In an AFL career that led him to two premiership flags in 280 games with Geelong, Harry Taylor has just about seen and done it all on the football field.
Key points:
- Harry Taylor has been selected as part of the 2023 Great Northern Football League team
- Taylor won two AFL premierships with Geelong in 2009 and 2011
- He has been playing in local competition where he is the leading goal kicker after returning home
But the 37-year-old is set to tick off one long-lasting ambition this year, finally making his senior debut at Western Australia’s Country Week carnival for his beloved Great Northern Football League (GNFL).
It is not the first time he has done things a little later than his peers, after being drafted to Geelong as a mature recruit at the age of 21.
But after AFL premierships in 2009 and 2011, and being named in the All Australian team twice, Taylor is thrilled at the opportunity to play Country Week footy.
“It’s probably one of the things I really wanted to be a part of if I had the opportunity,” he said.
“Fortunately I’ve been able to represent Australia in football … I’ve been able to play for my state in a state country game, and I have represented the Midwest — albeit only at a colts or junior level.
“That’s one thing that I really wanted to do, represent the Midwest as well as I could.
“Country Week football gives me an opportunity to do that.”
Taylor said that despite his experience, he had some nerves heading into the carnival.
“You get to test yourself against some really good players across the whole country region of WA so I’m really looking forward to it,” he said.
“I’ll be a little bit nervous, to be honest, in that first game, but excited by the squad that we’ve got together.”
Taylor is best known as a defender but is currently leading the GNFL’s goal scoring with 24 over six games this season so far.
Home beckons
Taylor retired from the AFL in 2020 and returned home to Geraldton where he rejoined his childhood club Northampton in 2021 while also working as football operations manager for the GNFL.
In 2022 he returned to Geelong as part of the club’s senior leadership overseeing the medical and conditioning team, and shared in their premiership win.
Taylor said while he loved that role, a desire to spend more time with his young family lured him back home this year.
“I wanted to give my kids the opportunity, one, for Dad to be around a little bit more, but two, grow up a bit closer to their grandparents, their cousins, and just those really nostalgic memories that I had as a young kid in the Midwest,” he said.
“I wanted my kids to experience some of that as well.”
Taylor continued to work in a remote role for Geelong but has not ruled out a return at a higher level in the future.
Inspired by history
Taylor said he loved football history, and the rediscovery of the first Country Week trophy from 1912 had been used to inspire the current crop of players.
“The first Country Week that was held down in Perth, the GNFL were lucky enough to win that, so that’s an unbelievable piece of history that we were able to recognise and read about,” he said.
“I mean, you think about it logistically. [In] 1912 there’s no bus down, no bitumen roads. It’s all very different and that sort of stuff, it just really resonates with me.
“I really enjoy the fact that so many people have done a lot of hard work for us to get to where we are today and [in] 2023 we’re heading down and continuing in this great tradition of Country Week.”
A local ‘champion’
GNFL chairman of selectors Greg O’Malley is a former WAFL player with Claremont.
He said Taylor’s participation meant a lot for those involved in the sport.
“Harry’s a champion, not for what he’s done in football, but what he’s doing now in my eyes, and I commend him for it,” he said.
Taylor will not be the only former player from the top flight turning out for Country Week this year, with former Claremont Sandover Medallist Kane Mitchell, who played for Port Adelaide Power in the AFL, set to feature in the Avon Football Association midfield.
Ex-Docker and Sun Brandon Matera will represent the Central Wheatbelt, Kade Stewart from Hawthorn has been selected in the Upper Great Southern side, while Jayden Schofield from the Western Bulldogs is pulling on the boots for the GNFL alongside Taylor.
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