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,Fan favourite Wulff joins 250-game Royalty

Craig Wulff joins the Royals elite today. Pic: Michael Wilson, The West Australian.

Craig Wulff has no idea why he is the favourite player of so many WAFL fans, not just those rusted-on East Perth supporters who have cheered him through 249 wholehearted matches for the club.

“I’m not the quickest bloke and I’m not the most skilful,” Wulff said as he prepared to become just the third Royal to reach 250 games.

“There must be some trait that people like because so many say that I am their favourite player.

“The best trait in footy is to be competitive because without it you can’t go too far, no matter who you are.

“My father was very big on training hard, playing hard and never showing any hurt.

“I can only put it down to being competitive and, I suppose, courageous in a way too.

“Maybe people like that.”

Like it? In an era when so many State league players are judged through the prism of their AFL potential, preparation or past, a one-club WAFL stalwart whose trademark is to put his head over the ball and often on to the boot kicking it, stands out like an old-fashioned beacon.

Wulff will join club record-holder Derek Chadwick and Sandover medallist Ted Kilmurray as the only East Perth players to reach 250 games.

Chadwick started and finished in premiership seasons in 1959 and 1972, though without tasting either triumph, and was a part of the teams that lost seven grand finals in between.

Kilmurray was one of the brightest stars in East Perth’s glorious period at the end of the 1950s when they won three flags and he secured the 1958 Sandover Medal.

Wulff also started in a premiership season, though his four early matches in 2002 simply whetted his appetite for the ultimate success, while two grand final losses in the past two seasons have kept him going.

The one-time defender and dashing wingman morphed into a gutsy on-baller while his role has changed in his senior years into a creative half-forward.

Wulff will equal Chadwick’s record this season if he plays every match and the Royals appear in three finals but it is indicative of his self-effacing nature that he is uncomfortable with the prospect of breaking the mark.

Wulff could not split a group of teammates including Brent Cowell, Devan Perry, David and Michael Swan, Rod Wheatley and Paul Ridley as the best footballers he had played with.

But he had no doubt who was his toughest opponent.

“I won Allistair Pickett a Sandover Medal,” Wulff said.

“I tagged him three times one season and he got 10 Sandover votes. He was too quick, too explosive, his reflexes were too advanced and he could win a game in 10 minutes.

“The only one I would compare him to was Andrew Krakouer who I played against in colts and I told my dad would be an incredible player.”