Ain’t it grand!

By Kath Gannaway
WHEN West Coast Eagles defender David Wirrpanda held the 2006 AFL premiership cup up before 100,000 people on Saturday, a ray of reflected glory beamed on the Yarra Valley.
The skinny, shy boy who started his football with Healesville juniors was barely a teenager when he played with Powelltown’s only Under 18 premiership side in 1992. He was recruited to Eastern Ranges and at 16 was picked in the 1996 pre-season draft by West Coast.
In April this year he played his 150th game with the Eagles and was made a life member of the club, which he described in an interview with the Mail at the time as a “powerhouse of footy”.
Powelltown president Doug Cole said there was no doubting David’s talent as a footballer.
“I’m glad for David that he has had the thrill of playing in a grand final and winning a premiership because he has earned that sort of success,” Mr Cole said. “But I’m particularly proud of David as a person; what he has done for Aboriginal people and of his work (with the David Wirrpanda Foundation). He’s a credit to Aboriginal people.”
Leanne Miller, David’s cousin, is president of Worawa College’s committee of management.
“Everyone at the college was elated by David’s experience,” she said. “He is a fantastic role model. If I put my family hat on, I have to say he is a credit to his mum, Margaret. She would be bursting with pride.”
David told the Mail in April that a 2006 premiership with the Eagles was his ultimate football goal. The club shares the Eagle as a symbol with Worawa College.
“Worawa means the nesting place of the Eagle. It must mean something,” he said reflecting on how difficult it had been to move away at just 16 from his family and friends.
“I learned to deal with it because I really wanted to go on and give myself every chance of playing AFL footy. “Healesville is home and I miss it, but my goals and my wants were somewhere else and the opportunities were far greater here.”
He includes his brother Fletcher Briggs, Mr Cole and Eagles players Peter Matera and Chris Lewis as people who have influenced his career.
David was was already a hero in the eyes of Healesville Junior Football Club.
He was playing for his old club when he answered nine out of 10 questions in the In Hot Water segment of Channel 10’s hit football show Before The Game earlier in the year.
The winner was announced on Friday night and under 16 captain James Dunnett was presented with the prize, a $5000 hot water service. President Mick Connell said it would come in handy, given the club was building new clubrooms.