BRETT KOHLHAGEN: You played all your junior footy at Albury and have some good mates down at the Albury Sportsground. How did you end up at Lavington in 1995?

SIMON PLUNKETT: I'd finished up playing at Rand after blowing out my knee twice but still wanted to coach. Anyway, I went to The Rock Yard one day to get some gear for work and ran into the treasurer Graeme Young. I told him I was looking for a coaching job and asked if there was anything going at Lavington. He didn't have a clue. Two days later he called me back and said no one was coaching the thirds. It was the same year 'Spargs' (Paul Spargo) went back to Albury and I'd put in for the thirds job down there but they had already given it to Mark Turner. 'Spargs' asked me to be the runner at Albury, but I wanted to coach.

BK: So you went to Lavington and received life membership a few years ago.

SP: I went to Lavi as thirds coach and I think I coached them for eight years before going straight into the running.

BK: You had some good kids go through the thirds didn't you?

SP: When we won the senior flag in 2001, I reckon six or seven of the kids had played thirds under me. Hamish McIntosh obviously went on with it and was probably the best I coached.

BK: And then you got into the running.

SP: Yep, I think I've only missed one or two years along the way. I only did half the year last season when I got crook.

BK: Your timing wasn't great.

SP: It wasn't but it didn't matter. It's not about the runners, it's about the players.

BK: Most of your time as runner was under Tim Sanson. I imagine that would have been an interesting ride?

SP: He used to go off all the time, go off. He had Richard Hamilton sitting next to him in the box in the early days and Richard would tell Tim you can't yell out the window at me all the time. 'Timba' wanted me to deliver the messages and get straight off the ground but I'd like to have a bit of a look around while I was out there. He'd go off at me but I had a bit of advice for him as well which you can't print in the paper (laughs).

BK: Neither of you would back down then?

SP: His favourite saying was 'it's not personal'. He would be abusing the s**t out of me and say it's not personal. I'd just tell him where to go. Then we would start laughing and get back into it the following week. He had to settle down in the end because it was a bad look yelling out of the box.

BK: Let's be honest, you have been fairly chirpy on the ground over the years haven't you. You liked baiting the opposition a bit.

IN OTHER NEWS:

SP: I loved it, loved it. I got into (Daryn) Cresswell one day when he was swearing his head off. My missus (Fran) was sitting near the box and I popped around the corner and said: "Listen stop your swearing, there are women around here'. He said something back and then I threw a line out to him. 'Cressa' then came back with: 'Wait until after the game I'm going to punch you in the head'. Then a couple of days later I was talking to Brendan Way and Nic Conway and they asked me what I was doing trying to pick fights with our coach. It was hilarious.

BK: Brendan Fevola had a go at you once when he was playing for the Ovens and Murray at Wangaratta and you were the league's runner.

SP: Someone from the paper did an article on me being the Ovens and Murray's runner for a long time. 'Fev' gets to the ground and is straight into me. The big fella rocks up and says: 'F....... hell 'Shorty'. I've never seen anyone do an article on a f.... runner. What the f... is going on?' Then Spargo, who was supposed to be helping me with the running that day, was upstairs doing a radio interview on the TAC game which was on before us. It set 'Fev' off again: 'And your mate Spargo, he's upstairs doing another f.... interview. What is going on?'. Fevola was bloody funny.

BK: I'm surprised you didn't sledge Fevola when Lavington played Yarra?

SP: I was going to sledge him at Mulwala in his first game when there were 100,000 people. I thought I'd give him a bit but when I got closer he was just too big. His eyes used to roll ... I didn't want to poke the bear.

BK: How did you go working with Spargo when he was the inter-league coach?

SP: In about 2001 we went to Shepparton. 'Roscoe' (Ross Ried) was the team manager and he and I had the headsets down on the ground while Spargo was in the box with Mark Turner. I started giving him some advice and suggesting moves and 'Herbie' fired up with: 'Mother (Plunkett), you stick to the f..... running and I'll do the coaching'. It was a ripping burst over the headset to Roscoe and myself.

BK: After you played at Albury, you played a lot of footy for Burrumbuttock, Bethanga and Rand.

SP: Yeah, I never counted the games but I finished when I was 38. Wherever you go you meet good people. That's why it's so important we get beyond this coronavirus because sport is such an important part of peoples' lives.

BK: You have been a huge part of the Albury Touch Association haven't you?

SP: I was playing footy at Albury and a few of us wanted to do something during the summer. Someone said we should try indoor cricket so I played one game and thought 'stuff this'. Then I started playing touch at Alexandra Park on the old tip. That was a long time ago but I still love doing the refereeing out at Jelbart Park. We've had a bit of a lull over the past few years so if anyone wants to get involved sing out.

BK: You have had two knee replacements in the past 12 months. Are your running days over?

SP:. No, I can still jog. Hopefully they can find me something to do at Lavi.