JOINING THE 300 CLUB

Justin Hunter

On Saturday, Craig Mahony pulled on the boots on for the Wickers for the 300th time.  
Only eight players in the history of Elsternwick have done so previously: P. Mahony 407, A. Ramsay 360, S. Mahony 321, D. Perkins 314, G. Rosewarne 311, M. Wheelan 309, D. Mahony 303, L. Murphy 303

What makes Craig’s achievement special is that after G. Rosewarne (306) and A. Ramsay (300) he will become only the third player in history to play 300 senior games for The Wickers.

There is scarcely a more decorated player in the 107 year history of the Elsternwick football club.
His football CV reads more like a list of awards available as opposed to personal achievements.
He has finished in the top three of the best and fairest 11 times over 13 years. Which raises the question; what happened in 2001 and 2008?
Craig says that he was on his honeymoon in 2008, so in 2001 he must have come 4th.

Craig also becomes the third Mahony to play 300 games for the club as the Mahony clan have been an institution of the Elsternwick Football Club for as long as I can remember.
Combined, they have played a total of 1580 games: Paul Mahony 407, Shane Mahony 321, David Mahony 303, Craig Mahony 300, Brian Mahony 208, Patty Mahony 31, and Denis Mahony 11.

Each Mahony has been blessed with severe football talent; Shane always had a lethal kick on him, Paul had a wicked sidestep, Brian used to be called ‘Hanger’, and Craig, well he ducks when he is about to be tackled. 

But his style, whilst nothing stands out as remarkable, is remarkable in itself. 
He is not blessed with bursting speed, he runs onto his left foot a lot, and he cannot take an overhead mark let alone a speckie.
He has never kicked more than 4 goals in one game, but will be remembered, and is already as an out and out champion of the club.

My first memory of Craig is in my first year at Elsternwick in 2002 when he had just been installed as the senior Captain. 
At that point he was not much of a talker so I thought I would take the initiative, I approached him at training one night after he had just returned from Phuket and happened to stay in exactly the same hotel that I had stayed in only weeks earlier.
Standing in line for a drill, I introduced myself as we had something in common, I asked him what he thought of the hotel.
Craig shrugged his shoulders and didn’t answer me, it wasn’t his style to be overly loud or boisterous, or even answer a simple question.
Nowadays, even though he is not the captain anymore, he can’t seem to remain silent during speeches.
But that is another mark of the great man, where he once lacked, he has now grown and he has worked hard to get to where he is.
He probably wasn’t a natural leader when he took over the job from ‘Banger’ but with time and hard work he became a respected and loved leader at the club.

Craig’s loyalty and dedication to the club has been on show in a number of ways and on a number of occasions.
In 2004 he was offered a position at St Bernards, who were in A grade at the time, he turned down the offer and a plum job to stay with his mates at Elsternwick.
In the end he was rewarded when he was a premiership captain in 2005.
More recently whist starting out with his young family himself, he took on the role of coach with Brian when it would have been easy for him to say he was too busy.
The umpires love him, as do his team mates. I don’t think he has ever been reported, let alone sent off.

Outside of football and family, like many at Elsternwick, Craig has a love of horses and he also loves to play poker, although all he does not seem to really play poker, he just seems to blind out.

Congratulations Craig on a great career. 

• Debut:1995
• Senior Games:299
• Goals:174
• Best and Fairest:2002, 2003, 2007, and 2009
• Runner Up Best and Fairest:2004 and 2006
• Third Best and Fairest:1999, 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2011
• League best and fairest:2004
• Elsternwick Team of the Century
• Premiership Captain:2005
• State Representative:2006
• Elsternwick Captain:2002 – 2011
• Elsternwick Coach:2011