He’s the last player remaining in the Queensland Wizard Cup from the competition’s very first game and this week Ron Troutman finally reaches 100. That’s 100 Cup games, not 100 years, although even Rockin Ronny would admit it’s been a long time coming.
A cult figure in a decade of service at Wynnum, he has been kept at arm’s length from the milestone for what seems like an age. In the same time Troutman spent at Kougari Oval, Redcliffe warhorse Troy Lindsay registered more than twice as many games playing for the Dolphins.
Indeed, part of the reason Troutman has won so many admirers is his perseverance n the face of adversity. At 165cm and 74kg he’s voluntarily thrown his body in front of rampaging opponents season after season. He’s verified as the competition’s equal shortest player and when he packs in a scrum next to teammate Sam Fau, he clings to someone a good 50kg heavier.
Troutman had been scheduled to finally climb his Everest last year against Norths in Round 18, widely billed as his 100th Queensland Wizard Cup game. However, in a cruel twist he was relegated late in the week to reserve grade once more.
With the Seagulls recruiting several halves and hooker in the off-season, Troutman decided it was time to move on. “I just didn’t think I’d have the chance to crack it with Wynnum,” says the former Goondiwindi junior. “I’d been there for 10 years and didn’t get around to it.“
I saw an opportunity at Souths Logan to cement a spot and play top grade more regularly and the 100-game thing did play a part. “Last year’s semis ended for me with Burleigh winning after the hooter by throwing the ball out of their butts. I didn’t want to go out that way. “The body is holding up, I’m still loving playing and feel really happy to have finally made the ton.” It helps that Troutman’s coach at Souths Logan is also the man he has worked side-by-side with for the past two-and-a-half years.
Together Troutman and mentor Mark Gliddon have decked dozens of people around Brisbane, but not in the way that’d create unwanted headlines. The pair work in carpentry, specialising in extensions and verandahs. However, any notion of favouritism between workmates was thrown out the door in Round One, when Gliddon kept Troutman in FOGS Cup and went for Cameron Joyce at hooker.
This week’s golden opportunity came with a reshuffle of the side, with Troutman back in his favoured position of halfback and Brandon Costin out wider at five-eighth.“My understanding was it was a tight decision at hooker last week and ‘Gliddo’ wanted me to run more,” says Troutman, now aged 31.“I made sure I did that and now I’m back in my traditional role. I was always a halfback coming through, but maybe these days people think I’m too old and slow.”In a career that’s defied the odds,it wouldn’t surprise if Ronnywent all out against the Young Guns this week just to prove the naysayers wrong
