Dukes of depth - Saturday 24 June 2000
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You come across footballers that are as endangered a group as silver backed highland gorillas and frogs and Brazilian three toed sloths and kiwis and orange roughie fish. These are blokes that play with the AFL team from the suburb where they were born and bred. Especially if a given club is dead as a dodo. If you're thinking about John Rombotis you're right. He grew up in Fitzroy as the area was entering the rarefied air of grooviness.
Rombo had the journey of an albatross by the time he pulled on the maroon and blue and gold jumper with the FFC monogram on the front. Went to school at Caulfield Grammar. Then crossed over to the Central Under 18s from which the Royboys selected their home grown product with 1994 national draft pick number 23. He joined the Lions the same year as Doug Hawkins. At the guernsey presentation, JR was given the number 37 jumper. He made his senior debut in 1995 aged 19. Coach Michael Nunan put faith in the kid who was 181 centimetres tall and weighed a grasshopperesque 78 kilograms. Rombotis was thrown into the piranha tank of the midfield. And he performed with a maturity beyond his years. With that little bit of pace he had time just about to mail the ball downfield. Also he could go forward and slot a goal. For example, he was slippery as an otter in 1995 Round 7. North Melbourne at the then Western Oval. Rombotis worked all day with the application of a dam-building beaver. Halfway through the last quarter, he ran straight to the 50 metre line, steadied and drilled an important goal. Alas the Roos won 17.16 to 13.10. 1996 was the last of Fitzroy's 112 seasons. Johnno Rombo was a youngster who grew in stature during an emotion charged year. His game was underpinned by the courage of a white rhino. In the second stanza of Round 2 against Adelaide at the Western, you should have seen the young Lion running back with the flight of the ball for a chest mark and the herd of wildebeest that thundered towards him. Rombotis went down as if shot. Straight up the race on a stretcher. The Roys bit the dust 15.11 to 21.7. Rombotis performed well and booted a goal in the Round 9 Friday night hammering by the Kangas. During the West Coast demolition of Fitzroy in Round 15, Rombotis set a standard. His tackling forced half a dozen turnovers. Plus he slid forward to boot two goals. A set shot from 55. No sign of nerves. Straight as an arrow. Goal. At the finish of the season, John Rombotis was overlooked by Brisbane. He crossed to Port Adelaide Power as 1996 national draft pick number 6. Somehow things didn't really happen. It was perhaps like John Lennon calling a difficult year in his life a lost weekend. For Rombo it might have been the shocking water in Adelaide. He had a chain of injuries that restricted fluency. His major contribution for the season was in Round 8. The Roos game at Optus. Fifteen minutes into a hectic third quarter, Rombotis crashed through a pack at the edge of the square and soccered a gutsy goal at the Heatley Stand end. Roos home 19.14 to 15.10 A 1997 deal between Port and the Tigers saw Chris Naish swapped for the Romboid. He took over the number 35 worn previously by Michael Pickering and Chris Bond. The midfielder produced some good footy in yellow and black over 1998. Snapped a goal during the Round 4 Friday night loss to Collingwood 20.13 to 12.16. Injuries robbed the former Lion of opportunities in 1998 and 1999. But he was always a key reinforcement. Round 1 this year he busted his shoulder. John Rombotis has had 26 games in the Ones at Fitzroy, 9 at Port and 11 in two years with Richmond. He has chalked up some 55 Rezzies starts and 10 with the Port Magpies. Definitely a species worth preserving. |
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