THIS week’s WATN looks at a man who fathered triplets and was once coached by Scott Hodges, after playing alongside the big forward for many years.
David Brown was a rugged midfielder who won six SANFL premierships with Port Adelaide as well as being a member of the club’s inaugural AFL list.
Brown also holds the unique position of also being an inaugural Adelaide Crows player, where he played 69 AFL games.
Despite that, the 48-year-old was delighted to return “home” when the Power entered the AFL competition.
“I’d spent six years at the Crows and I guess being a Port Adelaide person all my life to know that they were coming into the competition in 1997, I wanted to return and it felt like coming back home really,” he said.
“There were a lot of familiar faces around the place and I was a lot more settled and happy being back home at Port.”
Brown managed just 22 games across his two seasons with the Power but he now talks with pride about his involvement.
“Most of the experts had us finishing maybe bottom of the ladder and winning a couple of games - Collingwood beat us pretty comfortably in the first game, we were pretty competitive in the second one against Essendon and then our first night game at Football Park against Geelong and everything basically just clicked,” he recalled.
“To win that game against the Cats was a great moment for the club and the supporters to see that the game-plan would stand up and I think it gave the whole team confidence that we were good enough to match it in the league.
“Obviously there were a lot of players who hadn’t played AFL and some who had a little bit of AFL experience and a key player in Gavin Wanganeen but the whole team gained confidence
“I’m trying to remember how we went with the song, but I think we were all still learning it. It was a pretty hip song at the time in the AFL.
“There was a great spirit after the game and even before that, during pre-season, Jack Cahill and the other coaches had this incredible ability to bring players together and make it a comfortable atmosphere for us all to feel part of the team and part of the club so we built a quick rapport.”
After his AFL career concluded at the end of the 1998 season, Brown returned to the Magpies in the SANFL and won his final two premierships as well as captaining the side.
He retired in 2001, going on to help coach the Magpies reserves before a brief flirtation with a career in the amateur ranks.
“Greg Phillips was the reserves coach and Craig Ebert and I helped out for a few years there,” he said.
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“I don’t think we were there long enough to find out what he was like as a coach.
“We thought we’d go out and see what we could do and we quickly
Brown’s only involvement in football since has been to watch his son James play for North Clare.
“I try and get to as many of James’ games as I can,” Brown said.
“He’s a different style of player to me given he’s on the wing or half back flank, like a tall on-baller around the
James is one of Brown’s three children, along with his other son Dillon and daughter Tayla born as triplets 21 years ago.
A proud father, Brown boasted that one son has graduated from a Human Movement degree, the other is due to graduate from
Brown is now a public servant, working in the field of child protection.
I worked on the wharves for 12 years and then decided to make a change and ended up at the Department of Child Protection, where I have been for seven years now,” he said.
“It’s a really interesting job and a rewarding one.”
But according to Brown, the job is not as rewarding as having been involved at the Port Adelaide Football Club.
He still gets to a number of Power games each season and catches up with some of the players he played with including Rohan Smith and Tim Ginever.
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