Triumphs and tribulations of Grant Connolly’s remarkable half-century at Noble Park

For Noble Park president Grant Connolly, there are now enough of them to form a half-century of service to the football club. He can hardly believe his involvement at Noble has reached 50 years.

“Fifty years. Gee whiz,’’ he says. “Just proves that I’m old. You know that, don’t you?’’

The milestone has taken him back to his first season with the club, with the Under 12 team.

Connolly had attended St Anthony’s Primary School and played football there too. A new club, Parkmore, was formed out of St Anthony’s and he was asked to be part of the transition.

But he made a few friends when he moved on to high school, at Heatherhill, and some played at Springvale and others at Noble Park. Noble was closer to the family home, which he filled with five brothers: Stephen, Mick, Shayne, Greg and Craig.

And so he turned up to Ross Reserve.

“It was a bit of a sliding doors moment, to be honest with you,’’ Connolly says.

“Could have gone to Parkmore, Springvale or Noble Park, and Noble Park was the choice. And I’ve been here ever since.’’

All six Connolly brothers went on to wear the Noble jumper at either junior or senior level, and Grant Connolly became one of the club’s most important administrators, a premiership president three times over.

*****

Noble Park football manager and former ace full-forward Steve Coats calls Grant Connolly “the Neale Daniher of Noble Park’’. He was a fine player, Coats says, but always injured.

Connolly went from the juniors to captain the Under 18s to a premiership. That year he also made his debut in the seniors.

Officials thought he would play a lot of good football for Noble, but two bad knee injuries intervened.

After figuring in the 1983 senior premiership side, Connolly damaged his knee in a pre-season game in 1984. He was out for two years.

Returning in 1986, he played in Noble’s flag.

The following year other injuries hit him late in the season. He missed selection in the senior team but helped the reserves to the premiership.

Connolly suffered a second knee injury in 1989, in front of the Noble Park scoreboard, and never played again.

He was a midfielder and says he was “OK, a reasonable player’’. Coats thought he was more than that.

“He was a feisty character, and he was a great player,’’ he says.

His football finished, Connolly almost immediately started to chip in around the club, first as the runner for senior coach David Dickson. That evolved into the chairman-of-selectors position, which he held for seven years under Dickson and his successors Peter Maloni, Tony Morwood and Peter Reece.

In 1998, Connolly headed to Perth for a year for work. On his return, he joined the committee, becoming vice-president to Jeff Marshall.

It was a significant time in Noble Park’s history.

Through the 1990s, the Bulls had dominated the Southern league – the seniors, reserves and Under 18s all went through the 1994 season undefeated - and thumping wins were so common that officials began to look east in search of greater challenges. Connolly and others sensed that success was producing complacency among supporters and sponsors.

The Eastern league was keen to take in Noble Park, but not in the top division.

Noble chose to stay. At the end of 1999, however, Clayton decided to leave Eastern and set off to Southern.

The Bulls had not won the 1998 or ’99 premierships, but there was now an opening for them and they eagerly took it.

“We had the infrastructure and the facilities to be able to play at that level,’’ Connolly says. The ambition too.

Former Springvale champion Denis Knight was appointed playing coach.

Connolly assumed the presidency from Marshall in 2001. He says it was an exciting and exacting time for the Bulls as they came to grips with the higher standard football.

Just as they handed out heavy defeats in Southern, now they copped a few in Eastern.

“We got smacked a few times in 2000. Even 2001,’’ Connolly says. “But we worked away at it. We went over there with a five-year plan.’’

They achieved it in three. Soon the Bulls were beating the likes of Vermont and East Burwood, and premierships came in 2003-04.

Twenty years on, Connolly says they are the best sides he’s seen at Noble Park. He gives a lot of credit to Knight.

“He was the catalyst. He was the key to the whole thing. We knew we needed to jump one, two, three levels and he’d been in the VFA/VFL system and with what sort of person he was and how he went about things … that’s where we had to get to.

“He set the standard. Early days, he was probably shaking his head a bit thinking, ‘What’s going on here?’

“It took us 12, 18 months to realise how far we had to go.’’

Connolly says the move to Eastern was “the best thing we ever did’’.

“We established ourselves as a strong footy club at the best level,’’ he says.

“One thing we’ve always strived for, and what we’ve got now, is the respect of the Eastern footy league. As much as you can be up and down and winning flags and not winning flags, we’ve gained a level of respect. Because over there, no one really knew much about us.’’

Connolly stood aside as president at the end of 2005. He had done five years and he liked the idea of a fresh face and new ideas at the top.

And Kevin Wright, part of a great Noble Park Football Club family, had tapped him on the shoulder and said, “I want your job in 12 months’’. More than music, it was a sweet symphony to his ears.

“That’s what I wanted to hear. We had someone good to take over. It was an easy transition for me,’’ Connolly says. “I knew Kev and I trusted Kev.’’

Early on, Connolly used to razz Wright about his lack of premierships.

