First Division - Eastern Football League

THE EASTERN FOOTBALLER
8
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
It was a long wait for ruckman Brendan
Rinaldi to play his first senior VFL
game with the Box Hill Hawks. Since
arriving at the club in the summer of
2003 from Mitcham, it took Rinaldi an
amazing 20 months since his first day
of pre-season to his first senior game. A
knee reconstruction at the start of the
2004 season was the main reason
behind the staggering 20 month
absence. JAMES WILLOUGHBY
talks to the towering 198cm ruckman.
Rinaldi played with the Bendigo
Pioneers U18 side in a year which he
describes as disappointing “The last
year at Bendigo, was pretty poor,
things didn’t go my way and I was
unhappy with that”. Rinaldi who came
to Melbourne for Uni said he was “not
really interested in footy any more”. That was until he met
Mitcham club legend Travis Rankin at a near-by pub. Rankin
persuaded the big man to give footy another crack and he was
called up by then Mitcham coach Andy Collins 3 weeks later.
“Collo (Andy Collins) gave me a call and asked me whether I
wanted to come down so I said yes and gave him the number
of my best mate Kristan Height and we ended showing up in
February” Rinaldi recalls. In his first season with the Tigers,
Rinaldi set himself a goal of playing in every game, which he
did. For his second season, it was time to re-assess his goals.
“Watching the EFL finals series after my first year, I remember
how much I wanted to play finals footy, so in second season I
really committed myself”.
In his second season at Mitcham, Rinaldi scooped up the U21
Player of the Year award and finished runner-up in the
Division 1 best and fairest. Rinaldi was also a key member of
the team that defeated the once un-beatable Vermont in a semi
final, but fell to East Burwood in the preliminary final, a
season which was beyond all expectations for the Mitcham
footy club.
At the end of that season as Rinaldi re-calls he wanted to push
his career further “I was having a chat with Heighty (Kristan
Height) and we decided that we wanted to give the VFL a
crack and a few days later we were called up by Tony Kearney
who invited us down to Box Hill. Libba (Tony Liberatore) was
the coach at that time, but around Christmas time he moved
onto Carlton, and Collo (Andy Collins) was appointed coach
BRENDAN RINALDI
so it was like a big reunion” Rinaldi
says.
His first pre-season with Box Hill last
year was good, with plenty of
promising noises coming out of City
Oval about the 198cm ruckman. But
unfortunately he did his knee, resulting
in a full knee reconstruction that would
keep him out of action for almost a full
year. Rinaldi tried to turn a positive
into a negative and met with Dirk
Lamb, head of fitness at Box Hill “At
about August I met with Dirk and told
him I wanted to put some weight on
and get a bit stronger so he devised a
plan for me” Rinaldi says.
In just 3 months, Rinaldi had gone
from a lightly frame of 84 kg into a
much stronger unit at 95kg, capable of out-muscling any
ruckman going around. All seemed good as Rinaldi came back
early this year but yet again the big man suffered another
setback. “To do the knee early this year and have to go back in
for another operation, which cost me about a month again was
very disappointing” Rinaldi said.
Rinaldi’s first game back was a hit-out in the VFL reserves
against the Coburg Tigers, a game which Rinaldi enjoyed
immensely. “Just to run out and play a game of footy was an
awesome feeling, I felt like a little school kid about to play his
first football match, I was that excited”.
After a few more weeks in the reserves, Rinaldi made his
senior debut in the Queen’s Birthday Match against the
Bendigo Bombers at the QE Oval. Rinaldi impressed in his
debut, looking like the mobile big man the Hawks need as they
push for the finals.
A couple of weeks ago, the Box Hill Hawks played
Williamstown in a high-profile match which saw 5104 attend
the comebacks of Angelo Lekkas and Nathan Buckley. Rinaldi
was disappointed to lose “It was great to play in front of such
a big crowd but I’m filthy that we lost, we had it in the bag and
to lose it in the last minute was very disappointing” Rinaldi
said.
After a promising return to senior football if Rinaldi can stay
fit, the Hawks are an even better chance of making the 2005
VFL finals series.