Georgia Smith: You won two consecutive Barton medals, how did you feel winning the first in 1997?

Travis Tytler: Shocked. I had played all of my footy at Mitta and that was the first year I played at Yackandandah. I knew I had a reasonable year but I worked Sundays and the vote count was on Sundays in those days. Techy Britton had asked me if I was going to the league vote count and I said, "nah mate, I'm working." He said, "we've got all these tickets that we need to use, so we'd really appreciate you being there." Then a couple of my mates must have been worded up and told me I should go, so I organised with work to come in and work until 11am. I said to Boehy, my roommate, "when you pick me up I've only got my work clothes, so can you bring a pair of tracksuit pants and a shirt for me?" I got changed into tracksuit pants and a shirt. It was getting down to the wire and one of my mates, Shaun Barker, said, "you might win this. Come into the toilets and get changed, you can't get up there in tracksuit pants." I ended up wearing Bear's jeans to collect my award.

GS: Were you more prepared for the second?

TT: We had our club vote count the day before and Simon Corr won by a streak and I think I ended up coming third. In the back of my mind I was thinking Corry's had a good year and I didn't dispute the fact that he was our best player for the year. I said to my wife at the time, if we go to this vote count and I get nine votes in the first four rounds then I'm a big show. The first four rounds I got three, three, one and three. It got down to the last round and Robbie Barber I think was just behind me. Murph (Steve Murphy) didn't want me to play that last game. He said he'd rest me coming into finals. I said I'm not here to rest. I'd been carrying a few niggles towards the end of the year, so he played me at full-back. We were playing Thurgoona, who back then were the whipping boys. I think the ball came down there maybe four times for the day, so I didn't do a lot. Murph said to me at the last round, "I might have cost you a medal here." Kiewa played Mitta the day before and got belted so I asked the Mitta boys how Robbie Barber went and they said he shouldn't get a vote. Three, two and one went to the Mitta boys and I didn't get a vote, so that left me a couple of votes in front still. I was pretty chuffed by that.

GS: Was it a hard decision leaving Mitta for Yack?

TT: Yes and no. I was leaving Mitta. I'd had personal issues there with my love life and I thought I can't hang around here and move on with my life. I was moving into Wodonga and as soon as it got out that I was leaving I had some clubs ringing me. John Teunon, who I played with at Mitta, asked me what I was doing and I said I hadn't decided yet. He said the best thing I could do was go and play under Steve Murphy. Yack were chasing me and for a while I trained at Kiewa one night a week and Yack one night a week, but I actually signed with Thurgoona first of all. I tossed up between Yack and Kiewa in the end though and Yack it was.

GS: Did you get a hard time from Mitta at games after that?

TT: The first time I played Mitta we beat them. Some of the comments I got from people who used to adore me, I was a little bit taken aback. But that's just football. One of my good mates, Ross Hodgkin, ran past me and knocked me A over T and said, "that's one." So I got him back and said the same thing, "that's one all." Then he got me again before the end of the game and said, "that's 2-1, looks like I win." And I said, "look at the scoreboard mate, I think it's two all." That first time I had to play them was the toughest, but Murph tried to make it as easy as he could for me.

GS: You won flags with Mitta though in 1992, 1993 and 1996?

TT: 1996 was my last year at the club and I did my knee in the third game and was told to rest it for eight weeks with no operation. I did what the doctor told me and then started training. I came back against Tallangatta and got knocked over in the first 15 minutes and landed on my knee and I was gone. Both seniors and reserves made it straight into the grand final. It got to grand final week and Dave Turner said he wasn't going to play me. I said, "that's fine, you're the coach and you make the call, but I'm letting you know I won't be playing here next year anyway." He said, "that's fair enough but I can't pick you." Porky Pleming was coaching the seconds and he said, "well if you're not going to have him, I'll play him." So Porky had me in the seconds and I hurt my knee in the grand final. I just strapped it up and I wasn't the worst player out there, and we won.

GS: That wasn't your worst football injury though?

TT: I got knocked out when I was 12 playing footy for Mitta. I was playing in the 17s and we were playing the Army Apprentices, who were big boys. One of them gave me a knock. Mum said it was one of the dirtiest things she's ever seen, but I can't remember it. I was knocked out cold. In the hospital on the Monday in Wodonga I was still unconscious. One of the blood vessels burst in my brain. They ended up putting me on life support and sent me to Melbourne. That was April and I think it was September by the time I was finally out of hospital for the last time. Once I was on the mend I would always ask the doctor if I was going to be able to play footy again, and they'd say I'd be right. I went back the following year to have my final check up and they said, "now's the time I should tell you, you're never playing footy again." They said I had a metal clip holding that blood vessel in place and if I got a concussion my brain would swell and pop that clip off and I would die there and then. Every year for the next three or four years I'd have the same argument with mum and dad around January and February saying that I wanted to play footy. They'd say I can't and I'd kick and scream. When I was 17 I said to them I'm playing footy whether you like it or not, because if you don't let me play this year, I'll be playing next year when I'm 18, probably in the seconds, and aren't I better off running around with kids my own age first and getting back into the swing of it? Mum said, "If you can convince your father and wear a helmet it's alright with me." Dad said, "if you can convince your mum." So I ended up playing.

