Walking off GMHBA Stadium with a premiership medal around his neck, a smile from ear to ear, and less than two months away from becoming a father for the first time on the last Friday of September, Ollie Tate thought his football days were done.
The gun Leopold midfielder was headed for retirement, content with a career that was good enough to yield 112 state league games across the VFL and WAFL and capped off with the Polders’ third GFNL flag.
However, following several conversations with Tigers coach Dom Gleeson, an opportunity to play for a club in a town where Tate has business interests was too good for the 33-year-old to pass up.
“I’ve been speaking to Dom quite a huge amount, to be honest,” Tate told K rock Football. “He reached out late last year, maybe October or November.
“I’d obviously retired. He was keen to chat, to see if there was any fire in the belly or any itch to scratch, in terms of still playing footy.
“We had a baby girl in November, so I’ve very much enjoyed being at home and spending more time at home.
“So it’s all sort of come about the last month or so.”
Tate expects to play no more than 12 home-and-away games, having already planned time away during the season before signing with Torquay tonight (Monday).
“My wife and I sat down at the end of last year and booked all our holidays, just in case footy did come about again that we had some time off already booked in,” he said.
I think we’ve got seven weekends away spread out.
“We’ve got a three-week block in Japan in April-May, then up to Palm Cove in June and then over to Fiji for a week for a family holiday in August.
“So I think it works out that I’ll miss six games.”
A regular opponent of Gleeson at VFL level and a former teammate of star forward Lucas Anderson, Tate is looking forward to playing a role in Torquay’s quest for three consecutive premierships for the first time in its history.
“And we’ve got a podiatry business starting in Torquay, hopefully next week, and a golf simulator,” he said.
“To work 500 metres from where you play footy seems like a good way to integrate into the community and just be more involved down in Torquay.”
Tate says Leopold understands the decision to play at a lower level.
“I expressed that my time in the GFL… particularly having the young one, I wanted to be home more,” he said.
“I wasn’t really willing to commit to a pre-season from November to April.
“There’s other priorities at the moment.”
X: @krockfootball
