Farm tyro Priddis turns footy hero
Matt Priddis' Brownlow Medal is already the unlikely story of a four-time AFL reject being crowned the league's best.
But the background to the West Coast midfielder's route from Manjimup to the MCG is even more unlikely.
It involves gold prospecting, kiwi fruit farming and a football education on cow paddocks, and an oval cut out of a jarrah forest.
As the 29-year-old Eagle was being catapulted from respected midfielder to A-grade AFL star on Monday night, his grandfather Harley Priddis watched on at the same property where Priddis learnt to walk and rarely did anything without a ball in his hand.
Reflecting on how his grandson had always aspired to be better - whether it was picking kiwi fruit or kicking a football - Harley also revealed how for a few horrible moments, he thought the adventurous Priddis might not make it off the farm at all as he hurtled down the hill on a homemade box-cart.
"He was a kid who was always into everything," Harley told _The Weekend West. _
"He wanted to pick fruit, he wanted to run all day and he always, always wanted you to play with the footy.
"And he has never really changed."
It was the mid-80s when Harley's self-admitted "mid-life crisis" led the Priddis clan to the South West.
A three-year gold prospecting mission to Kalgoorlie did not produce the big bag of gold Harley had hoped for.
But he did have enough to follow another dream - to become one of WA's first kiwi fruit farmers.
A call to the Department of Agriculture and some hard bargaining bought the near-20ha farm on the outskirts of Manjimup. And Priddis' parents Wayne and Sharon also moved in with the kids.
"I've got great memories of growing up in Manjimup on my grandfather's farm and having no restrictions," the Brownlow winner said this week.
One of those freedoms was a box-cart, built after much urging by the young Priddis - and then ridden at such high speed that the family feared for his safety.
"To this day, I still don't know how he stopped," Harley said.
The pace of Priddis' life has been similar this week with a place in the grand final parade yesterday followed by a trip to the MCG today to see Sydney take on Hawthorn in the season's grand finale.
It is a long way from the Hawks of Deanmill, where Priddis played his first game and where club president Troy Gibellini says he has become an instant legend - with WAFL great John Todd being another of the club's alumni.
"This is a family club and Matt is obviously a great family man as well as a great footballer," Mr Gibellini said. "We are immensely proud of him."
With Priddis also set to be crowned Eagles' best and fairest for the second time on Friday, he has promised to make a triumphant return to the area during summer.
He was a kid who was always into everything.
