Curra Swans hunting AFL Townsville Anzac Round three-peat as Hermit Park Tigers celebrate Stafford Jones’ 300th game

While the rest of his club celebrates the career of a living legend, the 41-year-old will instead be counting down.

He has a number in mind for the game he will pull on his footy boots for the final time.

Paul Ballantyne, Hermit Park’s finest Tiger, played 336 games for the club between 1975 and 1996.

Like when Michael Clarke declared short of passing Donald Bradman’s top score of 334 in 2012, it is with the utmost deference that Jones vowed he would never surpass his hero’s magical figure.

“I’ll never play more than 336. I will only go to 335,” Jones said on the eve of joining the rarest of clubs in Townsville footy.

“In sporting clubs there are people who get put on a pedestal and who am I to come along and knock him off?

“We’re part of the longest surviving club in town and with that comes a lot of history.

“Paul was a great servant of our club for a very, very long time, at a time where we didn’t have a lot of success. I played with his stepson Wellsy and his grandson Jack plays with my son Cooper now. That’s what is so cool about our club, it’s intergenerational.”

The chance to one day share the field with Cooper, 12, will see Jones hang up the boots short of his targeted 335.

In doing so he will leave a window of opportunity to come out of retirement to join Cooper when his time comes.

The knocks and bruises are felt more now than ever, and approaching Saturday’s milestone has kept Jones going through the hard times. Now it has arrived, Jones says Saturday is just another game.

“A lot of people are a lot more excited for it than I am,” he said. “You’ve been doing it that long now, it’s just another game. I’m just keen to get out there and have a kick.”

Curra’s battalion of Australian Defence Force personnel will ride the emotional high of Anzac Round in a bid to become the first Swans team to clinch three wins in a row in the clash’s history.

Saturday will be the 10th anniversary of the first Townsville Anzac Round meeting between Curra and Hermit Park, with the ledger reading 7-2 to the Tigers in that span (no contest in 2020).

Around three-quarters of the Curra side share military links and for those players, not even grand final day can match the significance of what they play for on Saturday.

“It means a lot to us, having a big representation of ADF at our club,” defender Mitchell Dennis said.

“It’s a great opportunity for us to be able to respect those who have served for us in this country. It’s been really good that we get the opportunity to play footy and wear this special jumper.”

Curra reserve grader Chris Heagney will speak to the Swans about the importance of the day before first bounce in an always-memorable speech, Dennis said.

“He takes a lot of pride in this game and it’s great because he will stand up and give us a nice little speech about what it means to the blokes that have actually gone over there and fought for us. It’s a bit of a quiet moment, you get a few shivers down your spine and it feels pretty special.”

Curra’s defence has been the team’s best-performing unit after two games but Hermit Park coach Max Tink said his side had formulated a plan to stop the Swans’ Anzac Round streak at two.

“It’s a pretty emotionally charged game, super contested and generally quite tight for most of the game,” Tink said.

“The team that settles first and plays out of that congestion generally are the ones that come away with it.”

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Tink led a scouting party to Riverway Stadium last week to watch the Swans fall short against the Bulldogs.

He said the Tigers had “a few ideas” about breaking down Curra’s defence and teased the debuts of several new faces to have an impact.

Thuringowa hosts Northern Beaches at Riverway Stadium.

Originally published as Curra Swans hunting AFL Townsville Anzac Round three-peat as Hermit Park Tigers celebrate Stafford Jones’ 300th game