But instead of being on cloud nine, the star forward was jolted back to reality after being involved in a car accident when returning home which left his vehicle a write off.

"I had a car crash on the way home and wrote my car off," Castles said.

"It was hailing and I slid off the road. Then a B-double truck ploughed into the rear of the car.

"I had my partner and the kids in the car but everyone escaped unscathed.

"But it did put a bit of a dampener on the celebrations we had planned."

ALSO IN SPORT

Castles joined an exclusive club after booting his 1000th career goal.

It is believed that Lavington's Chris Stuhldreier and journeyman Damian Cupido are the only two forwards to achieve the feat on the Border in recent history.

Castles said it was a special moment as he watched the ball sail through for a goal for the 1000th time during his outstanding career.

"This milestone is pretty special to me because it is so rare," he said.

"Kicking 100 is always nice and a bit of fun.

"But once I became aware last year that I was closing in on my 1000th, it has always been in the back of my mind."

Castles is only 33 and has already set himself the goal of getting somewhere near 1500 goals before he contemplates retirement.

Cupido was 36 when he passed 1000 goals.

"My body feels fine, I haven't had any serious injuries and I'm still performing," Castles said.

"I'm a chance to get to 1500 if I can stay injury-free and that's my next goal.

"It has taken me 15 seasons to get to a 1000 so I can't see any reason why I can't get to 1500."

Castles has cracked the ton on four occasions.

Three times with Yackandandah in 2015-17-19 and once with Jindera in 2018.

Castles joined Mangoplah-Cookardinia United-Eastlakes last year and leads the competition's goalkicking this season with 48.

The prolific goalkicker revealed he would most likely finish his career at one of his two former clubs in either Yackandandah or Jindera.

"At the moment I'm enjoying Mangoplah as much as any club throughout my career," he said.

"But I consider Yackandandah as my home club.

"I also nearly played 100 matches at Jindera.

"You never know, I could finish up at one of those two clubs and they are the clubs that I would like to play one more year at."

Castles rated Tallangatta's Jake Wood and Brock-Burrum's Dean Murphy as his two toughest opponents so far throughout his career.

Seventeen goals against Wahgunyah remains Castles' biggest bag.

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