GS: Did you feel like you always had to be extra careful?

TT: No not really. If I was going to start doing that I wouldn't have been good to anyone. You have a job to do and you just have to crack in and have a go. If you're not going to do that then you may as well not be out there.

GS: Did you wear the helmet for most of your career?

TT: Yeah. Mum said to me you have to promise that you'll always wear your helmet.

GS: Mitta are renowned for being tough, did you play in a few physical games?

ALSO IN SPORT:

TT: I remember growing up and watching footy as a kid and thinking holy moly, how did you get up from that. There was still a bit of nastiness going on when I was starting out, but as the AFL became the AFL, things started to get sanitised. They brought the send off rule in. The first year I started again in 1989 I was sent off five or six times in the year just from blueing. In the end I thought to myself you're not making a hero out of yourself by fighting and carrying on, you're only hurting your teammates because you're off the field for 15 minutes. I think the send off rule was a good idea. It's a violent sort of sport, so there's always going to be a bit of this and that. It's cleaned up considerably. As a player it made you feel a bit safer putting your head over the ball.

GS: Who were some of the toughest opponents you faced?

TT: My toughest opponent I can say without a doubt was Laurie Larsen. I was standing across from him at the first centre bounce looking up at him and thinking how am I going to get up there and win against him. He seemed to me like he was about six foot eight, but he was probably about six foot six with long arms. Barney Brown was another one, he was a tough old bugger. The best footballer I ever played with was Hughie Giltrap. He was just unbelievable.

GS: Your love of footy often got in the way of school growing up?

TT: I failed year 12 and thought I'd only let myself down, so I went back and did it the next year and got my VCE. I was always pretty good at school and always got good grades and mum had put it down to me playing so much footy during year 12. It was my first year of senior footy. Mum always expected me to do VCE and go off to college somewhere and get a career that way. I felt bad that I'd let her down and I thought, I'd let myself down too. So I went back the next year and knuckled down. I got my VCE but didn't get the marks I needed to go to college. After that I'm a traffic controller and I love my job with Trafficking.

GS: Did you ever try your luck in the Ovens and Murray?

TT: Martin Cross senior tried to get me a game in Myrtleford. I went and did one pre-season and thought to myself surely we're not going to run like that every night. I was 18 or 19 and fit as a fiddle, so it didn't sort of worry me too much, but I just thought you're at least meant to see a ball. They had a job for me picking tobacco but I thought I'd just stay where I was. I played a fair bit of cricket with Steve Paton and he was always keen for me to go to North Albury. I went there a couple of times but never really had my heart in it. Peter Cross, who coached Bethanga, rang me out of nowhere and said, "I know what you're thinking but it's nothing to do with Bethanga, I'm an Albury Tigers' man and we're trying to rebuild the club. Would you be keen on coming on board?" I said, "you don't have a coach yet do you?" And he said, "we have, but I can't tell you who it is." I said, "if you can't tell me who it is I'm not interested." He said, "can I call you back once it's announced in next week's paper." It was Spargs, and he rang me up and I said I'd come and have a run. I did the pre-season, which was hard yakka. I played all the practice games and didn't do anything too outstanding. The job that they had for me fell through and in the end I went to Mitta because I didn't have a job and couldn't live in Albury. I landed a job at Murray Goulburn at Eskdale the next day and thought I'm staying here and playing footy here. It might have been the next year Albury won the flag and every time I've seen him since he just says, "mate, I could have made you a superstar." I said I've got no regrets. I'm pretty happy with how everything turned out with my footy and cricket.

GS: You also had cricket success playing for Eskdale?

TT: I think I won four A-grade premierships at Eskdale and made a couple of 100s in B-grade. I made 98 in a grand final one day in A-grade before I was run out. I always say it's the other bloke's fault. Nigel Watts was captain and we were batting together and he said, "I don't care if the ball goes straight through to the keeper, we're just going to run on every ball." The first ball he's belted it straight to cover and I've belted down the wicket, but he's said, "no, go back." I turned around to go back and was just short. That would have my first 100 in A-grade. But not to worry, we won the grand final.