FORMER Gold Coast and Hawthorn tough nut Campbell Brown will play his first game on Sunday since being unceremoniously dumped by the Suns.
Brown, who was sacked in December after breaking teammate Steven May’s jaw in Los Angeles, will pull on the boots for Ovens and King club, Greta.
Brown’s country road show includes a match for Ballan, where his 2008 Hawks premiership teammate Mark Williams coaches.
Don’t miss ROSLYN LANIGAN’S country football wrap in the Sunday Herald Sun.
He’ll also play for Lower Plenty and Tasmanian outfit, Devonport, where he will line-up alongside another premiership teammate, Brent Guerra.
Brown said he didn’t expect to be targeted by King Valley and “can’t wait” to return to the field.
“It doesn’t faze me if I am, to be honest,” Brown, 30, said.
“I haven’t played since about Round 20 last year so I’m looking forward to it.
“I’m happy to play wherever the coach sees fit.”
Greta has shifted Sunday’s match to Wangaratta’s W.J. Findlay Oval, and with no other football in town, it’s hoping for a crowd well in excess of 2000.
The Blues would be lucky to attract 250 to a normal home game and will make a one-off payment to the Wangaratta Rovers for use of the ground.
“If it was at Greta, I think we’d get about a third of the crowd we’d get in ‘town’,” Greta vice-president Dan McCarthy said.
“We’re pretty much a sleepy little hollow out here.
“We wanted to do something a little different to enhance our stature.
“He’ll be paid for before we even start.
“What he’s going to cost us is irrelevant to what he’s going to make us.”
Having a gun for hire is nothing new for the Ovens and King league.
Jason Akermanis, who’s entering his second year as coach of Ovens and Murray club, North Albury, booted four goals and received a hit to the head playing for Milawa in 2011.
Two-time Yarrawonga premiership player Brendan Fevola, who’s coaching the Ovens and Murray inter-league team this year, annually plays one-off games for country clubs.
“Greta’s been fantastic to deal with,” said Brown, who played 205 AFL games.
“I’ve only got a couple more games planned with other clubs so there’s a chance I could come back and play with Greta later in the year.”
Brown’s connection to Greta comes through Hawks premiership teammate Shane Crawford, who went to school with McCarthy.
“I went to school with Shane Crawford and Ben Dixon and I got in contact with them,” McCarthy said.
“It sort of grew from there.”
Brown’s commitments for the weekend don’t stop on the footy field.
He’ll be guest speaker at a sportsman’s night after the game at the Wangaratta Turf Club, with more than 140 tickets already sold.
“It’s going to be a really profitable day,” McCarthy said.
By - Chris Mitchell
- From: Herald Sun
- April 04, 2014 7:00PM
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/former-gold-coast-sun-campbell-brown-set-to-play-for-greta-in-ovens-and-king/story-e6frf9jo-1226874971466
Last Modified on 10/04/2014 21:11
