Greg Broughton is already a member of a pretty small club at the Gold Coast SUNS … the 80s Club. Among 44 active GC SUNS players, he’s one of just nine who were born in the 1980s.
Nathan Bock, born in 1983, is the old man of the playing group, followed by Gary Ablett and Matthew Warnock (1984). Broughton, born in September 1986, shares his year of birth with Michael Rischitelli (January), Tom Murphy (March) and Karmichael Hunt (November), while 1988 babies Jarrod Harbrow and Danny Stanley complete the 80s Club.
So, although pretty much in his football prime at 27, the Broughton is sixth oldest among the SUNS players. On Saturday night the hard-nosed defender will join another equally exclusive club. The 100-Game Club.
Having not missed a game this season, he will become just the sixth player on the SUNS’ list to have played 100 AFL games, joining Ablett (267), Rischitelli (171), Bock (140), Harbrow (140) and Murphy (112).
It’s a milestone which several times throughout Broughton’s footballing journey he seemed destined not to reach.
Indeed, for a long time it seemed like he wouldn’t even play one game at the highest level. He was passed over by every club in the league as an 18-year-old in the 2004 National Draft, and again in 2005 and 2006....and again in 2007 and 2008.
It was only after he’d played in Subiaco’s 2006-07-08 WAFL premiership sides and won the club’s 2008 B&F that he finally got a look in. And even then it was only just. Having missed out (again) in the 2008 National Draft, it all came down to the 2009 Rookie Draft a few weeks later.
He was 22. Not exactly normal rookie age at that time. And as the rookie draft rolled on it seemed like he would be disappointed again. Jordie McKenzie went to Melbourne at pick No.1, Jeff Garlett to Carlton at No.6 and Robin Nahas to Richmond at No.7. Ricky Henderson went to Adelaide at 10, Zac Dawson to St.Kilda at 13, Matt DeBoer to Fremantle at 19 and Luke Delaney to North at 25. All while Broughton waited. Jarryd Blair was taken by Collingwood at 27, Liam Picken went to the Bulldogs at 30 and Luke Breust was snapped up by Hawthorn at 47. Clancee Pearce was pick No.48 to Fremantle, Mike Pyke went to Sydney at 57 and Collingwood used pick 67 to claim Lachlan Keeffe.
The draft was all but done. There were a maximum 82 picks listed but many of the very late ones had already been assigned prior to the draft to existing rookies who were being retained by their current club. But at pick No.73, by which time most clubs had clocked off, Fremantle made the call he’d been waiting for. They chose Greg Broughton, Subiaco Football Club. At last.
It was the beginning of a four-year stint at the Dockers for the 189cm right-footer, who was a mature-age rookie before mature rookies became fashionable. He made an immediate impact and debuted in round 3, 2009. He played 15 games in his first season. Then it was 17, including two finals in 2010, and 21 of a possible 22 games in 2011, when he finished third in the Fremantle B&F count.
But after Ross Lyon took charge in 2012 things didn’t go quite so well, and a finger injury in round 16 ended his season. He’d played 15 more games that year but watched on during the finals. It was a surprise to many when Broughton was offered for trade by the Dockers at the end of 2012, and after he’d initially been linked to Port Adelaide, the SUNS swooped and secured him in exchange for selection No.36 in the 2012 National Draft.
Broughton hasn’t looked back. There was no waiting around until round 3 this time. He went straight in to the senior side in round 1, 2013, and has played 31 of a possible 36 games for the SUNS – 17 of 22 last year and 14 of 14 this year. Just twice last year has played in the reserves.
Metricon wasn’t an entirely new spot for the man who wears No.36 for the Suns. He’d played at the ground once in his Fremantle days, when they beat the SUNS by 50 points in round 15, 2011. And on first impressions it seemed he liked the place. He collected 32 possessions - his third highest possession tally in his 68 games for the Dockers - and an equal career-high 11 tackles. Maybe SUNS recruiting chief Scott Clayton was watching.
Since then he’s averaged 17.6 possessions and 3.0 tackles per game, and a mountain of the little things that coaches love. In a Gold Coast side full of highly-credentialed youngsters, Broughton - highly recommended to the club by ex-Fremantle teammate turned SUNS assistant coach Dean Solomon - has done exceptionally well not only to command a regular senior game, but to establish himself as a key member of a defensive group which continues to stamp it’s mark on the competition.
It probably won’t have escaped Broughton’s attention, too, that the player Fremantle effectively got in exchange for him – Tanner Smith – has played just one senior game in the same period. And if he’s really reflective, Broughton might also like to think back with a degree of satisfaction to the day of the 2009 Rookie Draft. Of all the players chosen ahead of him only Dawson (131 games), Picken (121), DeBoer (110) and Garlett (107) have beaten him to 100 games. And you could mount an argument that Dawson shouldn’t be included in this list because he’d already played 12 games during a two-year stint at Hawthorn before he was thrown a second-chance lifeline.
McKenzie, chosen at No.1 on that fateful day, has played 73 games. Blair has 94 games to his name, Nahas 91, Henderson 56, Delaney 40, Breust 80, Pearce 76, Pyke 80 and Keeffe 33, of the aforementioned choices. Plus, there are about 60 others who were preferred to Broughton but have had even less impact, and most are no longer in the AFL system.
It’s been a special journey and a milestone of which Broughton should be very proud.
