A milestone like 350 games at one club is almost unheard of in local football but Bridgenorth's reserves coach, Chris 'Silly' Walker will achieve the feat as he runs out for the Parrots against Longford on Saturday.
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How'd you get started at Bridgenorth?
Denis Broomby, our current president, is my uncle. So he just hounded me for several years and I headed up when I was 17 to give it a go from playing soccer.
What's kept you at the club?
Just mates and enjoyment of the game. Just the people up there, they are really good people - apart from the one next to me (Bobby Beams). But no, they are really good people and it's not hard to turn up every year.
Career highlight so far?
Definitely the 2010 senior premiership. Making the grand final this year coaching the reserves is definitely up there as well.
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What is coaching the reserves like? What challenges do you face?
It's obviously a step back from seniors. They are a bit less committed than the seniors. Not quite as smart and quite a young group this year. All those challenges are just teaching them to learn, teaching them about the game and how it works, reading the cues as to where the ball is going and getting their general set-ups right.
Best player you've ever played with?
Jason Savage.
And against?
David Wickham and Chris Jones.
Would winning a premiership in your 350th mark the end of your career?
Yes, ahh I don't know. I'll reassess next year. Hopefully I'll be coaching again and if we have plenty of numbers like we do this year and they don't need me on the field then yeah, I will probably pull it back a bit. I'll reassess next year and see how it goes.
NTFA finals fever
Where did the nickname, Silly, come from?
Second year of football I was 18, doing just a basic keeping-off drill. The coach, Stuart Prewer at the time, said 'we find out who the smart people are' and of course, I stuffed it up several times over. He just ran out and said 'Stupid Walker' which eventually evolved to Silly.
AFL player you're most like?
Ooh, I wish I could say Dustin Martin but I'm not that tough! I've played on the wing a lot - just always as a run and carry so probably someone current would be like Isaac Smith but down back now it's definitely trying to be like a Nick Vlastuin, reading the cues and try to intercept mark and run off my man as much as possible.
Life outside of football?
Wife - Anglea, two kids - Byron (four and a half) and Layla (five months) and I work at Tasmanian Flour Mills and I'm about to head to Tas Networks.
Who would play you in a movie?
Probably Jason Statham maybe. He's pretty tough and got no hair like myself.
Other sporting interests?
I like watching cricket, do try and play a little bit. Don't mind soccer either - played it at Riverside.
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