TWO years ago, East Sunbury star Kamen Ogilvie finished one vote short of the Strathmore Community Bank Division 2 Best & Fairest Medal.
He held a 22-votes-to-nine lead in this year’s count with five rounds to go, and thought deja vu was about to occur when Moonee Valley midfielder, Cory McGrath began to rapidly catch up.
McGrath polled three votes in four consecutive games, meaning that by Round 21, Ogilvie held a slim one-vote lead.
Ogilvie says that although the thought of losing narrowly again was in the back of his head, he wasn’t too anxious.
He had bigger things to think about.
“I wasn’t really worried,” Ogilvie said.
“I was kind of just like, well, if it’s going to happen again, it’s going to happen again.
“It’s nice to be noticed individually but like I said in a few comments before, I want to be talking about winning a premiership rather than winning an individual award.”
His Thunder outfit came so close this year, playing in its first ever grand final and losing by six points against Roxburgh Park.
Ogilvie had a share in that piece of history, kicking East Sunbury’s first grand final goal that day.
He says that kick was one of instinct, not one of thought.
“Honestly, I didn’t even think about it,” Ogilvie said.
“It was just one of those things, I knew I could kick the goal so I played on and I kicked the goal.
“I didn’t even really think I would kick the first goal.
“I wasn’t really thinking about that at all, I was just thinking about winning.
“As bad as it sounds, I just go out and do whatever I need to do to try and get the job done.
“At that point in time, it was taking the mark and playing on, and just kicking it as far as I could.
“It just snuck in. It was very, very close.”
This almost looked unimaginable in the middle of the year, as the club was rocked by the sudden departure of coach, Steve Grey.
Ogilvie admits the whole drama may have been a blessing in disguise.
“To be perfectly honest, me and Steve clashed a lot when it came to pretty much everything,” the midfielder said.
“I think we’re both very passionate about what we do and we kind of just think the other one is always wrong.
“That’s just kind of how we just were.
“For me personally, I think that it was probably the best scenario for me as well because I was getting played out of position all year as well.
“It helps myself and the team by me being played in a better position and the coach actually respecting what I can do on the field rather than trying to hold me back and put me in positions where I can’t be damaging or where I’m not noticed.”
Despite sitting pretty on the top of the ladder with seven wins and one loss, Ogilvie wasn’t feeling like the Thunder was a 7-1 side.
“I just think that we were lacking in the direction that we needed to be heading in,” the 26-year-old said.
“Even being 7-1, I don’t think I’ve ever been part of a club that was at one point, undefeated but still felt like we were losing on the ground.
“The way that everything was just taking place like week in, week out, everyone was just going through the motions.
“Nothing was really happening because everything was just falling our way.”
The East Sunbury midfielder soon realised that something was missing.
“We didn’t really get recognition for our hard work until ‘Hoppa’ (Glenn Hopkins) came in the picture and Steve kind of left and everyone actually understood what they were doing, what their role was and how much they’ve actually made the team better in such a short amount of time.
“I thought when Steve left, this could either be really good for the club or really bad for the club and obviously, it was really good for the club.
“Getting ‘Hoppa’ over, he’s a very experienced coach, he gets the best out of the team week in, week out.”
It wasn’t all success on the field though, with the side suffering some losses towards the back end of the season.
This knocked the Thunder off the top of the table and put its finals hopes in jeopardy.
Two consecutive one-point losses hurt the resilient outfit, and Ogilvie was especially impacted by those games.
“To be honest, I actually took those losses worse than what I did in the grand final,” he said.
“I’ve been pretty lucky in my football career not to really lose by a point.
“I think before this year, I think I maybe lost one in 15 senior years of football, which is pretty good.
“Then I lose back-to-back one-point consecutive losses, it was definitely rough.
“But a lot of the senior boys took it pretty roughly like myself and the captain (Lucas Shaw) were included in that, definitely.”
Fifteen years of senior football is not an easy feat to achieve.
But growing up in Deniliquin, about three hours from Melbourne, Ogilvie was thrown straight into the deep end and stayed there.
“I played my first Under 14s game when I was eight,” the 26 year-old said.
“I started playing footy at a young age, both my brothers, they were passable footballers, they were better at other sports.
“My dad was a gun centre-half back in his day but he done his knee so that’s kind of what got me into it.
“He was the club trainer at the time.
“I played my first senior game at 15 and I haven’t really not played a senior game since.”
Believe it or not, Ogilvie started off his career as a ruckman.
He admits, chuckling, that he hasn’t done much growing since.
“I was the same size as I was when I was 15 as I am now,” Ogilvie said.
“In Under 12s, I played as a ruckman.
“I was number 24 because the highest number was the tallest player.
“Then in Under 14s state, I think I was 12, then in Under 15s, I was three and then Under 18s, I was two or one I think.
“I had this massive growth spurt when I was younger and then that was it, I was done.”
Being from the country, it’s always hard to make a name for yourself in the big leagues.
But two special players derived from Deniliquin, and boy did they make a name for themselves.
Ogilvie drew inspiration from their career paths, admitting he wanted to be that unknown player that got his name out there in a big way.
“In my area, I lived next to Leo Barry and his parents,” Ogilvie said.
“His Dad is one of the best blokes I’ve ever met and Leo himself is unreal as well.
“Growing up next to Shane Crawford, he’s from Finley, you kind of want to be one of those kids.
“Just coming from nothing and making a little empire for yourself in the AFL, it’s something that a few of us from the country strive for.
“I wanted to be someone that came from nowhere.”
