Cobram Roar coach Bill Puckett to make his 100th senior appearance for AWFA club

BEAU GREENWAY: Congratulations on 100 games at Cobram, are you big on milestones?

BILL PUCKETT: It's something I'm quite proud of to be fair. Believe it or not, this is the first senior club I've been at where I've had a milestone as big as this. It's something I hold quite close. I played at a fairly good level back home in England and other places in the world, but to finally find a home at Cobram that treats me excellently and I've loved playing for, as a senior coach as well as a player, has been great.

BG: Your father, Dave, had a great professional career, did you want the same?

BP: I'm a massive Southampton fan born and bred. Seeing my father play for the team I support is something I still hold close now. I was very keen as a teenager and wanted to follow in my father's footsteps and become a professional. I was aware that making it in England at a professional level was always going to be no small feat. It was going to be the best of the best. I was at the AFC Bournemouth academy as a 15 and 16-year-old, but obviously decisions and opinions were made and they chose not to take me on any further. I quickly realised that wasn't where I was heading.

BG: What came next?

BP: I went into the senior game on the non-league circuit in England playing for various clubs from 16 through to about 22. They were all a similar standard of each other, but I was never really nailed on with the same club. I moved around for different reasons. I liked the coaches I worked under, so if they had left and went to a new team, they'd often get in touch with me and I tended to follow suit. It's a lot different here because there would be 10, 15, 20 teams all within the same time proximity to each other. Say if I went to Albury United to play I'd have to travel an hour-and-a-half to training, instead of five minutes to training, so that makes a lot of difference.

BG: I believe you're no stranger to Australian football?

BP: I first moved to Australia in 2012 and played for the Whitsunday Miners in the Queensland state league. That was the year before it went to the NPL. We were a very good side and I was one of eight to 10 foreigners at the club. It was a great experience. We made the grand final and missed out on a penalty shootout. As the NPL grew the following year, we failed to meet the requirements with an academy setup, men's and women's teams and all those kinds of things, so the club folded.

BG: What did that mean for you?

BP: As we went home, all of us overseas lads didn't have a club to go to. We all went back for a second season, but it never came to fruition which was a shame. That's where my journey in Iceland started. I loved the travelling experience and I was very fortunate my dad had the career he'd had as a player and coach and he had links in Iceland where he'd been for pre-season camps and other things with Southampton Football Club. I trained with about four different clubs and finally found somewhere I connected with and stayed there for three seasons.

BG: How does one land at Cobram after all that?

BP: I was literally on my way home from Iceland and I got the message from (former Cobram coach) Adam Gatcum. He was aware of me and our paths had crossed at a young age. He was aware I'd been travelling and sent me the off-chance message to see if I was available and it couldn't have come at a better time. In 2015, I made the move to Cobram and haven't looked back.

BG: Were there any reservations?

BP: None at all because I was in no-man's land when I came back from Iceland. I would have been about 26 and I would have had to start again. I was thinking it could have been the end of my career and I would have to find somewhere to work, live and play football as well. When Adam asked if I'd like to come back to Australia, I was very keen to make it happen. I did a bit of research on Cobram and there wasn't too much to see, but I'm not one for big cities or the high life, so Cobram was the perfect fit.

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BG: I believe you were part of the first Cobram Roar team?

BP: It was the first year of Cobram Roar after Cobram Tigers and Cobram Victory merged. We won the GNEFA Cup in Shepparton in 2015 and I was fortunate to get the best on ground.

BG: The club then went to AWFA in 2016 with some success?

BP: We won the league, but we had a first round exit in the cup against Albury City. It was a good year personally for me. I was runner-up in the league Star Player to Matt Park and runner-up goal-scorer to Matt Park also. The following year I had my best ever goal-scoring record in a season with 32 goals, but 'Burchy' (Wangaratta's Adam Burchell) had his freakish 51-goal year. We had a laugh and joke about it, but it was a great competition between him and I and I loved it.

BG: You then moved into coaching in 2018?

BP: It was the start of the rebuild and start of my tenure as senior coach. Unfortunately, the people only see what's on the ladder. We've always had great youth players coming through, but to rely on them is not what you want, but it's what we've had to do the last few years. It's a bit of a shame for them because you want them to go out and express themselves, but we've been relying on them. We're doing our best as senior players to make sure they're looked after and have a place to play football that's enjoyable.

BG: You also found love in Cobram?

BP: I met my now wife Tina during my first year at Cobram and she was the senior women's captain. She's been a massive part of my journey at Cobram, even more so since I've been coaching. The hours I've spent organising training and getting the lads together, all the prep work that goes unnoticed, she sees all of that. She also knows the time I'm on the phone is time away from her and the kids (Theodore and Nicola), but she understands and respects what I do and the effort I put into it. With a football background herself, she's been a rock and allows me to do what I want to do and do it with freedom. We've moved into a new house we built earlier this year and it's very much home. England is for visiting now.

BG: No doubt you'll be wanting to add to your 82 goals for the club against league leaders Albury United this weekend?

BP: The goals have dried up, but I've hit a bit of form recently and have got four in my last four games. The goals have taken a back seat since I've taken over the coaching job, but it's not something I've regretted. I've enjoyed the responsibilities and I love being the senior coach at Cobram.

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