong his own side was, in its weight of numbers.
And as for his own match-up on Saturday – Kimber drew great mate Brady White.
“We held our distance to start with, but as the game got tighter and tighter we started getting a bit more physical but I have the utmost respect for Brady, and I know he respects me,” Kimber said.
“He’s a great mate. At the end of the day you go in and hit bodies as hard as you can in the contest, but you shake their hands at the end of it all and it’s just a game of footy. At the end of the day, you’re all mates and you have a chat – and you commiserate with them, even. It could have easily gone the other way.
“All credit to them – they took their game to another level and surged, and surged again. That’s what Cora Lynn does.
“They’ve got big game players – guys like Dalts (Jackson Dalton). He was never going to miss that big goal. He kicks those every day of the week!
“The two best teams playing off in a grand final is exactly what you want a grand final to be. When you have the two top teams playing, which drew when they last played, it’s like a match made in heaven!”
And Kimber will add quite a few more games yet to that “300 and something” he’s tallied so far.
“I’ve got a little bit more left in me as long as I keep the knees moving!” he said with that laugh of his.
“If I’m contributing still, I’ll keep going.”
As his kids get older, they’ll remember more of his career the longer he keeps playing – and what a career it’s been, with the Magpies, the Cobras, and the Bulldogs.
Phillip Island president Chris Ross praised Kimber as “an incredible person” – one of a number with an unbelievable story to tell.
Defender Matt Jackson is another. He retired at the end of last season, only to make a comeback this year and go on to become one of six players at the Bulldogs to win three premierships in the past five years – the others being Kimber, Jaymie Youle, Mark Griffin, Marcus Wright, and Jack Taylor.
Taylor is still in his early 20s, and is Ross’ apprentice.
That’s the thing about this Island group – not only does it have great top-end talent, but it’s also got youth on its side.
No one needs to look any further than Mitch Moschetti for proof of that. This year he became a senior premiership player at just 15, after also spending time in the under-18s, and with the Gippsland Power’s under-age program this season.
And the incredible stories still don’t stop there. Jess Gislingham, who has special needs, was a part of the Island’s group throughout the year in the thirds, and with Inverloch Kongwak’s blessing, finished the under-18 grand final on the ground, and left the field as a 2019 premiership player.
“He’s a very special young man who bleeds red, white, and blue,” Ross explained.
“The club is his life and what a fantastic effort for him to be a dual premiership player now.
“I can’t speak highly enough of young Gizz.”
All of these stories point to the strength of the club, which this year added another three premierships to its tally.
And next year, the senior group will return largely unchanged – but with the addition of a number of its young stars graduating from the junior sides.
It’s truly a golden age for the Bulldogs, and it’s not hard to see why.