“I’d say, ‘Come and talk to me after you’ve had back-to-back premierships’,’’ he says.

Wright could do just that after “Mighty Mick’’ Fogarty coached Noble to the 2010-11 flags.

After stepping aside as president, Connolly joined the board of the social club, Club Noble, and he’s been a director since. But he stayed involved in the football club, supporting Wright and then his successor, Dave Allan, helping with recruiting and coaching appointments.

“I kept my hand in there,’’ he says.

And then he raised it to become president again, taking over from the late Allan in 2016.

“I went looking for a replacement for Dave and I couldn’t find one,’’ he says. “Then one day, I looked in the mirror. Things had changed personally for me as well so I thought, ‘Oh well, I still love being involved so I might as well jump back in’.’’

There were some testing times ahead: the points and salary caps, an exodus of players and Covid.

The Bulls lost a chunk of a strong senior team over the departure of their former AFL player James Gwilt, who had returned to Noble 12 months earlier. Popular with teammates, Gwilt was a high-profile casualty as Noble Park came into line with the caps.

Connolly came under fire over what one wag called “Gwiltgate’’, but he insisted the decision was made in the best interests of the club.

“He’s always done that. He’s always put Noble Park first, no matter who it is,’’ Coats says.

At the end of 2019, Connolly and his committee made another tough decision: to advertise Fogarty’s coaching position (he had returned as senior coach in 2015). Connolly and Fogarty had played together in 1987, and Connolly still laughs about how Fogarty came to be appointed in 2010.

He made no presentation and carried a casual air when he was interviewed but he still impressed the panel. After he left the meeting, Connolly rang him and asked if he really wanted the job.

“Oh yeah, but I’m sure you’ll get someone else better,’’ Fogarty replied.

Connolly: “Mate, you’re in it up to your ears.’’

Fogarty: “Really?’’

He accepted the job – and a day or two later he was asked to coach Frankston VFL. Fogarty said he had already committed to Noble Park and wasn’t about to let it down.

“He reminded me of Denis Knight, a man’s man, and someone to coach the whole club,’’ Connolly says.

But a decade later, the president thought it was time for a change.

Kevin Wright’s nephew, Steve Hughes, was selected to replace Fogarty for 2020. Two years later, he delivered the Bulls a premiership.

It came as a surprise to some people but not Connolly, who says Noble Park had being going well in 2021 before the season was abandoned.

In 2022, Rowville was the only side that troubled the Bulls. They met in the grand final.

“They’d beaten us three or four times during the year,’’ Connolly says.

“On the day, and it was the worst day ever, wet and shitty … people say to me, ‘Thank God for the rain, it fell into our hands’ … but we would have beaten anyone that day.

“I don’t subscribe to the theory that we got lucky or anything like that. We were the better side on the day, don’t worry about the conditions.’’

*****

Aside from the “Neale Daniher of Noble Park’’, Steve Coats calls Grant Connolly “the glue’’ of the club. He says he’s had a profound impact on the Bulls, reflected in his life memberships of the football club and the social club.

“He’s cool, calm and collected in any situation and he works with everyone. If it can be done, he’ll get it done,’’ Coats says.

“What he’s done for the club is unbelievable.’’

What makes Noble Park such a great club? What sets it apart from others?

“You’re asking the wrong person, because I haven’t been anywhere else,’’ Connolly says.

“I always say that when we talk to potential players. I tell them how good we are and what we do and I always qualify it at the end by saying, ‘Mate, I don’t know what anyone else is doing, I’ve got no idea because I’ve never been anywhere else’.

“I can only go on what past players say. They love coming back here. They say you walk in and you feel like you’re home.’’

It’s been that way for Grant Connolly a long time. Fifty years, in fact.

CONNOLLY’S TOP 10 BULLS

Stephen Burley: Was a star in the late 70’s and early 80s, a full-forward. He was a strong mark, could kick it both sides and was a unique character.

Neville Esler: The hardest toughest player I’ve seen, and a great leader.

Jim Hunt: Came across from Balwyn and was an onballer, hard and skilful on both sides.

Denis Knight: A fantastic player and a fantastic leader. He should have played in the AFL - he was the stiffest bloke not to play in the AFL. Came across from Springvale in 2000 and set the bar.

Peter O’Brien: Probably the most skilful player I’ve seen down there, and his longevity was great too.

Daniel Donati: A running machine and an inspirational player - he could set us alight.

Peter Reece: Another great leader and an outstanding player and coach at the same time. He was a big man but he could run all day.

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Craig Anderson: He went through a period where we had success and also not much success but he carried them all with his running and creating. Terrific clubman, great family man.

Kyle Martin: His record speaks for itself, with all these best and fairests he’s won. Came through the juniors and has been Noble Park all his life, a real shining light for us for a long time.

Jackson Sketcher: I love ‘Sketch’. Some people say he’s played in Kyle’s shadow but I disagree with that. He’s up there with Kyle. Their impact on the footy club in the past few years has been enormous.