AS a 13-year-old Cameron Skinner was told he would never play contact sport again.
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It was initially feared a broken hip suffered while “mucking around at school” when he missed a landing mat while doing a backwards somersault and fell on floorboards would spell the end of Skinner’s football career beyond the under-14s.
But 26 years later with a hip that has well and truly healed, Skinner on Saturday will become the first Maryborough player to notch 300 senior games.
Skinner will reach the milestone when the Magpies take on Sandhurst at the QEO in round 13 of the Bendigo Football League.
“I suppose it’s a good achievement, but it’s not like I’m a great player or anything like that,” the modest Skinner said on Friday.
“I’d probably describe myself as someone who has been able to stay reasonably fit, play a role for the team and be half-decent at most things without being great at any of them.
“I’m not the best kick or the strongest, but I’m probably above average at most things and that’s what has got me across the line.”
Now 39, Skinner played his first senior game for the Magpies in round one, 1996, in a 45-point win over South Bendigo at Princes Park.
The following game he bagged six goals in a 120-point win over Eaglehawk.
Skinner played in the Magpies’ back-to-back premiership triumphs under coach Neville Massina in 1998 and 1999 in what are the two fondest memories of his football career.
“I remember how the whole town got behind us in those couple of grand finals and just how big it was,” Skinner said.
“It seemed like there were thousands along High Street when we got back after we won and it was a really special couple of years.”
As well as the back-to-back senior flags of 1998 and 1999, Skinner also played in Maryborough’s 2010 reserves flag, also winning the best and fairest, despite playing just eight games.
While Skinner was part of the Magpies’ glory years of the late ’90s, he’s also enduring the club’s toughest season since it returned to the BFL in 1992, with Maryborough still winless.
“It’s obvioulsy no secret we’re going through a lean patch, but you’ve got to go through the hard times to enjoy the good times,” said Skinner, who was named in a forward pocket in Maryborough’s Team of the Decade of the ’90s.
“But I still love my footy and continue to enjoy the friendships that you make along the way.”
