Possum climbs to 200

By Brad Kingsbury
DEVON Meadows Football Club supporters finally had something to cheer about on Saturday when favourite son Craig ‘Possum’ Hunter played his 200th senior game for the club.
The 32-year-old utility said it was a major highlight of his long career.
He became the first player to reach the milestone at the club, making Hunter the games record holder at Glover Reserve.
He started with the Meadows in 1990 and won the 1991 league and club under 17s best and fairest before making his way to the senior side.
His senior honours list includes best and fairest trophies in 1999, 2002 and 2003, together with a three-year stint as senior coach from 2002-04.
Hunter’s wife Deb was among a big group of family, friends and supporters to cheer him on as he ran through a specially made banner with his children Ashlee, 9, Kiarah, 7, Brooke, 2, and Tyler, 13 weeks, on Saturday.
Hunter said it had been an emotional build-up and paid tribute to the club and his team-mates.
“It’s a brilliant feeling, mate, but I don’t know how blokes last to play 300, I can tell you that,” he quipped.
“When you’re growing up you want to play as many games as you can and when I got a bit closer I did think about it a bit.
“I’m very lucky and I’ve been able to do everything at Devon Meadows except win a premiership.
“The only way I would ever have left is to coach and I was lucky enough to be able to coach at my home club and stay with my mates. That’s pretty special.”
While he acknowledged that Devon Meadows was still a fair way off the Casey Cardinia league leaders, Hunter said there were some good players coming through and he was still keen to have a role if personal commitments allowed.
“It will come down to time and my business,” he said.
“I still really love playing and the body is still okay, but I’ve got four kids now and it’s a matter of getting my priorities right.
“If I can, I will continue playing next year and hopefully work towards the success that the club deserves.”