With 503 senior games behind him Rob Ballingall can truly be referred to as an elder statesman of the EDFL. Despite a senior career that started at the age of 20 and produced 378 games at Warragul before his arrival at Ellinbank, Ballingall, now 47, is still weighing up whether to play another season. Ken Moore: So Robert, have you officially retired?
Rob Ballingall: Look, it’s too early to say!
KM: It was a disappointing effort by Ellinbank today.
RB: I think it was our worst display in the last two months, so it was very disappointing.
KM: I’d just like to digress and go over your stellar career. Can you share with us how football has changed since you started?
RB: I think the game has got a lot quicker but it has lost a lot of its toughness and it’s lost a lot of the taller players that used to play. Also we used to have a lot of AFL (then VFL) blokes come back into the leagues and help out but nowadays we don’t see that.
KM: Tell us about the highlights of your career?
RB: Playing for the VCFL and leading Warragul to its 1984 senior grand final and representing LaTrobe Valley probably about 22 times.
KM: And, dare I say it, the lowlights?
RB: Losing two grand finals and days like today when you lose finals.
KM: Have you had many injuries over your career?
RB: I’ve done my knee three times but fortunately it’s been near the end of the year and I’ve had all summer to recover so I have been lucky.
KM: Who are some of the better footballers you have played with or against?
RB: In the LaTrobe Valley certainly John Gallus, who played for Melbourne, Bruce Cowell from Bairnsdale was a very good footballer, Ian Salmon and, in this league, I think Kurt Batt and Brent Eastwell are maybe the blokes who have stood out the most.
KM: What about the friendships you have made in footy?
RB: I’ve made plenty. Looking at the current side Michael Masterton and Kristian Bingham and in the old days Roger Vansittart and Geoff Nott from Warragul and plenty of others in the Gulls’ 1984 side. You never lose those friendships with the blokes you played with and they stay with you, so you can always go back to the club and have a beer and talk about the good old days because that’s what it’s all about.
KM: How do you think the season will pan out from here?
RB: I’d say it will be between Nyora and Catani but it depends, because on any given day everyone has proved that the top six were pretty even and anyone could do it if they have a good day out.
