By Chris Pike
THERE is no tougher or more courageous midfielder in the WAFL than Craig Glancy and while rotten luck with injuries have meant reaching 100 games has taken a decade he is thrilled to book his name onto the No. 2 locker with East Perth.
Glancy moved up to play with East Perth's colts and played in a premiership before making his league debut in 2001, playing in the premiership of the next year and after a year off in 2003 he has been a mainstay of the Royals' midfield despite some terrible luck with injury.
That has included a broken jaw this season, a lacerated kidney last year, facial injuries from a glassing while at a Leederville night spot also last year and other injuries along the way, but when on the field there is no better ball winner, or tougher or more courageous midfielder.
The 27-year-old co-captain might have had a long journey to reach the 100 games, but he's delighted to get there this Saturday when he leads East Perth out to play Perth at EFTel Oval with a win needed to keep the Royals' finals chances alive.
Glancy hopes the team can put in another special performance like it did for Luke Webster's 100th game last week, Craig Wulff's 150th against Subiaco and Adam Pickering's 100th on Foundation Day.
"Ever since I started playing with East Perth one thing I've always wanted to achieve is to play 100 games and get my name on the locker," Glancy said.
"It's going to be a great experience after seeing some of my best mates Wulffy, Webby and Pickers do it this year it's one thing I really want to do. Hopefully the boys can rally around like they have the last three times and have a good win, but most importantly so that we keep our finals hopes alive."
While his wife Erin certainly has a say in being the most important part of Glancy's life, the East Perth Football Club is the reason he moved up to Perth from Bridgetown, is why he's stayed and where all his friends are.
The club is massively special to him and to now add his name onto the No. 2 locker by being a 100-game player to go with playing in a premiership and being captain is something he could have only dreamed of a decade ago.
"It means everything. East Perth is my life pretty much. I've been here for 10 years now and I couldn’t imagine not being here, it means everything to me," Glancy said.
"Just playing with a great bunch of blokes is what the best part is for me. I've played here 10 years and all my mates are here at the footy club. It's everything to me and that's what you come away from football with - the friendships. Those are what you hold dear to your heart."
The No. 2 locker is also special to Glancy as he joins the most recent addition to it, in triple premiership player Rod Wheatley, and that's a great achieve in itself for him.
"I played a bit of footy with Rod Wheatley and he's a Bridgetown boy just like myself so I'll be very proud to be up there with him and the rest of those calibre of players," Glancy said.
"Especially Rod because he was a bit of a hero of mine growing up. He passed the number onto me. I did wear No. 11, but had a year off and came back as he retired and I was lucky enough to be given the No. 2."
Glancy is now the true leader in the midfield for the Royals and he's glad to be doing that with his good mate and the best tap ruckman in the league Zach Beeck back in the side.
"It's good to try and take control in there and especially the last few weeks with Dev Perry getting involved we are working a lot better together in the midfield. It also helps when you've got Zach Beeck putting the ball down your throat most of the time," Glancy said.
"Zach is hands down the best tap ruckman I've played with. When I first moved up to Perth I lived with Brad Ward's (former football manager) parents with Zach, so we have played a lot of footy together, including a colts premiership, and he was one of my groomsmen at my wedding and is a great bloke. Every time I run out with him I'm pretty happy that he's going to be the ruckman."
With Jeremy Humm and Brent Cowell already having retired this year, Webster announcing that he will at season's end and some other senior players leaning that way, Glancy is actually looking forward to helping lead the way for a young side in 2011.
"There's not a lot of us left and there's probably going to be a few more move on before next year and it's going to be a nice, young squad. It's very exciting with us moving forward, though, and it's good," he said.
"It makes me even more hungry to play on next year when there's a nice, young squad and the young guys are very impressionable so you can get them going the way you want to.
"It's one of my proudest moments when Tony (Micale) asked me to be one of the joint captains of the club and it's a great experience to be able to run out there every day and lead the boys."
Glancy is hoping his luck with injuries will also change because there's no doubt he would have FD Book Medals, State jumpers and maybe even a Sandover Medal to his credit if he had strung full seasons together, but he's not holding his breath given the way it's all gone so far.
"It's nice to get back out there. I haven’t had too much luck over the last few years so I'm pretty happy to be out there any game I get to play," he said.
"I hope so, but I've been saying that for a while. I broke the jaw this year, but hopefully it's all behind me so I can have a nice run because I started 20-odd games in front of Wulffy but he's passed me by 50-odd, but I can't help that luck that hasn’t gone my way."
