Tim Looby wears his heart on his sleeve and he is always the first to put his hand to wear the purple and gold.
The 29-year-old would have to have a broken leg to not run out on the field each May when interleague rolls round.
“I reckon you need to find an excuse to play rather than an excuse not to play,” he said.
Looby gets why players pass up interleague football, but with age against him he knows these types of opportunities like today against one of the best metropolitan leagues may not come round too often.
He knows the Essendon District Football League will be even harder than the 2012 showdown to retain the number one ranking against the Mornington Peninsula.
“If we could beat the EDFL I reckon it will go down as one of the best interleague wins and at the same time a win would be huge for our league.”
The star utility knows the players who pull on the Goulburn Valley league jumper will not take a backward step despite the likelihood of coming up against a very talented opposition that is sure to feature some ex-AFL and VFL stars.
“There will be no excuses for us and I am really looking forward to the challenge,” Looby added.
“It is going to be a good challenge for me and the rest of the boys.”
Having represented the league on close to 10 occasions, Looby says he learnt the importance of representing your league from two of the region’s greatest players – Paul Newman and Guy Campbell.
“They really showed me what it meant. I know we all play for the competition, mateship and to test yourself, but they always liked to test themselves against the very best,” he said.
Today, Looby will captain the league for a second time, having also won four VCFL jumpers.
He is sure to lead by example and he has some simple advice for those wearing the purple and gold for the first time.
“What I would say is to not think too much about it. It is very important that each and every player selected buys in to interleague footy because you can’t sit back and do your own thing,” he said.
Looby remains cautiously optimistic that if the boys band together and get behind Scott Beattie then they can give the home team a run for their money.
“It is a really good squad and the good thing about it is that every player is really excited about playing and with some fresh faces in the squad we think we can give it a really good crack,” he said.
“The good thing about the league and squad is that we lose a player to injury then he is replaced by a really good player who is keen to play.”
Despite moving between defence and attack for Shepparton United each weekend, Looby says he is likely to start down back.
“They’ve got a lot of good players so I’m really excited about the prospect of who will come up against as my opponent,” he said.
Tim Looby
Nickname: ‘Looba”
Age: 29
Height: 187cm
Weight: 95kg
Club: Shepparton United
GVFL Games: Shepparton United (99), Shepparton Swans (40)
GVFL Interleague: 2007, 2010 – 2016 (late withdrawal 2015), Captain 2014 - 2016
AFL Vic Country: 2012-2015, Captain 2014-2015
Position: Utility
AFL club: Essendon
Favourite AFL player: Luke Hodge
If I weren’t playing footy, I would be… spending time with family, travelling
Last Modified on 27/09/2016 17:24