The Rock-Yerong Creek milestone man Aiden Ridley credits his competitive spirit as a key reason behind his form heading into his 250th game for the Magpies on Saturday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Ridley will reach the magnificent mark when the Magpies take on Northern Jets in a repeat of last year's Farrer League grand final at Ariah Park Sportsground on Saturday.
The 35-year-old joked it's almost a home game for his parents at Lake Cargelligo after Ridley made the move from the Northern Riverina League 16 years ago.
After one season in the Riverina League at East Wagga-Kooringal, Ridley made his way to TRYC and has been there for all but one year since.
Ridley has gone on to achieve premiership success three times at the Magpies, held a number of different leadership positions and also captained the Farrer League representative team.
Still playing great footy, Ridley puts it down to his hatred of losing.
"Probably I hate losing. That's what it comes down to," Ridley said with a laugh.
"I hate to lose, I'm that competitive.
"This year I've taken a different approach, only training once a week and doing some other stuff by myself that's not competitive and isn't as taxing on your ankles and knees so the body is feeling a lot better.
"But it's that competitive nature. I hate to lose.
"That's probably something that still drives me and I suppose being able to still offer the team something.
"I think I know when that drops off and I'm not doing what I used to capable of, that's when I'll say it might be time."
Ridley is proud of his 250 game milestone and everything he's achieved during his time at the club.
"It's something I pride myself on, being a loyal person," he said.
"I've enjoyed my time out there. When I went out there, they've been really good to me so it's good just to repay the favour to them I suppose and stick around for nearly 16 years.
"Success wise, we've been really lucky. I think I've played in six or seven grand finals out there so being successful makes it easier to stick around somewhere, when you know you're going to be up there and about.
"Of course we had those couple of thin years here and there but overall it's been pretty good so it's been good out there."
A primary school teacher by trade, Ridley has no plans on hanging the boots up any time soon. He admits this time of year is now a struggle but is keen to keep playing until he's no longer contributing to the team.
"It's hard now, this time of the year," he said.
"Last year I enjoyed when it warms up. I still enjoy that part of it. This is a real struggle time for me. It's cold, it's wet, it's why are you still doing it kind of thing.
"Once you get through the next month and it starts to warm up again, you're then like righto, it's go time again.
"I still enjoy it. It's probably more the friendships. It's still good to run into the same mates at the same time, a couple of beers after.
"You still love that mateship and what footy brings to it."
With a passion for winning, Ridley is happy with where the Magpies sit, on top of the ladder, heading into round 12 of their premiership defence.
"We're tracking pretty well," he said.
"You can see that teams are trying to work us out. Brad (Aiken) and Rusty (Heath Russell) are really working hard at implementing a few new things, which is another really good thing to keep me going, implementing things, trying new things so it's not that same boring thing over and over again.
"We're tracking really well. We've lost one game but if you had of looked at the start of the year and said we'll be eight (wins) and one (loss) at this time of year, you would have taken it.
"I think the last three weeks we're doing just enough and I think the next fortnight to month is really big for us with the Jets and then Marrar. I think over the next two to three weeks we'll really see where we're at and we're really looking forward to that challenge."
