By David Nagel
The journey from the tiny little town of Catani to the buzz of playing in front of 30,000 people at the Adelaide Oval has been a rollercoaster ride for West Adelaide premiership player Logan Hill.
The born and bred West Gippslander – who loved his tennis and had horseracing dripping through his bloodlines as a kid – has ridden the highs and lows of football to become one of the most respected players in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL).
A 2015 premiership player – breaking a 32-year drought – the now 33-year-old small defender has blossomed in the latter stages of his career, winning two best and fairests at the Bloods in 2019 and again this year.
Not bad for a kid who dreamt of hoisting a Wimbledon trophy above his head, or riding a Melbourne Cup winner…rather than the joy of team success.
“I was a tennis player from the get go, travelling around Victoria and playing in all the tournaments…I didn’t start footy until I was 13,” Hill told the Gazette.
“It was the lure of team sport that attracted me. I loved having a kick of the footy at school, but tennis took up time and I think I got burnt out in the end. I turned to footy and I’ve never looked back.”
Hill’s star quality stood out in a hurry, winning an Ellinbank and District Football League (EDFL) under-13s league best and fairest award in his first year at Catani – as a skinny kid who had plenty of pace through the midfield.
“I remember going to training on Thursday nights and then hanging around to watch the seniors train, they were my heroes back then,” he said.
“I look back now and think for a small town that basically had nothing, how impressive it was to build such a great atmosphere and winning culture…I remember those days fondly.
“We were always scraping together numbers and it wasn’t uncommon to play two games of football for Catani on a weekend.”
Hill also grew up around horses, his pop Maurie was a horse-trainer from Wonthaggi who trained Venite to win the Great Eastern Steeplechase at Oakbank, while Logan’s dad Mark was a VRC steward for many years.
Logan attended Haileybury College, and with his sister going to St Margarets in Berwick, the Hill family would move from Catani to Berwick when Logan was 15 years old.
He would play in a premiership in the under-16s with the Berwick Junior Football Club and earn a spot on the Dandenong Stingrays list – that would play on the MCG in the 2005 TAC Cup Grand Final against Gippsland.
“They (Gippsland Power) were a good team at the time, they had Scott Pendlebury and Dale Thomas running around and we had Nathan Jones as our gun,” Hill recalled.
“We got beat by 15 points in the end but that was a great experience to play at the MCG.
“I remember running out after half time and the Sydney and West Coast players were checking out the ground before the grand final and I remember being a little starstruck.”
Hill still had a strong connection to Catani at the time and – working in with his football schedule at Haileybury – would be given his first senior game at Catani by then coach and club legend Paul Alger.
But his real ambition was to play AFL football.
“That’s what I wanted to do, but I didn’t really talk about it and embrace it like a lot of kids I see today…if I was good enough, I was good enough, if I wasn’t, I wasn’t,” he said laconically.
“But It was definitely my ambition at the time.”
Hill’s name would not be read out at the AFL National Draft and he would spend a week at both Casey and Coburg, before settling on Coburg as his VFL club of choice – playing under former Hawthorn star, and small defender, Andy Collins.
He did a full pre-season with Coburg’s AFL affiliate Richmond…copping a spray from a Tigers’ legend in the process.
“That was an unreal experience, training with blokes like Matthew Richardson and Nathan Brown, players I really admired, but Richo did give me one of his famous sprays after I missed hitting him up on a lead,” Hill said with a chuckle.
Hill was part of the Coburg side who was soundly defeated by Geelong in the 2007 VFL grand final…before making the switch to Adelaide.
“Andy Collins got the job at West Adelaide and was pretty keen on getting a few of us over there with him,” Hill said.
“He was very persuasive and sold it to us based on lifestyle, opportunities, and not competing against AFL listed players for a game. I respected Andy so I was all in.
“It was gamechanger, I’d never lived away from home, mum had always cooked and done the washing and now I was looking after myself. It was unreal for my personal development and the football was great…although it didn’t start so well.”
Hill, who was rubbing shoulders with players like West Adelaide teammate Patrick Dangerfield at the time, got caught in a tangle of legs, in just his fourth game, and would break both the tibia and fibula bones in his right leg.
He would miss two full seasons of footy – 2008 and 2009 – and would return to the family home in Melbourne for a few months to be cared for. He then returned to Adelaide to resume studies…and also a football career that would never look back from that point forward.
“To be honest, it was really difficult with the leg, I nearly threw it all in, but I’m so glad I stuck it out,” Hill said.
“We made the grand final in 2012, lost to Norwood, and then Andy Collins finished up at the end of 2013 and headed back to Melbourne.
“Mark Mickan took over and we finished near the bottom in 2014, but then we had a clean out and did the toughest pre-season ever ahead of 2015.
“We just started winning games…but Woodville Eagles were our bogey side, we lost all three games to them that year but were always getting closer.”
Hill had an inner belief that the Bloods could get the job done on the day.
“I don’t think we were ready in 2012, but there was something about 2015, I was pretty confident we could win,” he said.
“Mum (Heather) and dad (Mark) flew over on the morning, my brothers and sisters (Mim, Tatum and Cameron) as well, and they were more nervous than I was.
“It was a really weird feeling; I just had this inner belief we could win.
“There were 30,000 at the Adelaide Oval and it all clicked on the day, we won by five goals in the end…an unreal experience.”
Under Collins stewardship, Hill had converted from a talented midfielder to a hard-nosed defender and was named third best for the Bloods on the day…preventing a dangerous Eagles’ forward line from firing.
The Bloods have not risen to the same heights since, but Hill has remained remarkably consistent winning two Neil Kerley Medals, tying with captain Tom Keough this year after an outright victory in 2019.
He has been a leader at the Bloods, being vice-captain, and has also been selected in the South Australian state squad over the years.
“I’m still playing, so don’t dwell on things too much, but when I’m done, I’ll look back and be pretty satisfied with the team success and jagging a couple of best and fairests along the way,” he said.
“We’ve already had a reunion, we’re forever premiership teammates and that’s definitely the highlight of my career.”
Hill is currently overcoming some off-season surgery to correct a torn bicep and is ready for another gruelling pre-season…in the hope of more team success.
“We’ve had some lean years and part of that is we always seem to lose players to the draft,” Hill said.
“Will Snelling, John Noble, Riley Thilthorpe, they’re probably good examples of players that have been through the West Adelaide system and move through the ranks rather quickly.”
The Bloods have done well at the recruiting table already this year, securing recently retired Port Adelaide vice-captain Hamish Hartlett, and have one or two more quality players in the pipeline.
Hill has recently bought a house in Adelaide with his partner Tamae, and is a school teacher at Mercedes Catholic College.
He enjoys the slower pace of Adelaide compared to Melbourne and is looking forward to rounding out his playing career over the next few years and pursuing his new-found love for coaching.
Not bad for a skinny little kid from the tiny little town of Catani!
