ALBURY-Wodonga Spitfires stalwart Andrew Maggs will join elite company today when he becomes only the fourth Spitfire to play 200 games for the club.
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Maggs, 27, first pulled on a Spitfires uniform in 1999 and quickly established himself as a quality full-back, although he has moved further up the field in recent years.
He will bring up his 200th when the ninth-placed Spitfires host seventh-placed MCC today and said he was proud to reach the milestone.
“Not too many have done it (play 200 games), so I am really pleased to get there,” he said.
“Only Mick Sadler, Ian Beath and Ben Martin have played 200, so it’s fairly rare and they’re all pretty good players, so I’m in good company.”
Maggs — who nominated the club’s 2004 State League 2 premiership win over Monash University as his greatest highlight — said it was always a challenge competing in State League 1 but was hopeful the Spitfires could celebrate his milestone with a victory today.
“(This year) has been a bit disappointing but it’s a massive step up to State League 1, you’re playing against Olympians every other week,” he said.
“We have played well in patches at times this year, we just have 10-minute lapses which come back to haunt us.
“We need to limit those and hopefully we can sneak a few points in.
“If we play to our potential and limit our lapses, we should be a chance to get a point or even a win against MCC.”
Meanwhile, the Albury-Wodonga Strikers will be hoping to bounce back from their first loss of the year when they host Mornington Peninsula.
The Strikers copped a hockey lesson against ladder-leaders Altona last round, losing 6-2, but should be strong enough to account for their sixth-placed opponents.
- Maggs was recently named captain of Vic Country for the third year after Hockey Albury-Wodonga dominated last weekend’s Victorian country championships.
Albury-Wodonga had 11 men — Maggs, Ian Beath, Sam McIntosh, Matt Bardy, Dominic Wild, Fergus Dawson, Joel Shepherd, Scott Foley, Matt Sawyer, Tony Donnolley, Tim Jones and Jeremy Payne (emergency) — and six women — Janessa Leggatt, Emma Knagge, Shelby Thorneycroft, Jade Versteegen, Allison Nicholson and Jo Plowright — selected for Vic Country, which will compete at the Australian Country Championships in Canberra late next month.
