ONE of the Golden Rivers Football League’s key forwards will celebrate a milestone when he takes to the field tomorrow.
Four-time GRFL premiership player, Nathan Henry will play his 250th senior match when defending premiers, Murrabit host Ultima in the match of the round.
The centre half-forward will chalk up the milestone against the same side he faced when making his senior debut as a 15-year-old in 1998.
“In reality it’s like any other week, you just want to go out with your mates and win,” the former coach said in relation to his milestone.
“Whilst you’re playing you don’t focus too much on the individual achievements, you’re in a team sport and that’s your focus.
“The cliché is when you’re finished you look back on what you’ve achieved and I’ll stick to that.”
Henry has enjoyed the spoils of senior football and periods of rebuilding during his long career with the club.
The 34-year-old played in Murrabit’s drought-breaking senior premiership win in 1999 – the Blues’ first senior grand final win since 1969.
Henry’s second senior premiership – which came against Wandella in the 2005 grand final – occurred 18 months after he snapped his Achilles tendon in the opening round of the 2004 season, forcing him out of the game for 12 months.
The Kerang Technical High School teacher’s return to the game proved to be a breakout season. Henry kicked 113 goals – including a league-record 24 majors in one match against Quambatook – to claim the first of his two GRFL goalkicking titles to occur in the space of four seasons.
The 2005 season would start a run of seven years of success for the club, which included Henry’s third flag with the Blues in 2007, as well as grand final losses to Wandella in 2009 and 2011.
Henry stepped up to coach the Blues for four seasons between 2013 and 2016 – a period that saw the side miss the finals for three consecutive years.
Fellow club stalwart, Simon Morton united with Henry to lead the side to a seventh-place finish in 2013, before Henry coached the club solo to two wins and eighth spot on the ladder in 2014.
The club showed faith in his work in 2015, with Henry guiding Murrabit to seven wins and a seventh-place finish in 2015, before a return to the finals and a premiership – determined thanks to Henry’s goal with 80 seconds in the game remaining – last September.
“It’s an honour to be a member of the Murrabit Football Netball club community. They have been through it all with me from the premierships to only the two wins as coach in 2014,” he said.
“Their support and encouragement never changed.”
